And now, for a totally wacko idea (offered in the spirit of all-out brainstorming, because you never know where a goofy idea will go.) Your tile guy could use his wet saw to slice the Moroccan tiles into thin strips, and you could build a liner with one or two rows of these strips. Tierra Y Fuego offers a sliced-up version of their Mexican Talavera tiles, to give you a visual of how your tiles might look (after being cut into strips): And Avente Tile now offers a sliced up version of their cement tiles, so it's not completely unheard of: I kind of think this might work best when the entire tile installation is "sliced up". I'm not sure how well it would work when coupled with your lovely installation of the whole tiles over the range (which I certainly would never change.) But, it would carry the exact same colors around the room. I dunno. I just feel better now that I've gotten that idea out of my brain. Since I've cut up tiles for mosaic work, I couldn't quite squash the idea. As I said...just kicking around ideas and brainstorming. ;-)

mwrede: Did you make a decision and call them back the next day? I really hope not--it's too stressful to be rushed thinking this through! Let me first say that I've never done a remodel, and I tend to overthink things,even after I've made my decision. This is your personal space; it should look as close to your vision as possible. Your idea for the backsplash is better than their's--ditch the side pieces. Splashback isn't so great that they are needed. They really seem to me to be a waste of marble and $$. I wouldn't think mirrors all the way down would be the best look. The round mirrors will probably be too small for the large vanity, but I like the idea of mixing a round mirror over the shorter vanity and a rectangular over the longer one, but not splitting the longer into 3 pieces--too choppy, not as pleasing visually. (I don't know why, but picturing mirror/sconce/mirror/sconce/mirror makes me think of an old Italian style, maybe in a 70s Vegas hotel.) The photos show a sleeker, calmer bath taking shape--all those elements on the wall don't really fit that. (Oh, and yes--you must get some money cut off the bill. That's a given!)

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:

So tired of hearing " but that will make it look dated" or "it wouldn't be good for resale" Everything is going to be dated at some point, the kitchen designers, cabinet companies and appliance companies make sure of that. Example: stainless steel appliances were just coming on the market 15 years ago when we gutted our kitchen for a remodel. It was hard for me to find stainless in my area at that time, I live in a small mid western town. So, have you noticed in the past few years appliance companies have been trying to bring out new colors, grayed looking stainless, now ice white etc. they are trying to make people think their stainless appliances are soon going to be "dated". But I have read in several articles that stainless is still the number one choice. I chose a cinnamon stained cherry wood for our new build. I thought about white because that is the trend right now, but I reasoned cherry cabinets will always be in style while the white trend Has just a few more years. I won't be a slave to trends. Just my opinion.