Thanks prill...I'm leaning towards only doing tile in area to the left of the casing...then in the window area just doing paint and the casing down to the counter. I guess I'll just have to be more dilligent with cleaning. The Reef was the first tile that spoke to me...I really thought I was going to go for a more solid blue, but reef is so much softer....it allows me to play up the color of the walls more...not that I have a lot of walls...And, I found out that my designer can get it for about 12.50/sf where I was quoted around $15/sf.

Ooooh, you have me a little worried. I am planning a white on white kitchen...but back to the topic at hand. No I definitely don't think a lip of a backsplash is at all unfinished. In fact, i think most houses just have a lip? I wonder if the wall of a BS is a new thing. In fact i just took a quick look at property listings (no I am not a realtor, haha) and the 3 houses I clicked on (close to a million$) all had a lip of a backsplash. I think it is personal preference. And your right it is a dust catcher=). but better to have dust than me rub off my wall every time I wipe my counters down. (good paint may well solve that dilemma) but I do think that it looks naked with nothing. We cook alot ( and I am messy) so I have to have something behind my stove...and personally i do like the full wall of backsplash. If you have soapstone, that may break up the white enough to not make it so stark. You could possibly consider the lip of soapstone and then tile above that....? Best of luck

No bull nose. My designer suggests running it the length of the counter and then running small pieces on the right side of the window to make a straight line up (on the left side of refrigerator) and then straight line from counter to edge of cabinet on right side of refrigerator. Nothing behind refrigerator. I have no experience with back splash install and want to make sure it's done correctly since my neighbor is installing and doesn't do it for a living. ;)

I would expect that Calacatta as a field tile would be too expensive for this kitchen. Thanks for getting those mosaics off their website, rebunky. I like the stick mosaic but I'd probably use something more like the 1 x 3 brick. I love squares but I know that's a dated look. The wave tile is dimensional. There's also a hexagon and a mini herringbone mosaic. I'm never quite sure what you can get in which finish from Encore. Confusing website. I'll think about adding color in green and/or red if I do a mosaic. If I was able to get Encore, which would probably involve going to Seattle for an overnighter, I may be able to get a field tile in the Bravo line. Thanks, guys. Next step is getting out to some tile stores.