I decided you might want another angle. Forgive the dishes/mess. I need to leave for work soon, and I wanted to get this up before I leave. It's not this dark. Using my phone to photograph. It can't compensate Ewell for shooting into a window's light.

Here's a quick and dirty visual to possibly help you. I used the color picker straight off your tiles in the picture and painted the areas that color. It's quite dark, combined with your dark floors, nearly black counter, and black appliances, and then a very dark wall color. In a room with looming cabinets surrounding one small window, it sucks a lot of light.

Glass. Backpainted glass. Check with a local commercial glass place. They should be able to cut a piece with your socket outlets in place, then temper it. There are even online places. If you google gardenweb and backpainted glass, a bunch of threads should pop up. There was a recent thread where someone went that route.
Note: It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

BTW: I love your counters!!!

There's no rule that says you have to use the same material on both walls, and glass is a great option for your sink wall, but not back painted glass. Consider clear, colorless glass so that if you ever change your wall color you won't have to change your bs. The image below is from Dreamwalls. Glass sheets can be expensive, but you have such a small expanse to cover it will likely be manageable. I'd take it from the inside corner to the bottom of the first cabinet.

Alternatively, you could just get subway tile in a shade of burgundy that matches your wall.

Do you have any leftover material from the countertops for use on the sink wall?

Do you have any leftover material from the countertops for use on the sink wall?

My granite yard might have a remnant from my counters, but I bought it as counters, not as a slab.

Beautybutdebtfree, the counters are blue and not as dark as they look in the photos, but I'm definitely not doing as much as that. I think it's clear that it would be too much. Though, the stainless catches the light and reflects it, so it's not as dark as a similar color in paint.

Is there a way to do something just behind the sink and not on that whole wall that would look purposeful? Not like an afterthought?

I've never been else about glass, but maybe I'll try to bring something home to see if I like it better in situ.

If you like the SS on the stove wall and your main concern is the faucets, I'd continue with your original plan. In a small kitchen, and in a contemporary style, you don't want to start mixing materials. That busyness will be far worse than your faucet blending in. That's the type of thing you stop noticing once your kitchen loses its newness. The SS does look dark, but you're seeing reflection that we don't see in a photo, so I think you're good. I'd lighten the paint though.

Why don't you just tile the one wall for now and leave the rest painted? Like on your first picture? I think that looks fine. Just can't tell if the tile is already up or if it is just an unpaired wall.

No tile up yet. (The ones behind the sink are held up with painter's tape.). The white wall is primed but not painted. The red continues into the dining room and through a whole wall from the dining room into the living room, so it's an accent L rather than an accent wall. We just had it freshly painted (though it was already that color) and we LOVE IT. Changing the paint is not an option not for cost but because it really works and makes us happy

I know I'm overly focused now, but I'm definitely not willing to put the backsplash all the way up to the cabinets and out to the end of the peninsula on the window wall. When I tape it out, it makes me sad.

I keep thinking that there has to something I can do just behind the sink that will look cool and not ruin what I am otherwise THRILLED with.

Maybe you could mock up putting the backsplash only under the window/behind the sink and leaving the rest painted on that wall. Then repeat it behind the range and paint the rest of that wall the burgundy color as well. It would look purposeful since you have the backsplash in more than one place but would tie the two walls together...something to think about anyway.

This post was edited by dcward89 on Sun, Nov 16, 14 at 13:42

You need a bs to protect walls, cabinets, floors and subfloor from water. If you don't have one, especially behind the sink, you're going to end up replacing one or more of these elements while there's still plenty of life in your kitchen. This would be a waste, especially in such a pretty space.

The thing is, you bought the wrong tile. It's dark and bumming you out, and you just shouldn't use it. Sell it on Craigslist, accept the mistake, and move on. Start looking for tile that you like on both walls, that will make your heart soar every time you see it. OR go for a 2" high bs out of counter material all the way around. It's the simplest solution, probably very affordable, and 2" looks a lot more current than the traditional 4". Good luck.

OK, you've all convinced me to change. I *thought* I liked the stainless tiles on the non window walls, but I changed my mind since you brilliant people forced me to look more closely.

I brought home a bunch of other options today and think I really like two of them.

This is the first. It's hard to capture the the pearly finish and visual interest of the squares.

1. Better?

2. Can I do it just under the window so I can have my red wall, or will that look weird?

The second option is a vertical wave. I've tried to put it in so you can see how it would look there.

Same questions as above.

Preference? Reasons for one out the other?

The are Porcelanosa porcelain large format wall tiles. They would be full height, counter to cabinet without grout. Vertical grout every foot.

Thanks!

I like the white wave. It highlights the white veins in the counter.

Neither. The first reminds me of orange peel wall texture and the second is too much wave pattern. Your cherry has a wavy pattern too.

I don't like red and white together. It's too stark. I like your cabinets with the red. There is another gardenwebber, raynag, who put in a red mosaic bs (I know gardenwebbers don't like mosaics). But if you really like red...I think this is a nice option.

Below is a link to her kitchen. Her post is about 3/4 of the way down.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raynag's kitchen

I think the white is too stark against all the warmth of your cabinets and wall color.

You all might not like my house. We have bright white doors and trim next to the red and love it. I can not tell you how happy my shiny white electrical outlets against the red make me. That said, I liked that choice that reads "orange peal" (which is now all I can see Lol) had a little bit of warmth to it. It's not pure white.

I hated the grays and silvers. Something a bit more gold might work. I'll pull back out the beige I rejected.

I don't like the glass panels. Tried. Just don't. I could be OK with clear glass behind the sink, but only there. And I'm not sure how I'd feel about that.

Mosaic is out. Even bars feel to busy to me. Squares would give me a headache.

Thanks for all the thoughtful input.

I'd definitely go with a larger format tile. Surprisingly, very few pictures of kitchens although the look is more popular in Europe.

Here is a link that might be useful: large format tiles for BS

What I keep coming back to is the fact that you love your wall color. Why cover any more of it than you must? And why add yet another visual element to a space that already has two different colored walls? How do you feel about using your counter material for a 2" bs? Are you so enamored of tile that you feel your space would be incomplete without it?

I'm glad you've found tile that you like. This might not be the best spot for it. Have you considered using red onyx? They make sheets of mosaic tile with it in all formats, squares, diamonds, and the hex below. It's a natural material so colors can vary from purple to rust, and it's lovely in person. I've never found a good spot for it in my house but perhaps it would work in yours.

I can't get any more of my granite. It was hard to find from the offset (Bros blue leathered), and there are no remnants left that will work.

The white wall is just primed. I need something there, even if it's just paint. And in some I need something more than pain between my range and hood, even with the range's raised back. I was thinking it would be the same as behind the sink. So that would be two not three things.

That said, I'm still working on something I don't hate.

I mocked up a glass backslash for behind the sink. The photo shows cheap photo frame glass taped up. I can get an exactly measured piece online for $40-50. No seems. Not sure about local. Thoughts?

I feel the need to reiterate, I don't know how to get a decent photo. The kitchen doesn't feel dark at all. I used fill flash, but I'm shooting into a brightly lit window.

If you are dead set on having the red color on the backsplash it seems like your choices are: glass, tile in a matching color, or perhaps even laminate sheets (formica has several reds/burgundies). One other thing that I thought of would be to install some sort of composite or pvc board on the wall as a backsplash. It would be cheap, DIY-able, and you can paint it any color you want. You could extend it all the way up the wall, or just do a 2 or 4" splash with silicone caulk. The PVC is safe for water exposure...

I'd go for glass. Question is how you'd attach it. If with screws, then you can reuse it whenever you decide that you'd rather have a different wall paint.

You can also get a matte finish on the sheet glass if you would prefer it. I think it's a great idea (well, duh :). If you like it, go for it!