It may be that the person installing the counters is worried about a good tight fit against all the walls where counters will run. If your walls are not flat and straight, the installers can cover a pretty good sized gap with that thick strip of countertop material laid a few inches up the wall ( the older style installations). But with good modern templating, you should expect a good fit even if your walls are a little bit off, then the tile can come right down to the counter and still meet with a small caulk joint at the change of plane. Perhaps you can ask them if they're worried about uneven walls, or you can take a yardstick to them yourself to see how they look. If it were my kitchen I'd certainly want the newer style installation.

mycatz-- We bought a wet saw. I just taught myself how. I have already done 3000 sq. ft of hardwoods and plenty of finish work on this house so figured I can do tile as well. Its a long story but we have an absentee builder and a bank who says we must finish, even though they chose our builder. I have learned a great many things from doing all this and feel I could tackle just about anything. Oh and yes you may have to put in extensions,we had to anyway as we have extensive beadboard and need extensions for that as well. Here is some of what I have been working on. Cabs will be white, haven't decided if I am going with lt grey or white grout yet.

My preference is for the tile to meet the countertop, with no 4" strip of counter on the wall. For me, the only reason I would have a 4" strip of counter on the wall is if I were not going to have any other backsplash otherwise, and wanted to protect the wall from splatters, etc. The reason why it used to be standard to have a 3-4" strip of countertop dates back to the formica days. Now that we have modern counter fabrication where a counter is cut precisely to meet the wall, with no gap, there isn't a practical reason to have the strip. But if you like the look (i.e. people like the vintagey mid-century appearance of the 4" strip), go for it. In any case, I will list the reasons why I do not like a small strip of counter on the backsplash: - you will spend a lot of effort designing a beautiful tile backsplash; why cut it short by 4". - the additional horizontal line of the 4" strip will visually make the space between your counter and upper cabinets look smaller and more cramped - the 4" backsplash creates a small "ledge" which collects dust. Oy, yet one more thing to clean. - you will be charged for the material and installation for the 4" backsplash; money that you may have preferred to spend elsewhere. This is all MHO. If you simply like the look, get what YOU want.

@nadianyc - Thanks, the kitchen is not done yet, hence no "reveal" thread. The vent hood is by Prestige. It comes highly recommended from the Appliances forum and moves a crazy amount of air. I bought it from AJ Madison - it's an insert. They have two versions - one where the fans are installed on the vent hood and another where they are installed in line with the ducting. The second version is much quieter but I've had bad luck with fans installed in a hot place (attic) so I went with the regular model instead. If you want the cabinets to be completely flat on the front as ours are you need to either bump the uppers outward or make them deeper than normal because the depth of the insert is 14-15 inches if I remember correctly. I bought the tiles at a local distributor (Palmetto Tile Distributors) but they are readily available online, even on Ebay with free shipping.