I would tile the whole back area behind the hood for reasons you mention - if you need to change out a hood of differing shape.

Remodelfla has a nice kitchen that has tile up behind the hood. But I don't know if it has the issue you have, with the 6" space between ceiling and top of wall cabinets.

Here is a pic (hopefully she won't mind) of a GW kitchen that I have saved as inspiration. She also had cabinets that didn't extend all the way to the ceiling but opted to extend the tilework past them. Hopefully this is a similar scenario to what you are thinking. I love this kitchen.

Here's a look. We don't have any uppers on that wall. But even if I did I'd tile to the ceiling behind the hood.

I also tiled behind my range hood to the ceiling. As you can see my cabinets go to the ceiling but I think tile to the ceiling would look fine even with open space above your cabinet. I wanted to make the hood area a focal point so I did not put tile between the counter tops and cabinets. My sink is in the island so I didn't need any backsplash there.
Tile prior to hood:

Go all the way to the ceiling.

nice hood badgergal... :-)

Thanks remodelfla, funny yours looks just as good! Don't you love the way it lights up the cooking area and the powerful exhaust it has.

The choice between tiling to the ceiling or the top of the cabinets depends on what your hood and cabinets look like, what kind of trim you have, what the ceiling looks like, etc. Choose what looks best to you. If you don't go all the way up, buy the tile for it anyway, so that if you change your mind or your hood you can fill it in.

Do hoods fail nowadays? The hood is the last remaining original appliance in my mother's 60's kitchen.

Don't stop the tile at the bottom of the hood. That kind of seals in the hood. If you decide that you don't want to tile all the way up, you can run the tile up just far enough to hide behind the hood housing and stop before the top of the canopy. That way it's finished and you don't have a competing line of the top of the tile and bottom of the hood, and the hood isn't kind of grouted in place.

If you want a drama wall, you can also tile in the little space above the cabinets. :)

Dang, those kitchens look good. I may have to break down and tile my walls before too long. Remodelfla's kitchen especially has been a favorite for some time.

Allibee, I'd like to point you to some graph paper and colored pencils. I've always loved a generous, budget's-no-object use of tile (on the ceiling, too!), but, as you're worrying, the area to be tiled needs to be deliberately chosen for good functional and design reasons.

If you look around your kitchen, you may find another horizontal line, other than the bottom edge of your hood, that the tile could (should?) be used to create continuity for. My kitchen has a 3 strong horizontal wood lines created by our expanses of double-hung windows, the middle of which is above the bottom of our hood. They're so strong I discovered I had to consider them in laying out everything else. Hanging pictures, height of pantry wall cabs, etc.

Wherever you do stop your tile, if it's not the ceiling you could also use trim of whatever size looked good along the top of the tile to more strongly define that line. Maybe the best line would be defined by the tops of the cabinets. OR--somewhere in between, not matching anything but just creating a nice balance between the hood and wall? Maybe any strong horizontal line would be wrong because this area is all about vertical lines; in that case you'd need to know so you could avoid creating an attention-grabbing one.

In any case, if you start drawing out all the options you can come up with, there's a very good chance you'll find something that really appeals to you and just seems to be right for your kitchen.

It is tricky finding a natural place to end the tile when the cabinets do not go to the ceiling. I have a vaulted ceiling, so I am having a similar quandry of where to stop the tile behind my chimney hood. I am going with modern cabinets with a simple, squared off crown molding. It has been recommended to me that I end the backsplash in a straight line with the tops of the cabinets.

I do wonder, if the tile goes up behind the chimney part way, but not all the way to the ceiling, how do you deal with the change in wall depth when the tile ends? (i.e., if the tile is 3/8" thick, will there be a gap behind the chimney the rest of the way up the wall once the tile ends?)

Thanks for all your input and suggestions. I haven't decided fully as yet, but I do like badgergal's pics and suggestion of tiling that space only as a focal point and not the rest of the backsplash area. Will make a final decision tomorrow and let you know...hopefully I can post some pics when it's all done!