Don't know if these will help, but it might give you an idea. First is our kitchen before reno with tile countertops and a short tile backsplash. The second one is the re-done kitchen we did on a condo. It has granite counters and a short tile backsplash. We were originally going to use the 4" backsplash that came with the counters, but it really didn't look right, so we pulled it off and put in the tile. We left it short mainly because DH wanted to get the job finished and didn't want to cut around the outlets. He had already had to do that on the 15 outlets in our own kitchen and didn't want to do it at the condo.

Well, I guess I don't know how to add more than one picture. Here's the one of the condo.

See, I think, to look right if not integrated, a partial backsplash should be about two-thirds of the space, except behind a range where you have the option of taking it all the way to the hood or cabinet or ceiling.

JMHO, though, all two cents worth!

You'd have your busy granite, a partial neutral backsplash & then paint. Too busy looking. In the pics posted, the countertops & partial backsplashes are both neutral.

I'll post the "done" pix later this week (they start putting it up tomorrow am!) but here's where we're at today ... we're taking the backsplash all the way up the way up behind the stove to where the curve comes out from the loft above (approx 9'). It should be spectacular (!!)

My first thought was no, that won't look good at all but looking at Phonelady's kitchen, I love it. It looks purposeful and really pretty IMHO!

I DIY'd my backsplash with the help of a friend, and though it was time consuming and tedious, cutting around the outlets was not difficult. I didn't have corner walls or anything either. You just have to take the time to measure properly. And yes, we had some mis-cuts but we were able to use some of the tiles again.

Phonelady's looks pretty good.

phonelady - you kitchen counter/bs is beautiful. i love that tile; what is is? i love the paint/tile/granite combo. like you i am a little concerned that a whole wall of tile will be overwhelming for me personally and the little perk of not cutting around the outlet is nice too.
mgmum - for your cuts did you use a wet saw or just that hand scoring thing. did you extend the outlet box? those are the parts that i am really unsure about and get varying advice online and in books
the white part on the wall is where the formica bs used to be. if i go up to the outlets, it is 9" so with subway tile 3 rows of tile.

I think what I would do, if I felt that a wall of tile looked busy, is use a large tile so there'd be fewer grout lines.

I think PhoneLady's backsplash looks very nice and is unique, in a good way. If carrying the wall color through is important, this is one way to do it.

The bother of cutting around outlets is a one-time thing and will pass. Hopefully, the backsplash will last a long time. I think it's a little silly to make a design decision on that. I mean, surely it can be done by mere mortals.

Thanks for the kind words. I got the lead on the tile from sandesurf who used this tile in her kitchen with similar granite. And a partial backsplash on at least one wall.

It's crema marfil 2x4 beveled and polished marble. Got it from Oracle via their Amazon storefront. Very reasonably priced. It's also readily available elsewhere. HD had a version that looked identical.

Like I said, I had a tile guy with 40 years experience install. Where he lost the beveled edge due to cuts, he re-beveled the edges by hand to the point I can't even tell which tiles have original bevels vs the ones he did by hand. Others who have done DYI tile might be able to advise if beveled tiles pose any additional challenges in working around outlets.

Ardcp - forgot to mention. We too started out looking at 3" tiles and found that forced us to drop down to just 2 rows and that didn't look right to us. 3 tiles brought us to 9" and that looked just too jammed up against the bottom of the outlets. It was the "we ran out of tile look".

By going with 2" tiles, we opened up a lot more possibilities. Now we are slightly over 8" with grout.

I ordered the a large (3 or 4 rows I believe) crema marfil sample from Amazon for a song. It came in 2 days and we moved it all around the kitchen to get a good feel.

Good luck!

Very effective, PhoneLady! It looks great.