There should be a side splash there. When a counter is between two tall objects, it has to be smaller, or it won't install.

Thanks! The other side is open, so I would think they could have made it flush? Let me find a photo.

I agree with Sophie, but it could be scribed to the wall perfectly. However, I don't want the hear how your cooktop is 1/4" off center.

So you all think it won't be noticed by future buyer with a good caulk and paint job?

I have think 1/4" is too much. I would bring it up to the fabricator.

Axiom Translucent Beige caulk to be specific, www.daniclamp.com. Pump the gap full of silicone, spray it with Windex, and screed it off flush. It will be fairly inconspicuous.

Thst is not a 1/4” gap. 3/8” at most. Which is fine. That questionable cabinet side isn’t going to finish out pretty either. You are going to need something to cover it. Probably a skin, though that should have already been installed. And that would take care of any gap.

"It would look strange with a side splash against the cabinet, I think."

No, it wouldn't. How were you planning on finishing that area, which currently looks like a piece of unfinished wood next to a piece of cabinet panel? You should have a side splash against the cabinet. Otherwise, it's like you ran out of tile, or forgot about that area, or the tiler had to go home early. Especially given the elaborateness of your cabinetry. Take the tile up to the bottom of the cabinetry. Gap covered, and the area will look better.

P.S. I am assuming that with the elaborate cabinetry, columns, beaded panels, detailed hardware, and patterned granite, your backsplash is simple and plain, right?

It looks weirder with a hacked cabinet side that isn’t even finished or constructed properly, and that was not ready for granite. If they didn’t leave you a gap, there wouldn’t be room to apply the skin to cover that hack.

I don’t know who did your cabinets, but you have FAR more issues with them than you do the stone.

I’m very confused by the people insisting that the op should tile the side of her cabinetry. That’s not right.

Please have the cabinetry people make a skin to apply to the side of that cabinet. Caulk. Tile backsplash.

I have a splash on the side of my cabinet only because the previous owners had a splash there & when it was removed it damaged the cabinet. So now I have one there. I would never tile the side of a cabinet, but the countertop stone is fine to me.

I would probably just caulk yours, paint it & move the utensils back in that corner. Nobody will ever notice.

My_four_sons - yes, I stand corrected. I was trying to find a solution for both the issue of the gap, and the issue of that abutting side which from the photo looks to be 3 pieces - unfinished wood, a cabinet panel (?), and some kind of edging. Scratching my head on how to make that look unified as one piece given the 3 surfaces.

Now you will have no way to fix the cabinet, which is a much worse problem to have. You needed the gap to be able to place a skin over the whole cabinet side.

I have to agree with Sophie Wheeler. The oven cabinet seems to be made wrong for its application. I suspect there was a design error or a miscommunication between the designer and the manufacturer. No cabinetmaker knowingly builds a finished side out of pieces of scrap material (although this is perfectly acceptable for blind surfaces).

Why the installer would just gamely hang a cabinet with a flaw that big is a bit of a puzzle to me. If the dealer is offering caulk and/or a skin of some sort, I'm guessing they are praying you don't call them out on what looks like a mistake that would be very expensive to fix.

I already told you the solution. It needs a skin. That will take up that gap space that you are worried about. That patchwork mess is such a horrible kludge though that I doubt if he knows how to deal with it.

You need an actual cabinet person here. Not Harry the Hack.

Oh, now I see. I assumed your cabinets were new. Sorry. Now it all makes sense. It is normal for cabinetmakers to use scrap materials--perhaps even patched together--to build the "blind" surfaces (i.e. the parts that nobody will see once the cabinet is installed). So it's nobody's fault, really.

But it's still a tough situation. The only way I can see of making it look as if it were originally built the way you want it is to temporarily remove your oven cabinet, take it to a shop, and perform "surgery" and refinishing on it to add a true finished side. But that would be fairly expensive..

If you don't insist on perfection, you could hire a finishing specialist (or someone who restores furniture) to cut out the utility grade material, patch in some cabinet grade material, carefully putty it over, sand it, and spray it on site. If your hire is skillful enough, you'll only see that it's been "reverse-engineered" if you look at it up close, and she or he might be able to build out the side so as to close up that ugly gap in the process.

Just some ideas. Good luck!