Priya from the link I posted above. Collection: Mother of Pearl Tile Material: Seashell Color: Natural White, majority chips are white, with small percentage of natural yellow and minimun natural grey; overall is white Shape: Penny Round Surface Finish: Glossy,easy for cleaning Size: 12x12 In. (300x300mm) Chip Size:?Appr. 1 In. (23mm) Thickness: 8mm Detailed Description: Each sheet of this tile is approximately 1 sq ft per sheet and is mesh mounted on high quality fiber glass for easy installation of your mosaic tile projects. Application: Mother of Pearl mosaic tiles are impervious to the elements, thus it is great for both interior and exterior use so moisture is not an issue. Mother of Pearl mosaic tiles are great on floors and walls and have been most popular in bathrooms, spas, kitchen backsplash, wall facades as well as a variety of other applications. Characteristics: The mother of pearl mosaic tile has a zero water absorption rate, and this tile exceeds ANSI standards for water absorption for mosaic tile. It is strong, durable, contamination free, and only the best quality tiles are selected as our tiles are inspected for blemishes before shipment. They do look a lot like the marble tiles but these would certainly be pretty. I see that you can have a sample sent to you for a small cost .join www,myus.com which gives you a post box US address if needed to do this. You will certainly need to grout them using a water mould proof grout. If you found them to be a problem just have them covered with clear glass,

I suppose the question is "What are you going to do with the untiled wall?". Will it just be painted plasterboard? If you do decide to just go with the 200mm tiled splashback you will need to be very careful with your tile selection with the sizing and how the edge of tile looks. You should probably select a 200mm tile, as you don't want a cut, half tile in the space between the window sill and benchtop. Some glazed, ceramic tiles also have messy edges, so make sure that your tile selection looks as good from the edge, not just the front, as you will be looking down on the top edge of the tile. Or allow for a tiling edge strip to conceal the edge, but these always make the space look visually busier. With so much happening in your kitchen with the open shelves etc, I would suggest a plainish, neutral tile and tile up to the ceiling for a cleaner, more streamlined look, that doesn't need maintenance and repainting in ten years time. Open shelves often look better against tiles. By tiling to the ceiling there is no exposed tile edge to look messy, which gives you a wider choice of tiles. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

in my experience it's false economy to sacrifice a workable floorplan for the sake of a few metres of pipe... your plan shows that you expect to replace the old kitchen, bathroom and laundry so my suggestion would be to take advantage of the opportunity to create a small hallway to allow privacy for a separate toilet and bathroom with a combined laundry pantry and consider backsplash and highlight windows for extra northern light or reverse the plan and have the living area on the north but, with the original north wall already on the boundary, you may find that you could be better off to work with the existing north wall and not risk having to allow a setback from the northern boundary ..discuss set backs with local council before making any more decisions

I think that it will look too busy with the contrasting cabinetwork and the patterned tile on the floor. But then Australian tastes and styles in kitchens tend to be cleaner and more understated than our American cousins. I would keep it simpler, with a plain large format tile to make cleaning easier and to visually expand the space. Your current tile is very busy and probably hides grease splatters very well. Best of luck with your considerations, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls