didn't have time to read all the answers. I have no backsplash and have never regretted it...been over 6 yrs. It is painted with BM matte...which has ceramic in it. It is as beautiful now as it was when first painted. I love the fact that I can showcase other things ...art etc in my kitchen and no competition. Also if I ever want to change it is as quick as a paint brush...expense is minimal..paint only ! All in all I think it is serene as you point out . Here is one pick. Since I have a lot of high heat cooking in my kitchen..built in deep fat fryer as well as gas cook top I can definitely speak to the longevity of paint only. c ( more at this album )

Not a fan of this granite but willing to live with it IF I can get lighter painted cabinets. Need to replace all doors as some are broken. Hardware too. Will hire a pro to paint. Will change wall color too, once cabinet color is sorted out. Kitchen faces east with lots of windows, so very bright/light. Lots of ceiling lights. Walnut trim throughout the house which is staying. Tile floor is beige/sand color. Doors have been routed in a u-shape to accept hinges. Can’t change the hardware and keep the doors without major woodwork repairs to each door. New doors will allow more options. What color to paint cabinets first, then walls. Buttercream? Off White? Again, the countertops are very dominant. Suggestions?

Well shoot. Having just said that, but looking at your last picture, I think the cream in the cabs and the white in the baseboard are fighting. :( Do you like it overall? Like when you stand back and look at it as a whole, does it look good? Because that's more important than a close-up picture. I definitely get the stress of picking colors. I was pretty nuts when I did it. Not only did I test a million, but I made a speadsheet and made notes for each color at each time/light source I tested. Sometimes it seemed like overkill, but when Snowfall White appeared as an obvious winner (all rated "good" or "very good" for each category), I was happy with the process. I was trying to match it with Glacier White Corian, and it seemed harder than it should have been. My designer hadn't done much with Corian, so she didn't have a go-to white.

Thanks Patricia...paled grayed green sounds appealing-Ill look at those colors...as for cabinets-yes, theyll be installed directly on the log wall...we're blessed with an amazing cabinetmaker who is skilled in log home cabinet installation....we also have kiln dried logs-so they wont shrink/settle too much. Ill attach a pic (not a great one, but the only I could find at the moment) of the lower furing wall we had originally built for the lowers--then tore out-because that would have made a backsplash stick out several inches-a ledge--it would have looked weird, & would have pushed fridge & cabinets out too..eating up several inches of kitchen space. So, we took out the furing wall-moved the fridge outlet to the corner, literally, of the log wall & drywall (can see it in my 1st pic of original post-midway up the wall) & plumbing was able to come up through the floor instead of the wall-I conceded & instead of a wall switch am doing an air switch in counter for disposal-only thing left was switch for over sink light-which for convenience-I wanted near the sink-so we're doing a shallow mount light switch under the upper cabinet, to right of sink-unconventional I believe-but a good tradeoff in my mind. Our cabinetmaker is making the upper cabinet rails a little longer anyway for lights/outlets under the cabinets-so I think it will work out ok. I may need to always point out to guests where that switch is-but worth it in order to have a normal 4" granite backsplash on the log wall. The tile will cover the open areas on the drywall/range side--including behind the chimney hood. Sooo..thats the plan-its been one of those ongoing challenges that went on for quite some time-& we finally got everyomes input & solved the problem..yay! :) Now for the fun stuff :)