I wanted this Laurel District backsplash to be as close to perfect as possible, and no detail was overlooked. The tiles were beautiful: handmade, with varying saturation from piece to piece and a mirrored back that gives them a very clean, bright look. They look amazing over the butcher-block countertop, where the warm wood plays against the depth and shimmer of the tile.
A tile like this deserves precise work, so I went out of my way to make every cut as exact as I could. This backsplash had a lot of unusual cuts: around the windows, along the countertop, and at the corners and edges where the tile meets other surfaces. Each cut is a place where the tile is visible end-on and has to meet its neighbor cleanly. On a plain tile, a slightly rough edge might pass. On a tile this clean and reflective, every edge catches the eye.
Handmade tile adds its own challenge. No two pieces are quite the same size, thickness, or color, which is a big part of their charm, and it means the layout has to be worked out as you go. Pieces are sorted and arranged so the variations in color spread naturally across the wall instead of clustering, and cuts are measured to each individual tile rather than to a standard size.
Around the windows, the tile has to frame the opening crisply, with even margins and straight lines, so the window looks like it was designed into the backsplash rather than tiled around. Along the countertop, the bottom course has to sit true to the counter’s line, with a clean joint where tile meets wood.
The work took patience, but it shows. I’m very happy with their tiles and the final result. The backsplash looks like it was made for that kitchen, which in a sense it was.
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