Hi Gang-- I'm back to working on this after taking a vacation (while floors were being done) and then a work trip. At this point pretty much all is done in the kitchen except for the backsplash and window treatments. I guess that puts me in that dreaded ABB club. After letting this stew in my brain for a month, and enjoying the pretty Cambria, I'm thinking I'd like something on the simple side for the backsplash- a creamy almondy 2x4 subway tile would be fine. I like it when the tiles look hand-made, but so far have not found any in the smaller size. (I've found a bone color, but that's too light.) What I haven't told you guys yet is that we have a custom-made marine life stone/ceramic mural to go above the range-top. So I'm keeping this in mind as I hunt for backsplash. For those of you who asked, yes- the Berkeley has coppery sparkles in it, which had me worried when I received my sample, but the sparkles look fine in the installed counters. They add character, not glitz. I live in the Midwest, but my heart is on one coast or the other. I am hoping to get to Daltile soon and check out the one shown by jxbrown- that looks intriguing. Stay tuned...

I'm not a professional and it depends on the size of the area to be repaired, but it's pretty easy to cut out damaged dry wall and then mud the patch seams. You want to do whatever will maximize the clean, level surface. And, yes, you will need to feather and sand your mud until it is dead level. I wouldn't paint the mudded, repaired drywall before tiling, at least, I never have. And I've never primed drywall before mudding it. If you've only read or watched videos, be sure you practice. If your repair area is large, even if just 'paper', maybe hire somebody?

I am obsessed with large format subway tiles (4x16). I'd try to match the white for the tile, and maybe pull one of the lighter gray colors from Brittanicca to be the grout color. Depending on your floor maybe you could pull one of the lighter colors as your paint color- this way you'll have some contrast without taking away from the Cambria! I'm attaching a photo of 4x16 with a contrasting grout!

either extend Kendal up and use that as your "backsplash" or tile in something neutral and solid, pulling colors from Kendal palette. Kendal is quite a busy pattern.