Hi, I am coming out of lurkdom to seek your assistance. I have enjoyed looking at the pics of many of your amazing kitchens!

I am facing a problem caused by upgrading my kitchen over time (and not thinking through all the eventualities...)

Several years ago, we replaced our countertops on the spur of the moment. We had hideous mauve formica, and an area was stained by some yard chemicals. We had an upcoming event where a lot of people would be at our home, a local granite fabricator announced a sale, and ta-dah we decided on new countertops.

I have white cabinets. We went with verde peacock granite, however, it is more black than green. The only change that I made to the layout was that I had a countertop extended along one wall to accommodate a new under-counter wine cooler.

I did not want a 4" granite backsplash (I wanted a tile backsplash that went flush to the countertop). However, I was at work during the installation, and when I came home, the 4" granite backsplash had been installed. Oh, well. I tiled the rest of the backspash with white subway tiles.

Last year, we replaced the old white dishwasher and fridge that were on one side of the kitchen with new LG stainless appliances.

Now we need to replace the range and over-range microwave / vent that are on the other side of the kitchen. My problems:

-the current range is a gas slide-in, and the 4" granite backsplash runs across the back of the range. If I get another slide-in, that should not be a problem. However...

-LG does not make a stainless gas slide-in range. Will it matter if I go with a different applicance maker (i.e. GE?) The existing LG fridge and dw are across the kitchen so a slight mis-match in stainless colors won't be as apparent. Or...

-should I get a free-standing LG range, butt it up against the 4" backsplash, and hope that it doesn't look odd or stick out past the counters too much, or...

-get someone in to cut out the section of backsplash that is in the way and install the free-standing range.

I have discovered that slide-in ranges are more expensive than free-standing. That isn't really the issue -- I'm more concerned about what will look the best, and is it more important to stay with all-LG stainless or is it okay to mix vendors.

This is a 30" standard opening. I cook alot, but am not a gourmet by any stretch of the imagination.

Thank you for any and all advice!