I can see why it might be advisable to remove the left/rt portions of tile, but I would be inclined to wait until ithe kitchen is completed before deciding. If, as your gut tells you, it "needs" to come down, nothing is really lost except a little more time with it up. Perhaps knowing you are not "locked-in" or committed to it, will help give the perspective to view it more objectively while deciding for sure. This way you will not only have the chance to see it with everything else in place, but you will also have the opportunity to get used to it, before deciding if you truly dislike it, or just haven't gotten used to it being there. As subtle (in color) as our tile is, after months of looking at white painted Sheetrock, it still looked "different" and stood out when we looked at our kitchen. Once we became accustomed to it, we couldn't imagine our walls without it. That's how I am with many things--after living with a blank wall or empty space for any period of time, even a long awaited piece of furniture or decor item jumps out at me, and almost seems like too much, until I get used to the vacant space being filled. Thanks for the compliments on our backsplash Laura and andreak100! It's the Opera Glass tile from Artistic Tile (Stilatto pattern) in Wolfgang White. It does read greenish-blue(-grey) in certain lights or times of day. We had to think about that one while deciding if we wanted to use it, and obviously decided to go for it! Good luck Laura! Honestly, whatever you decide will look terrific!

went shopping again today to look at granite again- this is a granite i fell in love with when we first started looking around a month ago. Decided to go back to it and analyze it more... here's a pic from pinterest that gives a nice idea of how it will look. I think I am going away from the Cambria Canterbury and going back to granite which was our first thought. I think it just looks more rustic. :) Also wondering about a chiseled edge in the granite- I saw a pic and I LOVE it!! heard from the kitchen and granite people today that it is higher maintenance bc of the nature of it... anyone have experience with this? I am posting a seperate thread about this too. thanks for your input! :) Here is a link that might be useful: typhooon bordeaux and black cabs

Here's the only downdraft vent that matters as far as I'm concerned, because it rises out from below the countertop to be above your pots and pans. It doesn't try to fight gravity by making steam fall instead of rise. It doesn't work just for the rear burners as most behind-the-cooktop pop-up extractors do, and it doesn't add depth to your countertop. When stowed, it's flush with the countertop. Turn a knob and it rises, and then you can push it to the left or right as necessary. Turn the knob the other way and it centers and retracts. All sorts of cooktops are offered that match its size and appearance and can be placed on either side, including 2- or 4-burner electric or gas cooktops, grills, griddles, deep fryers, grills, wok burners, and even a teppan yaki plate. You can also use similarly-sized items from other manufacturers. It's the Gaggenau VL 051, and there's only one problem with it: it was discontinued a year or two ago. Fortunately, there still seems to be several in the pipeline available from vendors or on eBay or Craigslist. Worth searching out IMO.

writersblock, I hear what you are saying. I have no problem finding individual pieces that I like, but no confidence in my ability to envision all of the pieces coming together successfully as a whole. In this case, I don't want to end up with subway tile because I chose a granite with movement in it. But it's difficult to envision the end result. Anyway, I saw some large format tiles today and wonder if these would work any better. They are in the middle, to the left of the granite. The main issue with these (aside from possibly clashing with the granite) is that the size of the tiles doesn't lend itself well to backsplash sizes; they are meant to cover entire walls.