Many people have done this. I am not sure if I have seen examples of having the 4" backsplash removed though. Scroll down to tergar's Fnished Backsplash! post for the latest GW example of this.

I am so happy to read this vigorous debate about back splash height because I am in the midst of trying to figure out what to do in my new kitchen. I have selected a 1"x1" glass mosaic tile (in 12"x12" sheets) -- first decision made (phew!). The tile is pretty snazzy -- different shades of blue glass with a few stainless steel tiles scattered throughout. The walls are painted white (not green like in the drawing). So now I have to figure out: 1) how high to go on the west wall with no cabinets? 2) how high to go on the north wall with the cabinets? 3) do I tile to the underside of the hood or to the top of the wall cabs (I have already ruled out going up to the ceiling) The hood is 30" wide in a 36" opening (intentional for more open space and future expansion possibilities). The outlets and switches are at about 5" from the counters and the counters don't have an integrated back splash. Doing a 4" strip would be the easiest, but would it look strange adjacent to the big swath of tile under/behind the hood. Thanks in advance for weighing in and helping me think this through!

From what I can tell, full tile backsplashes in kitchens are a fairly recent trend (with some exceptions -- see the 1928 bungalow thread -- though that was more a tiled room than a backsplash per se). When your corners aren't quite square, it makes countertop installation easier if there is a 1" thick backsplash to cover any gap between the countertop and wall. That said, I agree with the pp's that the short backsplash currently looks a bit dated. That might change in time. After all, I don't know anyone in real life who has put in a new kitchen with no backsplash at all, but I have seen some beautiful no-backsplash kitchens on this forum... maybe that will be the next trend. [grin] I haven't decided about the backsplash for when/if we redo our kitchen. We are old enough and have been in our house long enough to take the long view, so probably we will do something that's either relatively timeless (i.e. white tile) or easily changed.

Thanks all I took a photo so you can see ours which might help. the idea of putting tile where the granite is on the panel is an interesting one... I don't know if knowing more about how much wall would be covered in this way will help but To the right of the stove there is another 3 ft of counter, then it turns to another 3 ft and then the sink so in that area there is about 10 linear ft of backsplash total. On a different wall there is a counter/wall that is about 5 ft long and then we also have a sort of bar area adjacent to the kitchenthat will get a backsplash. This is the only area where removing the granite would be a problem.