Kitchen Tile Opinions (updated with water damage problems)

[nrubenstein]

Lose the ugly border pattern and the other small tiles. The main tiles look like 18". Swap them for 12". And honestly, if you are laying them yourself, lay them in the way that requires the fewest cuts. Go with the darker colored of the two main tile choices.

Edit: don't forget that the only way to make that kitchen not look cheap and poorly thought out is to gut it and start from scratch. You should not be putting a lot of effort into this one.

[McGyver]

I own a house that will be full of college kids for the foreseeable future. The original linoleum floor got pretty much destroyed so i decided to tile it. The problem is that i can barely dress myself, so picking out tile colors to match my house is next to impossible. I just dont want to finish it and have the whole kitchen look cheap/not thought out.

Said kitchen (long and narrow):



The tile im thinking about going with in the easy way to lay it:



What I think will look better:



And one side of the rectangular boarder:





Now i was trying to choose between these two shades:



and these two boarders:







Opinions? Suggestions? Anything? Oh, and cost is a huge factor in this.