I have the exact same color thing going on in my kitchen. I am also a person who loves color. My plan is to use the backsplash tile to visually link the kitchen to the LR beyond and the attached dining room. LR is a warm sand color and the dining room will be turquoise. Tile will be a mix of the two, some bend of blue and amber glass. I think your most important decision is whether or not you want the backsplash to stand out as the focal point in the kitchen or if you want it to just be a part of the whole. For me, the splash is what brings my kitchen splash! I need it to be fun and interesting and more than a little blingy. You have to figure out where you are on that spectrum and choose the medium/style accordingly. Similarly, you have to decide how much color you want/need. For me, the stark white is just too sterile. There are some really nice "clear" glass tiles that throw a bit of green or blue or gray. Or, if you're drawn to the ceramic, you could get a soft gray or taupe like you mentioned. Ann Sacks Ceramic Basics has a number of really lovely, soft-but-not-pastel colors in the field tile. Sees like everyone who was still looking for a backsplash over on the kitchens board made a New Year's resolution to get it done, so there are a lot of threads right now. You might take a peek over there and see what people are looking at...whether any of it appeals. I assume you have already looked at the FKB and Inspirational Backsplashes slideshow? Here is a link that might be useful: Ann Sacks Ceramic Basics

For those of you who think it is criminal and stupid to change the look of these cabinets, I should also tell you that they have a green glaze on them. Yes, a hunter green glaze in the detail of every door and drawer. You can't see it in the pictures. Orange cabinets with green glaze and green countertops aren't my thing. They were also done about 15 years ago, and they look that age to me, style wise. Is there really nobody that thinks this kitchen would look good in white? We are in our early 30s and want a current look. In Chicago where we live, the older neighborhoods with newly remodeled kitchens are getting the white look. I don't care about being ahead of the curve. I love the current trend and would like to implement it. Thanks for the suggestions regarding the backsplash, I got some samples and agree that the honed looks better than the polished marble. I am probably going to go that route. I also agree that a light green subway tile would be nice if I wanted to embrace a green kitchen, but I don't. I'm in love with white kitchens. If it were in the budget, I would be changing out these green countertops. Someone mentioned that I wouldn't be able to save the backsplash if I later change out the countertops. Is that true, or would it just need some repair on the lower tiles? Also, FYI, whenever guests come over, everyone loves the ceiling as is. Nobody has ever complemented the cabinets.

It's still a side splash, which I typically wouldn't tile, even though there's a cab over it. But you have a sink nearby. The granite looks tight to the wall, so I think caulk and a washable paint is enough protection from occasional splashing. If you leave standing water from draining dishes, I'd tile, but I doubt you do that with white granite. You could tile it the height of the raised bar, which I think is what you intend with your finger placement. But that leaves a small area of wall between the tile and cabinet, which would look like you ran out of tile if it were done on a row of cabinets. So you could do just two rows of tile. I would bring it to the end of the counter in that case, but normally I'd say stop at the upper cabinet. Tape some up and let's see what looks best.

Thanks everyone. With the help of these posts, I was able to convince DH that we should wait and do painted walls for now. I also thought you might be interested to hear the suggestion of a tile guy I talked to in my area. He said that over 20 years with no backsplash at all, water would be a definite issue, but over a short period, it shouldn't be. He said any temporary attachment of the granite would get harder and harder to remove effectively as time went by. And third, he suggested screwing a piece of plexiglass over the wall behind the sink (caulking the bottom edge) since the sink really is the worst splash zone. I told my DH this and he suggested we wait and see if we thought splashing was an issue with the new sink before doing so. So looks like we are onboard to wait for my future tile backsplash! It helped me decide that I visited a few friends in the meantime and in each case the four inches looked wrong to me. I just like to see the color turn the corner where the wall/counter turns the corner. Thanks again everyone.