Thanks for the links to how to upload photos..I'm not too excited about yet another subscription to use an external site for my photos just to do this..The "test" page brings up a "browse" box which I assumed allowed you to pull up your image, but when I actually went to post, only the URL box showed up. I'll have to look into this a little more to see if there is anyway to avoid using another service. KitchenAddict & Circuspeanut - I Love your kitchens! KitchenAddict, if I ever get these posted, you'll see that we alomost have the same countertop, faucet, and all of us are even using white roller shades! (Tip- They can be hung backwords so you don't see the roll but the opening on the fastener is at the bottom so it could fall out easier. If you don't open and close it a lot, it's well worth it. I'm just super careful when I do it. For me, it's just a quick fix until I figure out what I want to use but considering painting a cool pattern on mine once I get a little further along into the project. I'll share those too as this progresses. Thanks for sharing the photos, they help a lot...Still hoping for more! Would love to see someone who has taken the tile all the way up around the sink window to help me decide.

Thanks mayflowers. I am sure people are tired of looking at my kitchen at this point, but this is such a hard decision, because it is so permanent! The two ideas I am now considering are: (1) your idea of cream tile matching the wall color (though I cannot really find one that truly comes close to the wall color) and (2) still considering a sage green tile, but I feel like that may take away from my green shelves. I am considering square, rectangular sizes/ different layouts of tiles at this point at this point. as for area, I am just considering doing the area under the wall from the cabinet to the left of the stove to under the microwave. May or may not run it up in the corner to the first green shelf. I am also going to leave the area in the third picture without a backsplash (the pic with the glass cabinets).

It doesn't matter that much. In fact, it my be better if the sill went in first so the tile at the jambs (if there is any) could die on top of it. Have the sill installer leave the returned ends proud of the wall enough that the tiler can get thinset, tile, and a 1/16" gap for silicone behind them. This is where trade coordination is critical. I'd have the tiler dab hot melt on a small piece of blocking on the wall that's the thickness of the thinset, tile, and gap. Sill man butts the return ends to the blocking and the tile man knocks out the blocking when he lays the tile. Sill man templated to the blocking; no way to screw up.

This looks so ugly and breaks our heart after spending thousands of dollars on the slab and labor. The GC says that is not a big deal and we can just add another piece of trim. He says that most times walls are not straight and trims hide it. To me it seem unacceptable as there should not be a trim in the first place and the backsplash should be the thing hiding any gaps. The trim solution looks ugly. Your enemy here is the concept of perfection ... and Pinterest. Saying they have "ruined thousands of dollars" of materials is going overboard, making a catastrophe of something minor. This is not a horrible thing, and once the kitchen is finished and filled with all the accessories, you won't see this like you do today. I cook every day and I bake, I deep fry, I broil. There is no sign of heat damage to the Formica after 50 years of use. We all know that Formica is plastic and not exceptionally heat resistant. Eh, look at these two pictures, taken from this thread ... what difference do you see? The second stove has a back, which protects the formica from the worst of the heat. That can make a big difference in whether the backsplash becomes discolored. Believe it or not, laminate tops are a lot more durable than people give them credit for. Folks had them in their homes for many years. Eh, I think maybe it used to be better than it is now. When we moved into this house 20 years ago we had the original laminate /formica ... the pattern was hideous, and some of the edges were torn off, but the main work spaces were in perfect condition ... and it was over 30 years old. We replaced it with new laminate (because the kitchen is huge, and it's what we could afford then), and it is now badly scratched up ... you'd think we use knives directly on it.