Cute house! And YES, this is EXACTLY why people box in the fridge. DH and I actually built an entire extra wall in the kitchen in large part because I couldn't figure out how to solve this exact problem. In your case, I wouldn't extend it behind the fridge. If you were to do that, I would think you'd have to do it the entire height of the fridge. Otherwise you'd have an 18" strip of tile running behind the fridge, with paint above it and below it. To me, that would look like there used to be cabinets there and you pulled them out and stuck in the fridge. Is the sink or range on that wall, and if so, does the tile run higher behind the sink or the range? If so, consider running it horizontally to the end of the counter, then vertically (above the bottom of the upper cabinet) to the height also tiled behind the sink or range. I know that is a tiny little strip, but it would maintain the symmetry across the kitchen. Otherwise, whether you stop at the counter or at the upper cabinet would depend on your tile. Have you done a dry run on the layout of the tile to see if there is a natural ending place without having any awkward cuts? Are you using any sort of a trim/edge tile, or is it basically the field tile coming to a stop? Try some dry runs and see what works best.

A couple of questions. Is there a stool next to the wall? If there isn't a backsplash there, is there any transition piece between the wall and the edge of the countertop? Guess I would think about doing something to seal that gap if you decide not to extend the backsplash. From a purely esthetic point of view, I think it looks weird to extend it. I've seen photos where the backsplash was extended, but also installed up the wall about half the height of the upper cab. Those looked a little less weird to me. Also, any chance of installing an additional cab, corner unit, or shelving?

Well, 3/3 comments to keep it at the same height. I clearly bought too much tile! ;) Thanks very much. As for lighting, although the pics looks like it's insufficient, there is actually a lot of lighting (most of it just not on in the photos); pot lights in the ceiling plus large pendants over the nearby island. But I do feel that the light just gets 'sucked in' to the dark backsplash so would like something brighter and more reflective, especially given NE exposure. Thanks again for your thoughts, appreciate the input!

Thank you Dawn, that is a nice idea! I I don’t want it to be busy (=grout line busy or patterns) And the simple larger tiles will accomplish that! We like that simple look. I’ll look into some larger format tiles based on your suggestion for sure. . My husband has finally abandoned the floor tile on wall idea (yes!!!) but now he wants thin porcelain tile slabs in white to cover the entire wall. I like the large format they come in so I’ll take a look at that as an option too.