Using Corel PhotoPaint 12 I find it easier to create my text separately on a blank sheet. Then I mask the outer areas so I can copy and paste just the text onto the page. At this point I can manipulate it as needed and drag it where ever. If you are fairly new to Corel you will find by Googling Corel photo paint tutorials you will bring up close to 300,000 hits and you can sort through finding those that are written in a style you can understand. There are loads of great tutorials.

I never had to do that. JoanMN

On the tool options for the freehand selection, make sure antialias is checked and set feather to 1. You can zoom in and remove smaller sections. When you have an area selected, hit delete on the keyboard instead of in PSP, I think it makes it cleaner. Make sure you have the background promoted to layer. You don't have to crop out the whole b/g just enough so that you can isolate your image. Then you can use the eraser tool to get rid of the rest.

I think your inspiration photo is close to an actual photoshop of your space, should you go with a granite slab counter. The difference is that the top of your cabinets has a rounded arch at the top of each door, the inspiration pic has straight lines. You mention you might go with granite tile, then the tile/beadboard combo would make the space quite busy looking so I'd go with tile only backsplash, in that instance. If I were you, I'd post a picture of your actual finished counter before deciding on the backsplash. Your inspiration pic is very pretty but the more I look at it, the more I find it busy looking, with all the vertical lines popping at me.