A good faux will always be in style with people who don't want the high maintenance of the real thing. It's just that the good faux stone tiles cost as much as the real thing most of the time. The cheap dot matrix printed ones aren't very convincing and it would be better to choose something that isn't trying to be an imitation if that is the sort you have to pick from.

I can't speak from experience, I've never owned a 48" pro style range. My experience has been limited to standard 30" ranges or 36" cooktop/double wall ovens, not a pro in the bunch. I just wanted to add my 2 cents on the trend aspect. Pro ranges have been "in style" in higher end kitchens for a LONG time. Yes, many people have only been noticing them in the last 10-15 years or so due to the advent of HGTV and the other home improvement shows. It has become a status symbol for many, but the staple of serious cooks for a long time. I recently checked out a House Beautiful Kitchens book from the library copyright 1993. The pictures are probably from as early as the late 80's. 80% of the kitchens featured had a pro style range. Viking, Wolf, Garland, they're all there. A new diswasher and a swap out of brass hardware and nearly all of these kitchens would look right at home in 2010.

@Jenn, In europe houses are built out of concrete. Walls, floors, ceilings, and its doesn't matter where you live. Tornado's or hurricanes wouldn't do anything to them. When the housing market crashed in america in 2007, investors tried to go over seas to starts building the garbage they build in america. European governments didn't want that garbage there. Some slipped through the cracks but they put a stop to it real fast. America's building codes are to barley hold the house up. They crumble like a deck of cards and people keep rebuilding over and over again. Lots of $$$$$$ in that market. Europeans have a different mentality and they build things to last. I live in west chicago suburbs. My neighbors saw my house being build and till this day they still tell me they thought a bunker was being built. LOL!!! In America its hard to even find a contractor that can do the things they do in europe. Custom homes are expensive in america cause heck, if people are willing to pay a ton of money for a pile of crap, then of course a custom build is gonna be expensive. Another thing, if your outside during a tornado or hurricane then you deserve to get smacked in the face with a brick. lol

The problem is that the hearth tile doesn't go all the way to the corner wall and I think it would look weird if the wall tile extended beyond the hearth tile or if it went all the way to the ceiling but not all the way to the corner of the wall. Am I overthinking it?