Thanks everyone for your replies! I think once we have all the cabinets and counters installed, we will buy a framed mirror and put it up to see how it looks (thanks for the advice sweeby). I was in a mirror store and the lady pointed me to a bronze finish mirror which she said people put up in wet bars. It has a smokeyish brownish tint, and seems to reduce the glare. Not sure if this will work with the colors we have chosen for the bar though....(Aristokraft sasparilla and cambria aragon countertops...stainless hardware and appliances. lesleyintn...I would LOVE to see pictures of your mirrored wet bar!

I just this week put in white beveled arabesque with a white counter (Cambria Torquay), yellow painted cabinets, and gray walls. I don't see why it wouldn't work with white cabinets and a darker countertop -- the backsplash is touching both the cabinets and the countertop, so if one is light (in my case, the counter, but in your case, the cabinets), and one is darker, I think it would look fine. Order samples - they don't take long to arrive and, assuming your counters are in, it is easy to tell if they work once you have them. I have loved this tile in magazines and online for a long time and doubted I would like it as much in person, but the truth is, I like it even more than I imagined. The grout we did is a white with grayish sand in it, and it gives a really nice texture and looks good with my walls. I ordered from www.mosaictilestone.com, and it shipped quickly. The only thing that was back ordered was the 3/4 inch x 6 inch bullnose, so we used 1/2 inch x 8 inch instead. Good luck!

While my kitchen is not yet remodeled, I had a similar wet bar in my family room. The room had a pass through window and bar top which opened into the family room. I closed off the window completely and have turned the room into a large pantry/storage room. I re-routed the plumbing to make a wet bar on the outside, though we have not yet built the wet bar. (We want to do it with the kitchen to have matching cabinetry.) I am much happier with the function of the room as I found the wet bar room essentially useless. At this time, I have an antique sideboard against the wall where a wet bar will eventually go, and we use it for glass and liquor storage. I look forward to putting in a wine/beverage fridge. Here is an old thread where I received some advice on getting rid of the wet bar room. I realize you are initially thinking just about updating the room, but for me, the whole concept of a wet bar room with a pass through window was outdated and not so useful with contemporary lifestyles. I would recommend at least considering re-doing and repurposing the room to work for you.

As far as "styling" goes...I would treat it like a bar cart..I don't put pictures on my bar cart, but I would like to see a couple of pictures on the wall above the top shelf of yours...something like this.. Whatever the main color in the pictures is, carry that through with a small vase of the same color flowers... I do have flowers and decanters and a couple of "good" glasses and a cocktail shaker and a kitschy ice bucket that I picked up from the goodwill of all places. I have some vintage swizzle sticks and I picked up some little paper umbrellas from Party City. Williams Sonoma has some really cute barware...