Hi Aliris, just a 4" strip would not be 'tall' enough for me. I prefer the BS to go up to the bottom of the uppers (except of course under the sill), not because of splashing, but because it is a more 'finished' look to me.
Secondly, I like the lighter tile better by far. I would love to see it together with the green slate.
Thirdly, would you like the tile to stand out or the grout? I think the attention should be drawn to the tile and therefore I would choose a grout that is close in colour to the tile. There is plenty of warmth in your lovely cabs and gorgeous work tops.
Lastly, I would prefer one format of tile (let's say a subway) instead of two or three different formats.

HTH, Petra

A short backsplash serves to protect the wall from denting and scuffing. A full-height backsplash could serve to keep water off the drywall behind the sink, if you are a splashy dishwasher (though you've got a window, so not applicable).

Otherwise, I don't see what function a full-height backsplash serves. It is solely decorative as far as I can tell.

Being that it is decorative, I'd personally lean toward a bold, dramatic, even textured backsplash. A neutral backsplash does not seem much different from neutral paint. That's my input, anyway. Fossils should very cool.

Aliris,
Is that rainforest granite?
Knock out gorgeous! I think I am in love.
~boxer

Thanks Petra, John.

Photos are so interesting. I agree in photos that the lighter colored stone looks better... but in person I liked the oranger, only now seeing it through the camera's lens, I think I'm changing my opinion in person as well. Go figure. Anyway, dh was certain he prefered the lighter, I like the idea of it better too, and am at best even on the looks; but the idea trumps anyway ... all that together makes for the lighter being it.

I see your point, Petra, about not glombling up the tile with too much tile-texture. I guess there's enough texture in the tile already and after all, that's what that tile is about, its texture. So cutting the tile might steal its thunder, that texture. Hmmm... I'll be thinking a lot about that. Thanks.

And those are good points about the grout too. I was thinking, I think, to sort of compromise about losing out on the warm color of the oranger tile. But that may not be a way to do it ... only, I'm not talking about a strong color grout, just a shade, if possible, stronger than the stone itself. Dunno, haven't even checked out the grout options yet. There may not even be something sufficiently subtle anyway.

Does this pattern seem too distracting?

Thanks jl - I do think the stone is too happening to have too wild a backsplash; that's why I was thinking of jazzing up boring in color, with subtle in pattern - you wouldn't really see anything to challenge the primacy of the stone, but there'd be something there to get your interest if you looked twice. My thoughts at least.

I think, from your breakdown of relative function, that a short bs would be fine for my purposes...

thanks again!

Hi BP - yup; "rainforest green" from my sil's home country, the state of Rajasthan to be more precise. I've tried to get a good read on its site-of-origin on google earth but haven't been too successful. I think a field trip may be in order....

I was posting when you did so didn't see you when I posted a second ago. Gotta change that subject....

BTW, if anyone's interested in using this stone, I have a lot to say about the logistics of choosing and cutting it. Please ask if this is of interest.

Hi BP - yup; "rainforest green" from my sil's home country, the state of Rajasthan to be more precise. I've tried to get a good read on its site-of-origin on google earth but haven't been too successful. I think a field trip may be in order....

I was posting when you did so didn't see you when I posted a second ago. Gotta change that subject....

BTW, if anyone's interested in using this stone, I have a lot to say about the logistics of choosing and cutting it. Please ask if this is of interest.

This is beautiful! You must be so excited about this. Of course I love your cabinets too ;)

Love the granite - very pretty. Great with the cabs too.

I have the yellowish limestone in my powder room and love the little fossils in it (something to look at while you are in there ;)

I will say i'm not a fan of the 4in backsplash. If you choose such an interesting natural stone, go big ;) No one will even notice it at 4inch. I also think the 4inch deal leaves a nice little ledge that you forget to clean until it looks like it has a nice layer of grime on it then you forget and wipe it all over your paint, which is hopefully glossy and easy to clean up :) OK, maybe you are not a slouch of a housecleaner like I am.

aliris - your kitchen is so beautiful - absolutely love your cabinets and countertops. I have a similar situation with a window behind my clean-up sink with a fair amount of counterspace b/t the faucet and the window. I'm doing a chunky trim all the way around the window and down to the counter. Personally, I thought a strip of anything just wouldn't look right. I'm beginning to think BS is one of the hardest decisions we have to make. I don't have a lot of wall space and am doing an earth clay product on the walls and have decided (with the exception of right behind the stove) not to do any kind of BS. Just going with the wall treatment. I've been told I could do the earth clay behind the stove as well if I have some kind of a wax sealer applied. I'm still processing this. Any thoughts about doing the rainforest (one of my fav granites) as a BS?

I've never been one for a 4" bs, but I can see why you'd want it. It does work with your cab layout. Maybe you're not a splashy as me, but I didn't like wiping the drywall above my old 4" laminate bs.

Now, I say this with love, Aliris. I really don't like that tile with your marble. Really. In these pics, it doesn't look good at all, IMHO. Again, it's just MHO. The orangey-ness and pattern takes away the chic, polished look of the marble and makes me think you found a box of something in the basement and decided to use it because you ran out of money. So sorry! I know you didn't ask about the tile, only it's placement. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut.....

Hey yall - I should have clarified; I'm happy for any and all comments, I'm not really even sure what is an issue to ask about. So, for example, I appreciate your observation, breezy, that the tile doesn't work. Does that mean both tiles or just the orangey one? I'm wondering whether actually it's the high angle of the photos, taken in order to try to capture the granite, that changes things. Because in fact the color isn't all that off; it is orangey. But IRL it doesn't look quite so bad as I agree it does here. That said, I'm in agreement the orangey one is out. But the whiter one, which is on top of the low baking counter -- does that one seem bad too? You can't make out the fossils in the picture. I could try a closer-up photo of it though I doubt, still, it would capture it. Here, try this: contemplated tile for bs

Dannie - I have seen the rainforest cut into tiles. I think it looks great. And would certainly avoid the fabricator issues. If you're tempted by the colors, I think it's a great idea. The colors range from green, dark and light to orange to brown and on - lots of color-options. But you'd want to be careful it wasn't clashing with your countertop. Here's a link showing some of the range of rainforest colors

You know, I can see this BS decision really rips people up, but it hasn't particularly upset me. Not like the faucets, that's for sure! Maybe I'm just unaware of the issues; it's not keeping me up at night. I can see I'm in a vast minority on this though!

Marcy, that's great you have the same material! And I think you're making a very important point about small losing all the interesting fossils ... I was starting to worry about that. The 4" is dictated by that window ledge. I could go bigger but that really changes the look I had envisioned; bigger, though, might be the only way to actually realize that look in some sense.

I just covered up the tile with beige towels down to 4"x8" and what is left is blotchiness - then again as a backsplash 30" away it's never going to be easy to actually pick much of anything out. Garumph.

I think you can see what a rotten housecleaner I am! And this is in a brand new kitchen! I take your point about the ledge on the 4" tile. Which segues nicely to:

enduring: I am rather a fan of your cabinets as well! I notice you have a bevel on the stile of your cabinets that softens the edge a bit. I wish I'd thought of that. My sharp edges gather dirt alarmingly quickly. I bet that slight rounding would help discourage the landing of dirt. Shouldn't the KD have pointed that out...? :( I probably wouldn't have appreciated the value anyway even if she had though. A word to the wise: sharp edges on cabinets accumulate a lot of gunk!

Hi Aliris, yes, that pattern you have laid out would be way too busy for me. I agree with marcydc that such a nice natural stone should be displayed in a bold manner, so big tiles, few grout lines and going (where possible) up to the uppers. I must say drdannie's suggestion of using the rainforest as a BS also sound great.
Good luck with your decision, BS is one of the most personal and therefore often one of the most difficult decisions in completing a kitchen.

Dannie - check out these rainforest backsplash prefab options. I have no idea how expensive they may be

Here is a link that might be useful: prefab rainforest backsplash tiles from MSI, largest stone importer

Aliris,
Truly beautiful. You have great taste!
~bp
(not the oil spiller)

Maybe you can do a brick pattern with them cut to 4x12 to get larger pieces? or make the 4x12 the bottom layer and go a little bigger up - like 6x12?

I love limestone. I put Azul Palomar in one bathroom, Halila in the master bathroom, and I think Jerusalem Gold (it's yellowish anyway) in the powder room.

Check out the fossils in the Pacific Taupe below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Limestone

oooo that is nice, marcy. I assume they must mean that stone is from "Colombia" not "Columbia", right? Though I hadn't realized there were limestones from there either. The stuff I liked, "Belgium truffles" is not actually from Belgium but from Turkey, it turns out. And the stuff in my pictures is from Israel I guess. Sounds like most if not all of your stuff is too.

I was looking at the prefab tile from MSI . I was at their massive warehouse and saw a huge pile of this gorgeous stuff all around. Wonder what it costs.... sure would be nice not to have to cut it all up.

Would that tile pattern really look busy if the grout were a similar color to the stone which is itself almost exactly the wall color? Would you really notice?

Must surely mean Colombia. I didn't notice that! Looks like they are from all over. I wikipedia'd it :)

My contractor cut my honed crema marfil into 3x12's for an extra $300 or so. My last kitchen, done around 2000, was 4 different kinds of tannish limestones cut into 3x6's and mixed up. Counters were black granite, so no issues with the busyness there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia on Limestone

This is RF Brown granite, but the BS looks like random length subway tiles in various shades. Maybe enough visual reference to give ideas on how it would look with RF Green and some different tiles.

errr I think I need new eyes, but I know I need new glasses ;P

Its not random lengths, 3x6 maybe, I'm still in the developing stages of TKO...forgive my n00biness.

:)

Nice picture Kode! You will get some variations like that with limestone, depending on how many boxes you buy.

Here's my floor. Notice some of the tiles are lighter and some more yellow.

Found a pic of the condo I sold 6 years ago. It is the 4 diff limestone config.

Marcy - snazzy hood. Kode - I like how their electrical plate is kinda sorta the same, but different shade of beige - at first you wonder why that one "tile" is vertical! I do like that subway tiling. Truthfully, I'm not fully convinced that my slightly busier but hopefully also slightly more visually interesting idea wouldn't work. No offense; I am wanting and listening to all ideas - that's why I asked. I'm still leaning toward my idea though.

As far as providing a ledge for filth in the face of wanton housecleaning, well - that is possibly problematic. But I don't want to be submersed in tile, especially not limestone. I like limestone, obviously. But it sets up a heavy aura really quickly. I want the essence, as it were, without the weight.

Anyway, thanks immensely for the pictures - they're tremendously helpful. running....

Aliris, I've been feeling badly since commenting on the tile choice earlier. I think I'm getting tired of giving my opinion on questions regarding finishes. Everything is so subjective. I have very simple tastes, but not everyone does. And, adequately capturing color and texture in a photo and also the viewer's monitor make a big difference.

Since you specifically asked me a follow-up, I'll answer. On my iPad screen, the whiter tile still looks too orange for me. For me, I don't like the color with your stunning marble. For me, I don't like the tile's pattern with your stunning marble. For me, I wouldn't lay the that tile in the various sizes described with your stunning marble. For me in my kitchen. Your kitchen isn't mine!

I'm sure there's a kinder, gentler way for me to say all this. I apologize if it's not coming out the right way. You've agonized over every decision along the way, and you're creating a space that reflects you. I only know you a little bit from our communication, but I would say this kitchen is very you. Do what looks good to you and you'll love it in the end. I'll be here cheering you on.

rushing so no time to comment in detail other than to say "wow the counters are beautiful" and you know what they say about a messy desk? I think the same applies to a child-filled lived in house. But, er, um, isn't your Karbon rather, um, upright? I have not had my Karbon installed yet but plan to keep it a a lower, more discrete elevation. (just kidding).

Do you have exposed wall above your upper cabs?

From what I am able to see in your pics, I would use your backsplash tile everywhere that I currently see drywall. It appears that you don't have large swaths of drywall with the exception of above the pass-through. Any kind of artificial cut-off would look okay in some places but strange in others because of your varying horizontal planes.
I personally lean toward backsplash walls versus strips so that also influences my opinion on your backsplash.

Raro: &_& [Wikipedia tells me that's an emoticon for rolling eyes, but I'm not convinced....]. I stuck that faucet that way to get it out of the way of the picture...! But you knew that... :)

wolfgang, no - upper cabs go straight up to to the 96" ceilings.

Breezy dear: No Way! Now I've been feeling guilty all day about your feeling badly about... etc. I absolutely asked you for your opinion; I asked everyone for their opinion. And I am hearing, from almost everyone, an opinion that's different from mine. But that's exactly why I asked for it?! I definitely may still do my plan even in the face of so many people saying that's not their preference. I haven't actually heard anyone, I think, saying 'that will be a major mistake'. I've heard 'not what I would do' and 'YMMV' and I've heard a host of interesting rationalizations for their reasonings, which are very helpful. e.g., fossils want big surface area; busy here already, go light on the distracting grout, etc.

For whatever reason, this particular decision is not eating me up as many other ones have. The faucet one, for example, rendered me practically suicidal; this one just not so much. For some reason I feel a fairly anchored vision in my minds' eye ... and it happens to be rather different from others'. And so that's all the more reason that I really, really do want to hear others' dissenting opinions, and their reasons for it. I deeply appreciate your - and others' - willingness to think about this matter that really only affects me in the end, not them -- I appreciate the willingness to conjure up and express an opinion. I wouldn't triffle with your time by asking for one and not valuing it and appreciating the effort.

That said, it's possible I may still not do what you suggest! But it won't be because I haven't hung on your words and your reasoning.

I know you know what you "would' say, but I don't. So even though it feels like you're repeating yourself ad nauseum, that's not my perspective -- so I appreciate you repeating yourself as well.

OK ... anyone want to know where my reasoning's at? [blanketing silence...]. I'm still thinking of going with the 4" high tile, that after having gone the ringer through a mockup of doing it the whole way.

The 4" is dictated by the height of the window behind the sink. And, btw, it does look different at standing-height than the vantage of the camera, which is way up in the air in order to minimize glare on the stone...

I agree there's no obvious place to stop the backsplash; lots of different natural heights. So ... you could say go up to the cabinets. But that's too fish-bowly I think. Also, I think it's competing with the countertop. The RFG is the star of the show; it just is. If I want to show off those lovely limestone fossils, then they have to go play in their own arena, say in the bathroom. The kitchen's the RFG's. So putting up the bs all the way to the upper cabinets will be jockeying for attention too much.

Protection-wise, I want something there to keep drips from the backs of the cabinets, but 4" will do that. Wall-protection wise, I think there's sufficient this way where it matters. sink's too far to matter and there's no more space than 4" behind it anyway. Baking center will get 4"+6" = 10" already. Side of stove, not all that splattery. Back of stove, however: yes. very splattery. And that will be tiled the full way.

All that said, we're not really even talking very much acreage additionally, so ... that's where I was at before when I thought oh WTH, just do it all ... and _sigh_ I may at that yet. But I'm worried about competing. I like the look of the photos someone posted of the traditional kitchens that have just minimal backsplash back there. That must be where my mind's eye vision is stuck; I like that. And since my ideal kitchen is a made-over barn with one long table in the center and an old dairy sink in the middle, well, maybe that's some of my inspiration as well.

OK, so that's where I'm at ... this minute. Next, different.

And let me repeat, because everyone seems to think differently I'm listening, still, closely to all the calls that say to-the-cabs. I may toss this one to dh. Dunno. But please, don't stop posting just because you happen to have some opinion that's different from mine. Or anyone else's for that matter....

OMG, one of those people who ask for opinions and does it her own way anyway ;) - JUST KIDDING!!

You're reasoning sounds sane to me :) Here's the deal too. If you put it up at 4in and live with it a bit and decide it is too little and you want more, you can always add more! You might have some halves to remove near the stove, but NBD! Because you're not stressed about it I think is a good happy sign. (and dang, that faucet decision put me over the edge too - I finally punted to DH so now we have nice faucet$).

Happy Friday!

Ha! Marcy - is the profligate part of your pairing the dh too? Same here. I thought it was supposed to be the females who $pend ... not our pattern. Me: "but we can't afford it..." He: "So what"? Geesh.

OK, I was thinking along those lines a bit too, except ... We'll want to put some sort of edging on the 4", either grout or physically round it a bit. And in so doing I think then you wouldn't be able to stack more on top later, right? I'm not sure about that and was going to put it on the list of q's for my tile guy.

Plus, we all know "later" rarely happens. Best to try to get it right-ish from the first. That probably depends hugely on who we're talking about ... me, this is it.

I think, for me at least, the faucet problem was so stressful because all the options are offensively overpriced, look horrible, and don't even function very well either. I can hear yall gasping audibly. But yes, I don't really like the looks of any of em. I guess 'faucets' is not an arena in which I find aesthetics comfortably melds with function. =0.02 or less....