Hi Nola - I assume you're asking about Sumi-e glass tile, correct? When I talked to the tile vendor and tile maker (Walker Zanger and Lunada Bay, respectively), they were pretty adamant on installing the glass tile on cement board. The Lunada Bay guy said that the tiles may or MAY NOT fall off, and if you've gone a year without anything coming off, you're probably fine. THAT BEING SAID, I just googled and saw this guide that says you can install glass tile on drywall if it's an area that doesn't get a lot of moisture. Has your contractor installed glass tile before? Glass can be persnickety to install and there are special considerations like using a latex-modified thinset (preferably white). I know that the sumi-e tile you want to use is not inexpensive, so you want to make sure your contractor has a lot of experience with glass tile installation. Hopefully Bill V. will see this post and confirm that drywall is okay. Here is a link that might be useful: Glass Tile Installation

"I see lots of backsplashes where the tile sits right on top of the countertop with no room for grout or caulking." A joint the same width as the grout joints should be there, and caulked. If caulk that matches the grout is used it often looks very good.

FWIW, after too many attempts to save drywall when removing tile I now just start by cutting the drywall and tile out completely. It's way faster and easier to patch in a new piece of drywall than to fuss with careful removal of the tile and subsequent repair of the damage. This has the side benefit if you're re-tiling of being able to put in a more appropriate backer board in place of the drywall. It is disappointing when renovation doesn't go to plan, but more common than not in my experience.

Thanks Patricia...paled grayed green sounds appealing-Ill look at those colors...as for cabinets-yes, theyll be installed directly on the log wall...we're blessed with an amazing cabinetmaker who is skilled in log home cabinet installation....we also have kiln dried logs-so they wont shrink/settle too much. Ill attach a pic (not a great one, but the only I could find at the moment) of the lower furing wall we had originally built for the lowers--then tore out-because that would have made a backsplash stick out several inches-a ledge--it would have looked weird, & would have pushed fridge & cabinets out too..eating up several inches of kitchen space. So, we took out the furing wall-moved the fridge outlet to the corner, literally, of the log wall & drywall (can see it in my 1st pic of original post-midway up the wall) & plumbing was able to come up through the floor instead of the wall-I conceded & instead of a wall switch am doing an air switch in counter for disposal-only thing left was switch for over sink light-which for convenience-I wanted near the sink-so we're doing a shallow mount light switch under the upper cabinet, to right of sink-unconventional I believe-but a good tradeoff in my mind. Our cabinetmaker is making the upper cabinet rails a little longer anyway for lights/outlets under the cabinets-so I think it will work out ok. I may need to always point out to guests where that switch is-but worth it in order to have a normal 4" granite backsplash on the log wall. The tile will cover the open areas on the drywall/range side--including behind the chimney hood. Sooo..thats the plan-its been one of those ongoing challenges that went on for quite some time-& we finally got everyomes input & solved the problem..yay! :) Now for the fun stuff :)