Have you seen the thread from starfish about finding a backsplash to warm up her kitchen? Had lots of good pictures and links to backsplash ideas that go with a bianco romano type granite. (How do I post a link to another thread?) Also, you may want to hold off on backsplash selection until after your granite is in (or take your backsplash samples to a showroom where they have a large bianco romano counter on display). I have giallo ornamental, and was looking at lots of tiles that had some variation in them (thinking they would look great pulling together some of the colors in the granite - I was using a 6 x 6 piece of granite). Once my full counters went in, I quickly realized that they are pretty busy on their own, so a backsplash with a lot of variation in color would compete. Also, I realized how shiny the granite is with the undercabinet lights, so decided against a couple of glass tiles that were frontrunners before counters were installed. If you're stuck looking for a bianco romano sample, all the Lowes around me have their Sensa granite bianco leblon (looks a lot like bianco romano) in at least one of their display kitchens, so you can see it on a bigger surface.

Hope this helps....Here's my mid 80's kitchen with tile. I did the full backsplash only behind the stove and ran one row of bullnose along the rest of the counter. Wallpaper is pretty neutral (except the border!) so it's a bit hard to see, but that's what's on the rest of the walls. We're in the process of remodeling in order to sell our home and so the Walker Zanger tile that I've LOVED for the past 24 years had to go last week. I was in a funk all day when we tore it up. Took down the wallpaper and with the lack of color in the room (granite now) we'll be tiling the full 18" of backsplash this time in order to try and inject a little life back into my formerly homey kitchen! BUT the single row of tile worked fine for me in a very busy kitchen for many years.... and definitely saved money at the time. Here's another old one.... sorry for the mess.... cooking Christmas dinner!! I think I was cooking with the liquor and not drinking it! :)

I'm with Fori as well. I have had almost this exact set up twice. Both gas, though without the grill (one had a griddle) and both times the cooktop did not reach the wall, leaving a few inches of gap. I thought this was normal. In the first case, the house came with a stainless steel sheet glued to the wall. There was no other backsplash, just painted drywall on the surrounding walls so the ss may have been needed for code, I don't know. What I do know is I ripped it off in frustration within a few months. The previous owners managed to get it clean for showing the house when it was for sale but I could never replicate it. It looked filthy all the time. Hardly any grease actually splashed back there but even just a dot smeared and looked worse after cleaning. I'm not very tall so reaching back there to wipe properly was a total PIA. My current house also came with a huge gas range and there is a window immediately behind it. So I can see every speck. Contrary to popular belief, not a lot of grease and grime actually hits the window or trim. When it does, the glass is much easier to clean than the stainless was. (And no, the glass doesn't break when I'm cooking, and yes this is permitted by code where I live, and no I do not fear for my life with this set up...). I'd imagine that your tiles will be even easier to maintain. I say throw up a cookie sheet and see how dirty it gets when you cook, I bet you'll be surprise at how little actually makes it back there. Your tiles and countertops look great together btw!

Without having photos of the areas where you are planning to go to the ceiling, it's hard to say. I think you should be consistent if possible and try to do the whole walls if tile goes to the ceiling everywhere else. There could be some difficulty getting the tile in these small areas, though, so it depends on your tile person and whether they feel comfortable with the small cuts.