When designing dining rooms with recessed serving buffet alcoves, consider bringing in texture with masonry. The niche space is already there — why not dress it up with line, texture and color of natural, timeless stone?
Just keep in mind, especially if you want to do it yourself, first you need to install moisture-resistant backer board to the wall before installing the tile. This involves a saw, which means I simply whip out my checkbook, write my tile guy a check, then take off to the mountains until it's done.