A new quartz counter will be lovely, and a tile backsplash, as opposed to the 4” strip of counter material, will give you a more updated look. Have you given any thought to what kind of tile you might like?

Remove the 4" backsplash as the tile will be your blacksplash.

Between your top and splash, leave a slot the thickness of your grout lines after setting and grouting your tile backsplash, then fill the slot with 100% color matched silicone please.

Eam - I have 4" square cobalt blue tiles behind my slide-n range, and was going to put in 4" square white subway tiles. As for countertop, I am thinking of either Muse or Minuet Viatera quartz, or Silestone's Calcutta gold but i would really like to see either large slabs or 12" square pieces to help me decide.

I’ve seen the Silestone Calacatta Gold in several “I hate my quartz” threads, and I agree. It’s not attractive installed. It looks like a child’s drawing of marble, lots of huge fake veins that never line up and look stripy. There’s an active thread on this right now, I believe.

The Viatera Muse and Minuet I have heard less about, meaning there may be fewer complaint threads on them. They certainly look more subtle.

The key to choosing the right backsplash for these types of counters depends a bit on the color of your cabinets. Are they white or wood?

I have seen both and although you must look at the entire slab and consider color, the Minuet is the most realistic looking. I like the Minuet better than the Muse.

Thanks for the link. I also do not like the large artificial streaks in Calcutta. Calcutta GOLD seems to have a different pattern, at least in the small sample size I saw and entire counter on display at the Home Depot. but thank you for letting me know because I hate those strong streaks and I would cry if that's what came in! I will definitely try to go somewhere so I can see large slabs.

This guy, Daniel Kanter, just did a 2 inch curb of the same countertop material, marble, and then a subway tile backsplash. To me, it doesn’t read modern but it doesn’t look dated either.

Eam44, don’t want to steer away...but in that previous pic with the single open shelf and green cabinets, just curious, what do you think the thickness of that shelf might be?

Alice, it’s interesting, that shelf is the ledge of the vent hood. It looks just a little thicker than the counter material, so the thickness is going to be just over, but close to 1.2 cm, 2 cm, or 3 cm, the slab thicknesses offered by Silestone. My guess would be that the counters are 2 cm and the shelf is around 3 cm, so just around an inch thick, maybe a little over.

Thanks for the info eam44

I actually see that now

Hmm - I don't like that little backsplash - looks strange to me and serves no purpose. Perhaps it's all the other things I notice like the cabinets and shiplap being yellow and not melding well with the cabinets, what looks to be one hole for a sconce, etc.