Use a 3⁄8" square notched trowel to apply a layer of thin set adhesive to the cementboard. Apply enough for two or three tiles, starting at one end. Hold the trowel at roughly a 30° angle and try not to overwork the adhesive or remove too much.
Set the first tile into the adhesive. Hold a piece of the edge against the countertop edge as a guide to show you exactly how much the tile should overhang the edge.
Cut all the back tiles for the layout to fit ( you’ll need to remove about 1" of a 13 × 13" tile) before you begin the actual installation. Set the back tiles into the thin set, maintaining the gap for grout lines created by the small spacer nubs cast into the tiles. If your tiles have no spacer nubs, see the option.
Option: To maintain even grout lines, some beginning tilers insert plus-sign-shaped plastic spacers at the joints. This is less likely to be useful with large tiles like those shown here, but it is effective. Many tiles today feature built-in spacing lugs, so the spacers are of no use. Make sure to remove the spacers before the thin set sets. If you leave them in place they will corrupt your grout lines.
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