[kate1234]

When I saw this display at my local Expo I though that it made sense - go for cheap white tile for most of the backsplash and then do a pencil border of something wonderful (and probably expensive). Overall the kitchen I am going for is oak floors, white shaker cabs, soapstone counters, white painted windowsills. Window (and probably cabinet) hardware will be oil-rubbed bronze. Overall it will be simple and monochromatic.


So the question is - what's the going rate for the cheapest little white tiles that would do the job? Are all little white tiles the same and would they all work equally well? T

hese guys wanted $10 per square foot for the ones in the picture, which I thought sounded high.

The liner tiles are glass - called smoke for the dark and snow for the light. I could see myself going for something similar like glass, or even brightly colored like cobalt blue.

[GardenOfDarwin]

One thing to watch out for when mixing and matching tiles is the thickness...you don't want to have to make adjustments in your thinset layer to account for differences. That said, I think using simple white tiles with fancier edging/liner/accent tiles is a wonderful way to go! There are so many fabulous tiles out there, you can certainly make a stand-out statement with your accents while saving an extraordinary amount of money on the field tiles.

Let me see if I can find an old post (on THS) that detailed the costs on basic tiles. I think they were running down subway tiles, but you might find that the same rules apply to 4x4's. I'll be back.

Susan