I can see why it might be advisable to remove the left/rt portions of tile, but I would be inclined to wait until ithe kitchen is completed before deciding. If, as your gut tells you, it "needs" to come down, nothing is really lost except a little more time with it up. Perhaps knowing you are not "locked-in" or committed to it, will help give the perspective to view it more objectively while deciding for sure. This way you will not only have the chance to see it with everything else in place, but you will also have the opportunity to get used to it, before deciding if you truly dislike it, or just haven't gotten used to it being there. As subtle (in color) as our tile is, after months of looking at white painted Sheetrock, it still looked "different" and stood out when we looked at our kitchen. Once we became accustomed to it, we couldn't imagine our walls without it. That's how I am with many things--after living with a blank wall or empty space for any period of time, even a long awaited piece of furniture or decor item jumps out at me, and almost seems like too much, until I get used to the vacant space being filled. Thanks for the compliments on our backsplash Laura and andreak100! It's the Opera Glass tile from Artistic Tile (Stilatto pattern) in Wolfgang White. It does read greenish-blue(-grey) in certain lights or times of day. We had to think about that one while deciding if we wanted to use it, and obviously decided to go for it! Good luck Laura! Honestly, whatever you decide will look terrific!

@Beth, my tile store displays lots of Lunada Bay--I've been drooling over it for months (it was a serious contender for master bath until I gave in to a more sedate Porcelanosa). That herringbone is so alluring, I want to get a couple SF and frame it for my wall! Those colors remind me of tidepools in the late afternoon sun. Gorgeous. We're just starting to pack for the move so I think I'll plan to try out some large sample boards after I recover from the move. :) @Dixie, thanks for that visual. I'm not sure what my resistance to subway tile is all about (a resistance to ubiquitousness?). But if I went that route, I'd stack 'em vertically, as Beth has suggested. It's funny (kind of) to look back on all the things I thought I was SO sure I wanted over the past year only to change my mind shortly after!

This site is awesome. Timely conversation, as our designer recommended we move our range from a peninsula (that will become an island) to an outside wall, for better function. It is a GE Cafe dual fuel 30 inch range with the island trim, put in just over 3 years ago. After finding this thread, found an online install information, with the only recommendation to be 2 1/2 inches from the wall in the back and 3 inches clearance on the sides, and they had no recommendations for the wall behind the stove otherwise. I called GE and the service department there confirmed that this island trim oven was ok to use on a wall counter, and that to just follow code for the wall behind it. No recommendations other than the 2 1/2 inches from the back. I discussed this with our designer, who had just recommended only 24 inch counters, and the quartz backsplash, who was pretty noncommital about needing any changes. When I did say I cook sourdough bread at least twice a week, with 500 degree ovens for warmup, she said to get tile or real stone, but didn't need to change the counter depth as the tile was the fireproofing. It will be fairly easy for us to deepen the counter about 3 inches, I will just need to have a 30 inch sink rather than a 33 inch sink on the counter that will now be 3 inches less wide. But that will be just me and our countertop/cabinet group, not sure if it is worth it to convince our designer of what is common sense to me. Now we get to work on backsplashes. This range has the simmer and smaller burners in the back, with the larger speed boil burners in the front, so not sure what the fireproof wall in the back needs to be.

I love green tile and have bookmarked these two: Soft green: https://www.tilebar.com/browse-by-project/pool-tiles/loft-spa-green-polished-3x6-glass-tile.html Fabulous Moroccan green tiles (seen on Junglalow where I fell madly in love with them): http://www.badiadesign.com/productimage.php?product_id=1055&current_image=3 You can see the image of them in her kitchen here: https://blog.justinablakeney.com/2015/08/boho-kitchen-reveal-the-whole-enchilada.html