I guess I could do that, only that it's currently flush with the upper cabinets and not sure I want to bring it out further. Or maybe I'm just lazy. I would like to avoid that if possible as I've already had to make some pretty good mounting holes in the upper cabinet and even shave out some of the interior wall to get the mounting screws to set right.

Ooooh, you have me a little worried. I am planning a white on white kitchen...but back to the topic at hand. No I definitely don't think a lip of a backsplash is at all unfinished. In fact, i think most houses just have a lip? I wonder if the wall of a BS is a new thing. In fact i just took a quick look at property listings (no I am not a realtor, haha) and the 3 houses I clicked on (close to a million$) all had a lip of a backsplash. I think it is personal preference. And your right it is a dust catcher=). but better to have dust than me rub off my wall every time I wipe my counters down. (good paint may well solve that dilemma) but I do think that it looks naked with nothing. We cook alot ( and I am messy) so I have to have something behind my stove...and personally i do like the full wall of backsplash. If you have soapstone, that may break up the white enough to not make it so stark. You could possibly consider the lip of soapstone and then tile above that....? Best of luck

Most likely your OTR micro will have a backplate which will need to be attached to your wall. If you put up your backsplash first, you'd have to drill through your tiles to mount that backplate. Put up the micro first, and tile up to it. You might want to consider getting extra tile, so if a little further down the road you decide to put in a hood instead, you'd be able to take down the micro and add the tile to the backsplash. Helene

You will be fine. It's a small area. You need a ruler, manual tile cutter, tile glue. You can do it. Just measure twice and cut once. Follow the pattern of the rest of the tile in terms of spacing. That would be the ideal way so everything will blend and you are not adding another element or something that will bring your eye to that area.