This may or may not help, but, my thought is that I'd wished I had a slab instead of the subway behind the cook top because of the grout. It is harder to clean the grout than the marble.

On the other hand, I like the look of the subway. Either way, marble is gorgeous.
Good luck!

Was the thickness and weight of a slab factored into the design from the beginning?

I agree with La_jan's post. Grout behind the range even if sealed is a pain to keep clean.

Also do not forget that marble will etch. Sealant prevents marble from staining, but not from etching, If you are cooking for example spaghetti sauce and it splatters, you will have etching on that slab behind the range. Having said that, a marble slab will look impressive, and etching just goes with the "marble territory", so it just depends on how YOU will feel about it. But don't let anyone tell you that the marble behind the range won't etch.

You could also do a stainless steel backsplash just behind the range. It's a shiny, professional look that is pretty cool. There was a recent thread on this, so try to do a search for it. If you do a SS backsplash behind the range and marble slab backsplash everywhere else--now THAT will look impressive. I didn't quite follow your OP that you will only have a backsplash on just a portion of one wall.

I almost choked on my banana at the thought of an $8,000 backsplash!!

I'm assuming the weight is factored in. We are using a popular, high-end kitchen designer. Then again, is there an issue with using a slab?

The kitchen plan has two sides/walls with an island - so an L shape. The side with the range and upper cabinets will be completely covered by the marble slab but the other side/wall of the kitchen, which is directly across from the island, doesn't have cabinets and we would only be extending the marble up to be even with the end of the cabinets on the range wall. I guess one of my issues is I don't know if it is worth in to spend that much when the main accent wall is at an angle, rather than in direct view of the island seating and dining room table.

Also, I think I would be saving a ton by using even a high end marble subway tile.

Tile will be far less than a slab, but A slab is a far more dramatic impressive and formal lock. I don't think that the two really compare, and right now slab is completely on trend.

My concern would be that overtime I think a white marble slab behind the stove would start to look pretty bad, and I imagine the process of changing it out by removing it would be quite disruptive. So that would be my question. Many people are still struggling with marble on thier countertops⦠And it's true and it does Etch discolor etc.⦠I think that looks worse on upright surface then a flat surface

I dont know if there's anywhere you can go to see what a 10 or even a five-year-old marble slab backsplash looks like? But that would be what Id wonder

How it will age/wear is an excellent point. As well as how is it removed if it looks bad. We have more remodeling to do for this home and I'm also very focused on resale. So far we've gotten some higher end appliances and one of our countertop materials is fancy, so I'm really leaning towards savings thousands and getting marble subway tile.

I know that a marble slab is on trend, but I've been browsing home listings in the 2 million range (which is more than my house!) and I've only seen various tile backsplashes (or in a few cases no backsplash).

The only thing that worries me a little is if marble subway tile might date my kitchen.

Only you know how much you have to spend to impress people in your circle and how much you're willing to go over budget for that payback. Is the rest of your kitchen not impressive enough?

I'd rather slab simply because then there'd be no grout to clean.

The weight of a full height slab on end needs to be engineered for while the walls are open to create strong enough attachment points for the bolts. You can't just glue it to the wall. It may also need additional foundation support below it depending on what structure exists currently. It is signifcantly thicker than a tile backsplash, and that needs to be accounted for in the design. You may want to bump out the cabinets that addtional 3 cm in order to maintain enough clearance behind the range and the slab to keep from scorching it. That means bumping out your ventilation as well, etc.

A slab backsplash is easily a 12K project by the time the engineering and customizations for it are done.

If you are worried about dating your kitchen and resale, you could paint it and use plain glass. Then at time of resale, put in whatever is au courant. Of course that's a little like putting a mythical future buyer's wants ahead of your own, unless you would like plain paint and glass ( which I do, but many would not).

I don't think a marble slab will look dated, because usually things need to be done to death to look really dated, and it won't be done to death because it requires a total gut and re-engineering on top of the already high price of the material. You won't see umpteen HGTV couples saying "oh, but we really wanted a slab backsplash", it's my guess.

If your focus is on re-sale, I wouldn't do the marble slab behind the stove. For all the reasons already mentioned. Over time it will look tired with staining. The subway tile backsplash has been around for generations and well accepted As a backsplash in my area. At least grout can be somewhat cleaned up at sale time. Don't know how to clean up the marble slabs...is replacement at sale time, the option for tired and stained marble? I would use that 8k for something else to get more mileage for my money. IMHO, every single element in a high-end kitchen doesn't have to cost a fortune to make it look nice, impressive, and high end.