From what I can tell, full tile backsplashes in kitchens are a fairly recent trend (with some exceptions -- see the 1928 bungalow thread -- though that was more a tiled room than a backsplash per se). When your corners aren't quite square, it makes countertop installation easier if there is a 1" thick backsplash to cover any gap between the countertop and wall. That said, I agree with the pp's that the short backsplash currently looks a bit dated. That might change in time. After all, I don't know anyone in real life who has put in a new kitchen with no backsplash at all, but I have seen some beautiful no-backsplash kitchens on this forum... maybe that will be the next trend. [grin] I haven't decided about the backsplash for when/if we redo our kitchen. We are old enough and have been in our house long enough to take the long view, so probably we will do something that's either relatively timeless (i.e. white tile) or easily changed.

I don't think we'll ever fully redo this kitchen. We'll probably only be in this house for another 2-5 years, and we're really just looking to make the space more enjoyable for us and up the resale value a bit. Our kitchen is very small, especially for a 4 bedroom house. So without knocking down walls and changing the whole layout of the 1st floor, we're not going to have a gourmet kitchen. And we're just not prepared to put that kind of money in the house given the state of the market, and I don't think our neighboorhood can support the kind of increase in price that we'd want to see to make it worth it. Sorry for all that rambling! Long story short, I think we're going to try to keep it simple for now, and save all these beautiful kitchen ideas for our next house.

cigi, in our last house the previous owner installed tumbled marble in a mauvish tone which IMO looked awful with the St Cecilia granite. Even though the tile was expensive, I tore them off and left the 4" granite backsplash, patched and painted the rest of the wall. The sink was the only working area as the cooktop was on the island. No problem with water as I used BM Aura, but Pittsburgh Paint's Manor Hall Timeless is just as good with a more flat look and lifetime warranty. I'm pondering the issue for my current redo. In various houses I've had paint, wallpaper, white tile with abalone inserts, plain white tile. Right now I'm weighing white tile with a beautiful insert, just paint with no granite backsplash since this area has only a counter but no cooking/wet functions, paint with granite backsplash, or a simple glass tile backsplash with listello over it a la Chinchette. I'm attaching a photo from Chinchette's beautiful kitchen (hope she doesn't mind seeing hers cited as a great example) which shows the last option. In any event, I echo others' advice to not worry about that decision immediately unless you absolutely love a certain look. Just use good paint. Here is a link that might be useful:

I don't know what your client has in mind completely. It might be worth asking the client for some inspiration pictures for what she has in mind. I think some glass mosaics might be overpowering for that granite. But there are some glass mosaics that might work as long as they are very plain. Super white glass tile Maybe something like this with a tiny bit of pattern: Silver planks glass tile Or maybe this one which might work with the colour in the counter: glass mosaic - raw silk