[erikakn]

Orange is cool
Thanks for sharing the tile blends! Although I agree with splatgirl's caveat about adventurous colors being expensive to change when they become dated, I'm really rooting for a tile blend with orange. I love orange accents but I'm too scared to use it in a large tile project. I hope YOU decide use orange so that I may live vicariously through your kitchen.

S. Jablon's sparkling tiles
The blends you linked to at Susan Jablon's site are marvelous because they're crystal clear. I love the idea of green walls in the kitchen--how energetic! And your choice for grey-ish laminate great too--it will let your backsplash be the star.

A possible "bathroom-y" effect | More sources
My general reaction to the blends you've suggested is that the dominant white field might read as bathroom-y. I discovered this last year when I ordered different sheets from MosaicTileMarket.com (mod walls) and Hakatai.com. I was surprised to find that some mosaic tile blends with lots of contiguous white instantly telegraphed "bathroom." (This is a personal POV, of course. And clear white tiles might not do this at all.)

The standard "Ikea" blends at MosaicTile.com are worth looking at. ( I love the Kulor blend--it has orange and is $8.87/1.15 sq ft!) You could duplicate or tweak an appealing blend from MosaicTile.com in the more expensive clear tiles you saw at Susan Jablon 's site.

One could also ratchet down the percentage of orange so that you have just a few orange tiles popping up here and there. As Susan GardenOfDarwin noted, the orange tint of Kalsebo could become too strong. You could also mix your blends so that only a portion of the backsplash blend has orange tiles--like the bit behind your stove, if that's an option. Everything will become clear once you get sample sheets.

Dated colors
Funny thing about color trends--when does something becomes "dated"--and why are some dated colors good and others gauche? My brother-in-law's parents had a chocolate bathroom with avocado fixtures. It was almost chic again when I saw it last about 7 years ago. Some of my favorite color combinations today are Arts and Crafts palettes. Will stainless steel be the Harvest Gold of the future?

And what am I doing with all the mosaic samples I got last year? I'm covering bowling balls for the garden. I usually use pennies but this summer, we'll use mosaic tile. (My DH asks, when will you have enough bowling balls? My answer--you can never have enough.)

If you don't go with orange tiles, there's always the KitchenAid mixer in Clementine. I almost swooned when I saw it at Williams Sonoma. Good luck! I

-E

[Toxigal]

my backsplash area is small. i'm going to play with the ratios a bit and maybe do more green, less orange. the idea was to just have little pops of color back there.

i absolutely love the susan jablon tiles. they are beautiful in person. I actually have the sample pack in 2" and subway tile. if anyone wants to see a specific tile at any point i'd be happy to share (though i do stianed glass and they may eventually start to get incorporated into different projects, so if you want to see something, act fast!) they are also so much less expensive than similar tiles i've seen elsewhere. others were running in the $35/s.f. range!

[tommyz]

using the resin method shown on HGTv? They embed forks and knives on the video - but I'm sure you could embed glass marbles.. though if they'd hold - I don't know.

[Susan]

toxigal - 2 things...

1. I found this gorgeous glass mosaic at Mosaic Tile Supplies .com- The source for 700+ choices in glass tile, glass mosaic, porcelain mosaic tiles and stainless steel mosaic tile. Kaleidoscope®, Alchemy®, Prism® and Illuminati™ brands. and immediately thought of your kitchen:

 

and...2. In the Atlanta store, there was a cabinet full of broken glass and ceramic that they were giving away to mosaic and stained glass artisans. I know you have a hobby, and thought you might ask at your own store.

 

Susan

[susan jablon]

Hi, Susan Jablon here.

I wanted to stop in and say hello. My daughter Emily and I are sponsoring the Ikea Fans Backsplash Forum these days. We look forward to answering questions you might have about your backsplash ideas, gorgeous glass tile mosaics, custom design work online at SJM .. you name it!

We look forward to talking with you on this forum.

All the best,

Susan and Emily Jablon