Have you included in your measurements the width of the grout lines?

Yes, 1/8” spacers included

Option 2

Option one is the way to go; cuts to end in the upper cabinets. Also, what's the guarantee that everything will be evenly spaced? Even in new construction sometimes it doesn't happen.

I would tend to go with a Option 1 - much less noticeable....

2

Option 1 because it looks more symetric and plan this way. Option 2 looks less professionnal.

Option 1, I will see the tiles by the countertop much more than the ones under the upper cabinets.

Would you consider mounting the tile so that the long axis is vertical?

turn the tile the other way.

if you must set them horizontal, then the bottom row should be cut no thinner than half. you don't want slivers. Better to have the slivers at the very top under the cabinets, then to have the slivers visible on the bottom. see how they did it here:

cut the points off the bottom for the bottom row.

The vertical orientation looks better

the sideways installation looks 'off' to me

and don't use a bright white grout (if your tiles are white). it will disappear

Thanks for the suggestion. This was my inspiration photo and I prefer the look of the tiles laid out horizontally.

are your tiles that size or smaller? the smaller the tile, the worse the slivers will look.

otherwise, do the bottom row just like they have in the picture. No less than half a tile for that bottom row. (more is better)

It's better to deal w/the gap at the top under the cabinets, then to have a tiny sliver on the bottom row next to the countertop.

At the very least, you could always run a very thin pencil liner in the gap right under the cabinets. but you aren't going to see this unless you crouch down and look. so even a gap of 1/8" will be ok.

You could do a liner, or even a Schluter metal edge liner that matches the tile color

this is a thick liner, but you could do something less obtrusive. just a thin liner in the same tile color.

you could also run a piece of trim molding that matches your cabinet color. see this trim piece? (you would place it between the upper tile row and the bottom of your cabinets) then you'd paint it the same color as cab

Are your tiles white like that? make sure and do a contrasting grout instead of bright white.

Thanks @Beth H. : the tiles are white 3x6’s and it’s going to have grey grout. Thanks for the various solutions and advice, lots to think about!

mags,,,ok good. then just do exactly how they've done it in your picture.

if your cab is standard 18" from the countertop, they should be able to fit in the final row under the cabinet without any issues. subtracting the spacing, you should have a bit less than half a tile under there. should be like your option 1