You don't have to tile the side wall. Although this example, they did use a two inch piece of the countertop on the side wall.

Here is one where the side wall is tiled.

I like no tile on the side wall.

When the counter extends beyond the upper cabinet, you can end the tile in line with the edge of the cabinet or go to the end of the countertop to level of the bottom of the cabinet or tile all the wall up the wall. I went all the way up the wall around my window and really like the look. It doesn't use too much tile to make it costly. In this space they tiled up the wall.

Here is an excellent example. No tile on the side wall and the tile ends in line with the upper cabinet. You can't go wrong doing that.

Thank you! These pics are SO helpful! I agree that no tile or backsplash on the side wall is best. For my photo 2, if I tiled in line with the upper cabinet, there would be 7" of countertop that continues beyond the tile backsplash. The final example pic looks great, but they don't have 7" - does that change your opinion? Thanks SO much!

Are you tiling yourself? Have you bought the tile yet? Everyone has to tile around the electrical outlets. I saw a tile kit yesterday on DIY network Kitchen Impossible where they used sheets of plain cream colored one inch tiles that were peal & stick. Very easy to make cuts for around the outlets. Everything you needed was in the kit, even the grout to use after it is installed. The only thing they used different were some 4 X 4 metal tiles above the range. If you do not know what kind of tile to use off-white subway tile in a running bond pattern using light grey grout is a classic, timeless, inexpensive choice. That kind of tile is rather cheap and I would definitely take it around the wall to the height of your cabinets. I like white subway tiles so my outlets sort of disappear when it is done.

Thanks for the comment. If we tile, we would go up to the cabinets. I was debating the 4" granite backsplash, but don't like it. I prefer the tile, but then we run into the two problems - side wall and countertop extending beyond cabinet.

We had our back splash installed today! Grout goes in tomorrow... can't wait! We had a question about edges too. Our tile guy was a huge help. I will post more photos tomorrow when he's finished so you can see what we did. There are tile trim pieces that create a finished edge for you at the end of your counters. I think you could go either way with the side wall, tile or not. Transitioning from the tile to the wall will be less obvious if the tile and the wall color are in a similar tone.

Thank you. I'd love to see your tile trim/edge pieces when it's done.

Thank you! I really like the pencil trim to define the backsplash under the cabinet. Great idea! For my side wall (photo 1), if we do NOT tile the side wall, do we just tile up to the side wall, or use a pencil trim at the inside wall where the backsplash meets the side wall? Thanks!!

I'd just tile up to the side wall with no trim.

Yes just tile right up to the side wall in photo 1. No pencils there. Glad it helped

These are our edges, just finished yesterday. Ran tile all the way to the door frame to the right edge of the counter because of the light switch placement. Ran the left edge just to the cabinet edge next to the fridge, and finished it with a metal strip made for that purpose. it all looks very tidy!

On the right side where the cabinet stops and the counter keeps going--consider stopping the tile at the cabinets and then add a pencil tile to the edge to finish it out. This looks like your situation.