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!

Thanks! Got lucky :) Only had 1 spot where things were tight - top picture, below the left outlet - had to chisel out 3 backsplash tiles, slide them up ever-so-slightly. Luckily we had spare backsplash tiles and I found the exact grout that I used 10 years ago. All and all it worked out well

nice to see your post because i am struggling with some of the same ?s right now. definitely agree that you should run whatever backsplash material you choose all the way up to window trim and all the way up cooktop wall. when the granite guy comes would it help to do a little mock up with a granite piece and a piece of your tile and see if you like either one more than the other? with such beautiful windows and views you may find that after a short while you don't even notice the outlets. i'm not quite as far along as you are but it looks like i will have about the same amount of space between my windows and counter tops. my granite has a lot of black so i have been planning on taking the granite directly up to the window trim and using black outlet covers but the fat lady hasn't sung yet so who knows. on another note,i am driving myself crazy worrying about the lights above my counters. do you by any chance have recessed lights above you counters on your window walls? if so,would you mind sharing how far out from the window wall are they ( 18" 22" 24"?) i think they are usually set 24 to 25 inches from the wall when you are lighting counters and have upper cabinets to worry about but i don't know if it's the same when you have all that natural light and no shadows from cabinets. good luck tomorrow and if you have time would love to know what you decide.

Hollysprings, why does the wall need to be really flat? Currently there are several holes left in the wall where the backsplash will be and I am not sure the contractor was planning on covering them up. Surprisingly, he has not been around all week to ask. robbbcs3, parapan and zenolite look like cool products, but I am not sure an acrylic product would be good for a backsplash behind a cooktop. millworkman, actually the cost that is contracted for runs $35 a sq foot. If the contractor can pull this off, I think it is pretty reasonable. We are talking about two areas for a total of about 53 sq feet so if I were to pay in the $55 - $60 range, it would be much more expensive and not very affordable. I have looked into some other options with my kitchen designer. We can just do 4x8 inch glass squares or we can go with a more retro matte ceramic tile (the house was built in 1952). We are looking to do modern, clean lines so these options would make it a bit more busy. We can also order cut glass squares to size like in this photo that would eliminate a lot of the grout lines: [Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by University Place General Contractors REIER Construction I am waiting to hear back from the designer on the costs of these other options.