Thanks prill...I'm leaning towards only doing tile in area to the left of the casing...then in the window area just doing paint and the casing down to the counter. I guess I'll just have to be more dilligent with cleaning. The Reef was the first tile that spoke to me...I really thought I was going to go for a more solid blue, but reef is so much softer....it allows me to play up the color of the walls more...not that I have a lot of walls...And, I found out that my designer can get it for about 12.50/sf where I was quoted around $15/sf.

We are having Typhoon Bordeaux installed next week. We are planning to use the same tile backsplash we used in our previous house because we loved it so much and had so many compliments on it. We use Tuscany Travertine subway tiles on the 12 x 12 mesh backing. The tiles are 2 x 4 and they are beveled on the edges. We used 1 full 12 x 12 from bottom of upper cabinets down, then a row of Noce Listello 4 x 12 with an antique bronze medallion and then finished with about 1/4 of a 12 x 12 piece across the bottom. The Tuscany Travertine just seems to match everything perfectly. I ordered 2 boxes from Home Depot this morning. Working with the 12 x 12 mesh pieces is soooo easy to install. I did our last kitchen myself and I had never tiled before.

Please pour in some suggestions!!

Beth H, thank you again for your thoughtful suggestions! Unfortunately, as I am in Canada, I won't be able to buy from TileBar. But it is great just to see the possible choices. I totally understand how my inspiration photo and my actual kitchen are totally different, it is just that I thought possible to borrow one isolated concept... Regarding the flat side of the island - yes, it does have a shaker style trim same as on cabinets, so it definitely looks more finished than on my mockup :) So, to sum things up, you advise against using slab backsplash on the window wall, no matter what style of tile backsplash we decide to go with, right?