Tile counter top

[Bobby McCarley]

I am redoing the counter tops in the kitchen with 6 x 6 tiles. To get the most use of the tiles with the least amount of cutting, I did on each side of the stove first starting in a corner. This gave me full tiles and ending with about a half tile on each side of the stove.
I was the going to do the back splash with the intensions of meeting behind the stove. Naturally, the tiles don’t fall right, so now I’m stuck on what to do to make it look right. I suggested putting a solid piece of stainless steel or copper or getting a solid piece of slate to match the tiles. None of those ideas went over good. The wife wants to use 12 x 12 tiles, but I can’t get it to work right without some cutting or wider grout lines, which I don’t think will look good. The area I want to cover is numbered in the photo. No. 1 extends out past the stove just a little and No. 2 is just the width of the range hood.
We went out to eat the other night and the walls were wainscoted using corrugated tin and my wife said what doing something like that behind the stove and on the end panels of the cabinets. I’m not too sure what that would look like. Our house is a log cabin so the rustic look would not be out of place, in case some of you are wondering why we would possible want tin in the house.

Any fresh ideas would be greatly appreciated. The wife wants this job finished.

Bobby

[Bob Childress]

Well, it's no use telling you what you have already figured out, that you should have started from the width of the range and gone toward the corners. :( But let's see.

In the pic below (excuse the mess, I was in a hurry), you will see I used 6X6 tiles for the backsplash up to the range hood, but many of them were inlaid with decorative patterns (not too clear from the picture, I fear) to act as a focal point. In your situation I might suggest:

1) Go ahead and tile the width of the hood (Number 2) with your current tiles, or decorative contrasting tiles, or whatever you like. Most 6X6 tiles are undersized and will fit full-tile width in the 30" opening even with grout lines.

2) For the remaining space between Number 2 and Number 1 (which will now be only a narrow strip) you may want to consider a large complementary glass tile which can be cut and edge-smoothed to fill the strip as one piece. I think it would look very nice. You could also fill that space with stainless steel or brushed aluminium. Or decorative stones which come already on a mesh backing and can be trimmed to fit, perhaps.

Actualy, I think it is an easy fix, so tell your wife to relax, you've got it under control. :D :cool:

(P.S. Glad to see Ditra under there. Good choice.)