We used travertine with an onyx border and onyx liner to 42"H on the wall above the vanity with a large mirror in the hall bath. No problems at all, and it looks very nice. IMHO, the 4" backsplash looks too small. Besides, sink splashes and toothbrush drips can easily pass over the 4" backsplash. BTW, have the granite guy caulk the countertop to the tile, matching the countertop, not the tile grout. It looks better. For our master bath, we're planning on using a 6" granite backsplash atop the granite countertop, rather than the wall tile atop the countertop. It's purely for a different look.

Well, Growlery, is right on that frame of reference. Since 1" hex tile is the flooring for 3 of the bathrooms in my old house, that's the association I have with it!:-) At any rate, if this tile is really the one that pleases you most, I say go for it! No point in having a bunch of "what ifs" after the fact, only because you didn't follow your heart as you were making critical decisions. In the meantime, and since you asked, here's are a few photos of my calacatta d'oro mosaic backsplash. It's really very similar to the hex tiles of your fancy but, of course, the differences are in coloring and shape. These tiles are 5/8" x 1.25" in size and typical Calacatta colors -- cream white /gray/goldish. I believe the grout is silver shadow. The soapstone is Green Mountain Original PA -- primarily dark black when oiled with only very random non-white veining.

Neat mock ups ob2b. Now I'm sad I won't see any of my backsplash from outside the kitchen. ::sniff:: It'll only be on my interior/drywall walls. My exterior walls are painted brick. There's someone on GW that did a reveal about a month and a half to 3 months ago of a very substantial home reno. I think it's the same person who has the mixer storage in the column attached to the island. It's a bit of a continent, IIRC. And I think the home reno included removing ceiling from the living area right outside the kitchen to make for a vaulted great room. It was the most well-documented reno I'd seen and there was a blue/green mosaic over the range wall with different size rectangles. Can anyone think of who I'm talking about?

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 :)