I can see why it might be advisable to remove the left/rt portions of tile, but I would be inclined to wait until ithe kitchen is completed before deciding. If, as your gut tells you, it "needs" to come down, nothing is really lost except a little more time with it up. Perhaps knowing you are not "locked-in" or committed to it, will help give the perspective to view it more objectively while deciding for sure. This way you will not only have the chance to see it with everything else in place, but you will also have the opportunity to get used to it, before deciding if you truly dislike it, or just haven't gotten used to it being there. As subtle (in color) as our tile is, after months of looking at white painted Sheetrock, it still looked "different" and stood out when we looked at our kitchen. Once we became accustomed to it, we couldn't imagine our walls without it. That's how I am with many things--after living with a blank wall or empty space for any period of time, even a long awaited piece of furniture or decor item jumps out at me, and almost seems like too much, until I get used to the vacant space being filled. Thanks for the compliments on our backsplash Laura and andreak100! It's the Opera Glass tile from Artistic Tile (Stilatto pattern) in Wolfgang White. It does read greenish-blue(-grey) in certain lights or times of day. We had to think about that one while deciding if we wanted to use it, and obviously decided to go for it! Good luck Laura! Honestly, whatever you decide will look terrific!

"Vision" is a kind way to put it Igloo! There was something about the house that pulled us in when we saw it, despite the total lack of curb appeal and the hideous kitchen, bathrooms, living areas, garden, etc etc. Flyleft, yes, wine above the fridge (required to give us the "vision"). I know its not the best place to store it, but we're not talking long-term storage here! The wine fridge has "good" wine (1 bottle of) and a couple of beer bottles but is mostly full of Pellegrino water. Your DD is getting a very thorough education in "Advanced Remodeling", she will be ready to graduate soon ;) Soigne, we got the L-brackets at Lowes. i think they were in the hardware area (not the shelf bracket aisle, those were not heavy-duty enough). they were very cheap, maybe $10 each. Dgmarie, I don't know whether the pendant lights are code. I do know i have seen other pics on here of pendants hanging over sinks, which doesn't mean that its code of course. My DH installed them (and the undercab lights). They each have their own box in the cabinet right above the pendant, so if they somehow fell, they would cut out. But i do not know if its code -- anyone else know? Mystery, we like the fridge but wish we had gone with the french-door version you have as we didn't think about clearance between door and island -- there is not too much space to get round the door when its open (at least not for me, but thats another topic!). Yes, I agree the freezer is annoying, but i suppose all bottom-freezers must be similarly so. I do prefer having the fridge on top as we are not huge freezer-users, so for us, the frustrations of the bottom-freezer are worth it. The cooktop is fantastic, my DH researched and bought it and I'm very glad we went with induction. We paid a lot less by importing it (I think it was about $1000), as I've read for others importing from the UK or NZ.

Ashe 42, I love charcoal slate and these tiles are great. They are rectangular with variation in size of the rectangles, so sort of a more linear look than a lot of traditional square slate tiles. The tile is from Earthstone Gallery in Reno, NV but I don't actually know the brand (ordered them directly from the showroom based on the display). I now have 24 square feet of gently used tile, but it wasn't inexpensive - upward of $20/sq ft as I recall. Argh. Linelle, thanks for the words of support - greatly appreciated! Unfortunately there is some tangential family connection and it is a small community. I don't think they're bad people, it's just not a business model that lends itself to good customer service (we have to fight with them to get itemized cost lists, like for plumbing fixtures, and then consistently find errors - all of which labels us "bad clients"). This crew does good work, so I'm a lot better off than other stories I've heard in that I feel the house will hold up! All the subs live in fear of this builder and their designers, who will cut them off at the drop of a hat if they talk to their clients out of turn, etc. But that is the business model - controlling the clients to get them to agree to what is profitable, and controlling the subs to get them to do what they want, is the bottom line for the relatively low price/sq ft in a more assembly line "semi-custom home" approach. I do feel ambivalent about having made this choice, and honestly had no idea what I was getting into; nonetheless, it was our choice. The good news is that I really like the foreman and many of the subs, so the people who are actually doing the work are great (vs the owners, managers and avaricious designers).

If you don't like it, it's not a big deal to remove the 4" bacsplash. Especially if you don't care if it breaks during the removal process. Just put down some protection on the counter like some masonite to keep from scratching it and have at it! Or pay a handymand $150 to do it. You might have a bit of wall repair to do after it's down, but since you're putting up tile, that's not a big deal either. Or, if you don't mind the 4" splash, keep it and put the tile above it. It's all about preference. So, don't settle for something you don't care for either way when it's so easy to remedy either way.