Buying an old house is a challenge. I love the glass tiles. My son tiled in back of my stove and the wall over th sink. He put diamond shaped glass tiles in the center of some of the 4x4 white tiles. They really stand out and look so pretty.
The most important thing is, "are you happy with it? Do you want to walk into your kitchen?" Ignore the naysayers. They secretly are jealous because they can't remodel.
Actually, even the general contractor who seemed uncertain about our choices was very pleased by the results. Both craftsmen who worked on it were very proud of the results. The company is probably the most expensive in our area, but everything they do is over the top in quality. The painter especially. I was dumbfounded when I went to scrub the enclosed sides of the stove, cabinets and wall (something I do every year or so) to find that he'd already done it. Then when he was through with the (white) woodwork, he came to me and said since he had the can open, would I look over the rest of the house for places he could touch up, and did so (he did all of the work on our house, and all of the woodwork is white). The tile guy only had one day off from another job (this company restores museums and grand old houses in the tri-state (that is, they are based here in Galena, IL, but also WI and IA) area. Anyone who's ever owned a real "this old house" knows that you never, ever know what you'll uncover when you start this work, i.e., what seems to be a simple paint job winds up being a major wall/plaster repair, mold, water damage. I was really afraid when the wallpaper came down (I really wouldn't dream of doing it myself because i saw what was under the dining room walls!). Painter-man came into the living room and said, Claire! The kitchen has been dry-walled! It's a cinch! We were all so delighted because when he did the dining room a couple years back he found that the plaster was on bare bricks, no wonder we had spots where the water damage was awful. The main part of the house, that is two rooms down, two up, and a cellar, were built in 1854. But the dining room/servants' quarters we have no idea of, but I think the kitchen/bathroom I suspect 1901 because my insurance paperwork says the house was built in 1901 (I have photographs of the place older than that, not to mention records of the place being built in 1854).
I have not one regret about buying this place, and my husband and I are good at patience and saving. Unlike many homes, it was in move-in condition when we bought it, and there was no structural damage from neglect. The previous 160 years of owners had cared for it, they never turned it into slum tenement housing or left it to just sit and deteriorate. Since we live in a historical district I've seen what years of neglect and abuse can do to old houses, and ours never was in that condition to begin with. I've also (I house-shopped in Bardstown KY, Champaign/Urbana, IL, and looked at Galesburg, IL in our years of travelling, looking for a new home town) seen a lot of "slap on some new paint and wallpaper and ignore the structure" types of "renovations" as well.
Although we own the house, we also to some degree consider ourselves guardians of history. A neighbor recently uncovered some old photos of the street probably in the 50s or 60s, and it was a slum neighborhood then. Except our house! So we've had "good bones" to work with.
Sorry about going on.