cabinetfanatic is right on. I didn't want to crawl under the house and follow all the wires. So what I did was remove the wall phone plate and connected matching wires together with B wire connectors (easy peasey to use) that I bought on amazon. (they were the same ones that were already used on some of the wires in the group of 4 sets (for 4 extensions throughout the house)...this is a 1970 house with spaghetti phone wires! Even though the wires are low voltage I wanted them secure to avoid any problems. Then I patched it using a patch kit. I made myself a note in my "info about my house" folder with photo of the open hole and wires for future homebuyer to use the connection if they need to dig it out. They might need to review that wiring if the extensions aren't working some day. Just as a courtesy. Our previous owners gave me the idea of a saving info like that.

Thanks everybody for all the great suggestions. Am heading out to the various tile stores tomorrow morning to pick get as many samples as I can. Still not sure whether to go with a very simple solid color 4" or 6" tiles or incorporate more pattern. My original plan had been 4" bathroom tiles that basically matched the frangipane paint color for the area under the bar and then a 2" tile border of the same tiles around some sort of picture for behind the stove (similar to AnnieD's but horizontal b/c I don't have as much space between my stove and hood). Will let you know what I settle on.

I agree that we GWers may have high expectations, but then again, we see well done work and see shoddy work here and no one wants their kitchen to be shoddy (ask me how I know, lol). We save up, borrow, or in our case, both, to get the work done and have to trust others to take care of things professionally. I lost count of how many times I'd find poor work and then someone would try to convince me it was "good enough". Well, when we signed the contracts and started big writing checks, we were led to believe we'd have a well crafted job and not just "good enough" by their standards. I wonder if they do such poor work in their own homes. I understand that people make mistakes and no one is perfect. Sometimes you have to roll with the situation, but if the mistake was not by the homeowner, why are they the only one who should suffer for the mistake? I let a bunch of things slide yet am left with many more than should not have been done that way. Now that we are left in the lurch, I am not ok with letting anything slide. If our gc had used professional pride in workmanship and been doing his best to make things right, I would not be nitpicking like I am now. Once the professional shows that they take no responsibility for their mistakes and tries to say the homeowner is unreasonable, then all bets are off. Why should I worry about his needing to do extra work to correct his poor installation of something or poor judgement? I should feel sympathy for their errors yet they show little regard for giving us a well done project. If I wanted a ton of errors, we could have paid much less and/or tried our own inexperienced hands at it. We pay professionals handsomely for a reason. They were not working for minimum wage (and even then, you work an honest day for an honest day's pay). I think the real problem with this story is that the fabricator knowingly installed the damaged piece without conferring with the homeowner. They made the decision for the homeowner to accept an inferior piece and installed it without disclosure. Now that there will be more expense and risk in removing it, I think it is entirely fair that the OP gives them the alternative of financial compensation. We have had many similar situations, both big and small, with our reno and it really ticked me off that they'd decide for us and then try to act surprised when we were not happy with what they did. I make mistakes in my job, but I own up to them and do not intentionally do anything wrong. This guy knew the piece was scratched. If he took the risk to install it on the sly, then he needs to accept the consequences.

To support what Wilson853 said, per the NIH (excerpt): . New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces SARS-CoV-2 stability similar to original SARS virus. The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. The study information was widely shared during the past two weeks after the researchers placed the contents on a preprint server to quickly share their data with colleagues. . From: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces