If you do tile, make sure the space between the deck and bottom row of tile is the same as the other grout lines, but fill it with color matched silicone instead of grout please.

I had a row of tile behind my sink. It never got dirty and todays grouts are easier to keep clean

I have tile directly on my top, regular grout, no issues, but silicon wearing (which will happen with riser too). At work I sell kitchens and we do all sorts of combinations, from none to fully tiled/quartz/granite up to the hood/uppers, mostly risers without tiles, sometimes tiles above the riser (the more classical kitchens).

I think it depends on the other spaces where you need backsplash.I would not have done the raised piece behind the sink but that is another thing.

Patricia, we are lowering the pony wall by 6 inches, but not all the way flush to the countertop, because I need a little separation/protection from water in our living room.

The other areas of the kitchen have tile backsplash from the countertop to the bottom of the upper cabinets. So tiling that pony wall's one backsplash row behind the sink faucet would be more in keeping with the rest of the kitchen. I'd prefer having tile there to break up the white quartz: wall cap, countertop, and riser is too much white, I think. However, the tile guys' opinion that I would be unhappy maintaining tile there gave me pause, so I thought I'd ask y'all about it, for real world user experience!

Thanks for sharing your tile vs. countertop riser behind sink experience!

If there's tiles right above the other countertop, there's your answer.