Chacha's solution is very good. Alternatively, you could have two little 3" long stainless steel pieces made the same height as the front panel of the hood (2"?) and use the to fill the gap between the hood and the cabinets. Then tile below that. You could even have a sort little rail attached to them to hang a spoon from... Or run a kitchen tool rail between the cabinets just below the hood and tile up to the bottom of that. I've linked to the expensive but cool Rosle system below. Ikea no doubt has something similar at a fraction of the cost. Here is a link that might be useful: Rosle Kitchen Rail System

nice to see your post because i am struggling with some of the same ?s right now. definitely agree that you should run whatever backsplash material you choose all the way up to window trim and all the way up cooktop wall. when the granite guy comes would it help to do a little mock up with a granite piece and a piece of your tile and see if you like either one more than the other? with such beautiful windows and views you may find that after a short while you don't even notice the outlets. i'm not quite as far along as you are but it looks like i will have about the same amount of space between my windows and counter tops. my granite has a lot of black so i have been planning on taking the granite directly up to the window trim and using black outlet covers but the fat lady hasn't sung yet so who knows. on another note,i am driving myself crazy worrying about the lights above my counters. do you by any chance have recessed lights above you counters on your window walls? if so,would you mind sharing how far out from the window wall are they ( 18" 22" 24"?) i think they are usually set 24 to 25 inches from the wall when you are lighting counters and have upper cabinets to worry about but i don't know if it's the same when you have all that natural light and no shadows from cabinets. good luck tomorrow and if you have time would love to know what you decide.

Thank you everyone! I'm so happy to have found this cream....after looking at so many different ones! Here is the info: From the sample board.... Manhatten Series MN11/B36 Cream 3X6 beveled edge Best yet, the price is just $4.68 per sq foot! Honestly, I've been looking at tiles that range from $6-$31 per square foot. To think that my very favorite is under $5 really amazes (and delights!) me! I can't wait to post photos of the finished project....right now I have to order more switchplate covers!

Thanks everyone for all the great ideas. My granite guy and general contractor were great today!!! Both of them are so nice and worked together very well. The granite guy is the owner of the granite store and he comes out to do all the measurements. I am very lucky because I have heard horror stories about contractors being difficult! We decided to take the whole window frame off so that we can have a 4 inch backsplash. The fabricator is going to also create a granite sill so there will be a little shelf just below the window. I think he said the sill will round out about 1 1/4 inch on each side to give it a nice finished look. He really seems like he knew what he was talking about. At first my contractor said he would just cut off the bottom section of the window frame, but the granite guy said that he would prefer to have it all off to avoid any space issues when installing. My contractor said, no problem. He took the side pieces and bottom pieces off and will retrim it after the granite is installed! Granite will be installed Thursday morning at 8:00 am-- so excited tosee how it looks!!! :) Now I'm thinking of painting the trim to match the color of the new cabinets. The trim is really a stock builders white color. Looks OK next to the Coconut color cabinets (which are an off white). I went to the paint store today and they matched up the cabinet color almost exactly- Benjamin Moore Cream Cloak. There is the window trim and then door trim that leads from kitchen, near refrigerator wall. The door trim is between cabinets near stove and pantry cabinet. What do people think. Leave the stock white paint as contrast or paint trim to match the cabinets??? The kitchen got a first coat of BM Capilano Bridge today- 2nd coat will be tomorrow. I think it is going to look good once the granite is laid- should pull out the caramel coloring within the granite.