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 )

whatever you do choose, remove the wood transition piece and have the butt the tile to the wood, separate w/tile edging. Schluter makes them in different colors. I did one between my two tiles (yes it will work w/the wood if they are the same heights) another cool idea is to piece in the wood w/the tile. you could do a porcelain hex tile in whites/grays I hope you're including an under the sink trash pull out bin. that guy in the entryway needs a new home! backsplash comes last. find your flooring and countertops first. have you gone to a stone yard to find out what you prefer? Colors? quartz or granite? narrow it down to what you like. coordinate the counter and the tile floor. look at porcelain tiles or perhaps slate. you could do a nice herringbone layout in this small space to give it some detail. this black slate is beautiful w/white and next to your reddish floors. it's easy to care for too. I've had slate for years. you have such a small space, look into pre fab countertops. they have them in marble quartz or granite and average 500 bucks for a 9'x22" countertop. you have a fabricator cut them to your kitchen . this is a pre fab marble,, or you could do a granite. all the pre fabs are against the back wall and behind the marble piece. something like this, with the slate floor, your SS and white cabs would look really nice.

lmao. what Jan said! Although, I had to help out my guys who did my herringbone wood floor. it's the starting point where everyone gets messed up. after that, it's simple. Look up how to properly start a herringbone layout and read it. you need to use a speed square at the end of your tile in order to get the proper middle starting point. much easier to illustrate than trying to write it out here. This is how I showed my guys how to start it. see the blue tape w/the two lines? you have to start on the middle after you mark your corner. that's the only way you will get perfect even cuts on both ends. this is how most do it, and it's not correct IF you want perfectly symmetrical left/right borders. All he's done is set the corner of the tile on the line. doing it like this will leave you w/one side smaller than the other: see how the sides of the window don't match? this is what you don't want. your tile guy should be doing a dry layout in order to determine where he starts so he doesn't get this look or these tiny triangles. Again,,,see how the ends don't match below? the right has longer tiles than the left edge. that's because of the way he started his first tile. And don't do these vertical tiles for your edging. get proper bullnose tiles, pencil liner or a Schluter edge. This is a layout board of my herringbone for my shower. took a few hours in order to get this almost perfect. since this was an odd size, and the tiles were even at 3x12, it couldn't be perfect. the right bottom corner triangle is the only portion that doesn't match. luckily, it's not readily visible! Even the subway tiles are perfectly matched. this layout took hours to get exact, even around the niche. 2x6your 3x9 will be 1/3 larger. 3x9 is a good size for a backsplash. this is a regular 3x6. again, a 3x9 will give you 1/3 longer.

Hi Chispa, House is a townhouse built in 1996, trying to modernize the look. As far as decorating style, I like modern/contemporary, nothing too funky. Something that would be cohesive with the rest of the kitchen, and bring the kitchen to life a little. It's very white right now.