I've been thinking about post all afternoon blue...and I love the minimalist approach, less is more right? But it seems like an inch of tile might look like you ran just out of tile more than anything else. I've seen two inch back splashes and at it seemed like they were more proportionate with the space. If you did 2 inches there's more you could do with it too to add some interest.

We're going back and forth on deciding between no backsplash at all, and using a 4" piece of anodized aluminum.

We didn't install them in either of our new bathrooms. My GC clearly disapproved, but I just don't like them. I wouldn't do this in a kitchen...we splash a lot of water around washing dishes, but honestly we don't splash that much around at the bathroom sinks.

Attached are pictures...

I don't know what your kid is like, but I can tell you that when my children were younger, the backsplash would have had to go up to the ceiling. As long as the walls a scrubbable, you can go with no backsplash, if you like that look.

Youngdeb and others who have elected to go without: did you caulk the vanity to the wall to keep water from dripping behind the vanity, or do you simply trust that water won't get that far?

Caulk the vanity to the wall (IMHO). Water will drip behind, otherwise... even if just from cleaning. I have glass tile halfway up the wall behind my new vanity, but I still caulked the edge of the vanity and sinks to the tile. And darn glad I did, since I totally splashed water all over it washing my face yesterday. I would have been freaking about water running behind and possibly swelling the plywood of the vanity bottom and sides.

I admit I was nervous to caulk. I loved how it all looked just sitting together, with the slight shadow line between the porcelain, wood, and glass elements. But I taped REALLY carefully, right on the edge of everything, so the caulk beads are very small. They don't detract too much at all... and after that big splash yesterday and I can definitively say we made the right decision to caulk.

For our guest bathroom, we used our listello border tile from the shower as a "backsplash" over the back of the sink. We just had a bead of caulk run along the return (we had him dip it down slightly below the surface of the sinktop so it's not too obtrusive), since we didn't want to run the tile along that wall, too.

I think these pics were taken BEFORE the return wall was caulked, but the caulk really isn't visible unless you're looking down at the sink.

For the two upstairs bathrooms (hall bath and MB), we plan to run (our chosen border) tile up the entire wall behind the sink/medicine cab. That will be the only wall space in each bathroom that is tiled outside of the tub surround.

Definitely caulk, whether you do tile or not!

It is common to see beadboard wainscoting behind a pedestal sink, with no backsplash, but I'm wondering how much water will go down the beads? Do you think a bead of caulking just below the sink edge would be good. Thinking again, has anyone had problems with MDF type wainscoting and water?

I have the wainscoting behind my pedestal sink area caulked, even along the sides. A definite need. It has taken me far too long to figure out how to keep this clean though. Regardless of the caulking, there is still the beadboard pattern collecting dirty something. Now I spray a cleaner in the area (even along the baseboards, scrub lightly with a toothbrush and wipe dry. Finally got my head together and keeps all looking like new.