Really love your tiles. I like the idea of the slate, but have you checked to see if the tile maker makes border tiles? What color are your cabinets going to be? Another thought, what kind of range is it? If it's gas, I would think that wood would be out because of the combustibility issue. I know it would not be to code here. Really want to see how this looks installed. Please post pictures when you get done.

I took the scale elevations we'd given to the cabinetmaker, made photocopies, and overlaid them on a light table ( could use a bright window) with a page of tile on graph paper of each of the 12 possibilities (6 possible tile sizes, stacked and running bond for each.) Some were eliminated immediately as awkward with no possibility of redemption because they just didn't fit gracefully with the design. The ones that made the cut (maybe half) were traced onto an elevation of the two tile walls. I was originally planning 12x24, but couldn't get them to work well and ended up with 4x 16 in running bond pattern. I was glad I had not just picked the tile and pattern and said "here's what I want, make it work." When it came time to actually lay it out, I showed the tile guy what I'd done and what I was aiming for, but asked him which trim pieces to get, and he finessed the design and figured out the actual layout. I gained huge respect for what he does and the number of decisions that go into making it look perfect, and I told him so. And it does look perfect, with not a single awkward piece anywhere. File under "most obsessive thing I've ever done" and "glad I did it." Oh yeah, for bathroom floor and 3 walls and included fixtures and niches as well. Actually I don't think it took any more time that emptying th kitchen to decide on the drawer design... A full Sunday afternoon, as I recall.

For going on 7 years, I've had a tempered glass plate behind a pro-style range. Also got a long narrow one for a backsplash on the wall behind the kitchen sink. Much easier to clean than tile. It was not expensive but it does require tempered glass which is sized to order. Extra cost option to have the plate drilled for mounting-screw-holes. The alternative is to use mirror-mounting clips. The local glass shop owners told me that they were doing several of them a month mostly for kitchens with beadboard on kitchen walls. My town has a lot of early 1900s homes with beadboard wainscotting in the kitchens and bathrooms so there is something of a market for glass covers here.

Get the ceiling done 1st. It makes a mess. Protect everything under. Then continue on the rest. It will make a huge difference. White trim windows. If do backsplash just under part way, do a slightly different shade or same paint color to blend the end of tile line Avoid high contrast or the tile line will divide the wall too much horizontally. A photo example done right. or Maybe tile the whole window wall to end of base cabinets. Overall it looks like it will come together nicely.