I would only do the tile behind the sink. No marble splashes, no tile on the sides.

Can you paint the caulk?

Put a marble quarter round tile trim piece over it?

brickton,
I thought of painting the caulk as well, but everyone I have talked to said that wouldn't work. The quarter round is an idea I hadn't thought of. Thanks! Anyone else have ideas of what to do?

There is paintable caulk out there. I'm not certain how it holds up with water. I used it where I had major gaps between my baseboard and wall. I applied it and made it very seamless (form a good sharp L shape with the wall) and painted it. I can't even guess where I put the caulk because it blends right in.

It's difficult to determine by your pictures, but it sort of looks like a sloppy caulking job. You could use paintable or clear caulk and really take off the excess to get a nice sharp corner.

Alternatively, you could remove the caulk altogether. Depending on how much splashing you see, this might be an option. Your countertop is quite large for a powder room, so I can't imagine you'll have a lot of water running to the edges. I have a not straight wall in my bathroom with a 36" wide marble countertop and no sidesplash and I did not use caulk. It has not been an issue and I think it looks fine.

I agree with Brickton, just use the tile on the back. Or, if you want to use it on all sides I would only tile about 4 inches above the countertop, the usual backsplash height. I am doing a powder room that is very similar to your project and have been on the fence about what type of backsplash to use--either the granite that the top is or use a glass mosaic. Your photos have helped me decide to use the tile, I like the lighter look much better.

I am curious about the vanity installation--did you have to remove the trim from the doorway in order to slide it in? I don't have much clearance and think that I will have to do it that way, but maybe you have a trick that worked! Thanks

We tiled only above the sinks, not the side walls, in all three bathrooms. Guest bathroom has a short border of tile, the other two we went straight up to the ceilings.

When they caulked the side/top of the sink next to the wall, I had them go over the caulk with the sponge to keep the caulk at a level just below the sinktop, so it doesn't stand out.

Here are some pics:

Guest bathroom

Hall Bathroom

Master Bathroom

HTH!!!

okay, the marble splashes are out and now I am wondering if i should just remove the caulk? Would it look strange to have a tiny crack between the countertop and the wall w/o the caulk?
glitterbug, we actually didn't have to remove the door casing. We installed the vanity before we put it the toilet so there was a little room to maneuver. Although it did have to be done very carefully to not ruin the new paint job.
cat mom, your bathrooms look great! I can barely see your caulk, it blends right in with your countertop. Maybe I should try to find a more grey caulk to blend better with my countertop?

You can def scrape out the caulk and replace it with another color caulk and/or have it recess a bit below the surface of your countertop. Our sinks are white, so we used white caulk.

I personally would not leave the space between the wall and the countertop uncaulked. Water could drip down in that space and compromise the side of your vanity.

Recaulk with a pale gray caulk that will blend into the marble and wall color. The wall behind our guest bath's vanity is bowed so they filled the gap behind it with pale gray caulking. Between the gray walls and the gray in the stone, its pretty unnoticible. Once you recaulk, then run the tile across the back only.

My painters used a caulk (for the baseboards, not around the sink or tub) that they mixed with the wall paint. It looks amazing, completely not noticeable. Sorry I don't know what it was called or if it could be used in a wetter area.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I am just going to stick with the tile on the back wall and I spoke with my tile guy and he said he can take out the white caulk and find a light grey one that will blend in with my countertop better. Thanks again for all your help.

How about just one row of your pretty glass tile on the sides to finish it off.