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.

Have you thought about stainless steel backsplash tiles? https://www.houzz.com/products/4x11-honeycomb-matted-metal-peel-and-stick-backsplash-tile-set-of-3-brushed-st-prvw-vr~100903589. These tiles would look great with your stainless steel appliances.

Please pour in some suggestions!!

I think doing a mix of different white tiles, or a mix of gloss and matte tiles might be easier to harmonize with the other two whites than having an expanse of a single white in the backsplash. These ideas are from Heath Ceramics. A mix of Heath's canvas white and vanilla bean. I don't know if I like this pattern for you, but I like the color mix. This is a dual-glazed tile; part of the tile is glossy and part is matte (I don't know if anyone but Heath does this, but you could mix gloss and matte tiles from someone else for a similar effect)