Sue, next time add a bit of heavy cream to the as well. Makes the sauce even more decadent than it all ready is. I have some puff pastry in the freezer that might just be destined for this. Thanks for the suggestion. Ann

I agree, the first two aren't actually maple syrup at all. I'd only eat/use the last one, because I AM a syrup snob, LOL. the grandkids like Mrs. Butterworth's, which has a lot of sugar/sweetener and artificial flavoring, but no real maple. I don't know what's in the sugar free stuff. The last one is what I'd use, love maple syrup. I'd not use the sugar free stuff to bake with, artificial sweeteners throw off the science of baked goods without careful substitutions. Lars, I thought of you last weekend, I was driving and passed a stand of sugar maples with the taps and buckets, it's been unusually cold here and they're still tapping. I need to pick some up myself, I'm told the local sugarbush is selling for $10 a quart. No grade, LOL, just "maple syrup", which means it's grade B or maybe darker. Annie

Made a great dessert last night. Grilled pineapple slices that had been soaked in a rum / brown sugar / vanilla sauce. Served a scoop of ice cream with the pineapple and topped with some of the sauce. I could see doing this with watermelon ( not grilled ) as a super dessert. Also great just over ice cream.

Thanks mayflowers. I am sure people are tired of looking at my kitchen at this point, but this is such a hard decision, because it is so permanent! The two ideas I am now considering are: (1) your idea of cream tile matching the wall color (though I cannot really find one that truly comes close to the wall color) and (2) still considering a sage green tile, but I feel like that may take away from my green shelves. I am considering square, rectangular sizes/ different layouts of tiles at this point at this point. as for area, I am just considering doing the area under the wall from the cabinet to the left of the stove to under the microwave. May or may not run it up in the corner to the first green shelf. I am also going to leave the area in the third picture without a backsplash (the pic with the glass cabinets).