But let me ask you this--which way would the cut size face? Or do we "buff" it to look like it wasn't cut? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Would the corners be mitered? Being that the field tile will be cut into the design, and the rhomboids would be full tiles, I'd think you want to keep the cut edge out toward the field. I know about the bullnose pieces for the sides, but do people use those along the top, where the backsplash hits the cabinet? Does it look more finished? You SHOULD just about have full tile under your cabinets. There should be just about 18" between countertop and bottom of the upper cabinets. In fact, I'd measure and lay some tiles out dry jut to make sure you wouldn't end up with a gap at the top. Either way, though, Just use field tile at the top. Where it goes up by the hood, you ca just continue the field. If you have other places where it'll be open on top, you can simply add a piece of bullnose to the top of the field tile, so that the bullnose extends up past the bottom of the upper cabinets, as shown in the following picture:

To me bianco romano is on the busy side, so I would put a non-busy backsplash. Eg. pulling pale cream and doing just that color like muranogirls pale cream backsplash or pulling pale gray from it and doing just that color like ni_2006's pale gray ceramic tile. Here is a pale glass tile backsplash in a color that is not pulled from the countertop. (Grout lines make it slightly busy.) Someone recently posted a frosted white glass subway tile with stainless tile just at the range that was gorgeous. You could use 2x8s or soldier pattern or a "blend" of frosted and clear glass to make it more modern. Here is a link that might be useful: bianco romano with glass backsplash

With the red pendants and modern hardware, it looks like your style 'wants' mosaics. I think a mosaic would look great! I think you can do something bold on the b/s -- everything else is neutral, except for the pendants. I don't think it would look too masculine. Maybe use a more muted colour for the b/s to 'feminize' it a bit if you are concerned about it. On the other hand: I love the subways posted by kitchenaddict. However, I think the red pendants would look out-of-place with the subways. I don't know...what do you think? It just seems like mosaics would be a more natural fit in this kitchen.

I stared at your picture for awhile and still couldn't find the skewed tiles. I don't think it's noticeable. From my experience I can see very slight imperfections in my kitchen but when looking at the whole kitchen other people don't notice it at all. For instance, a sliver of my angled plugmold is visible if you're under 5'3. It's almost the same color as the backsplash. No one has made a comment on it - but I do occasionally "see" it. When you're focused on one thing it may be noticeable but when looking at the whole kitchen you can't see it.