why not leave the exposed brick on the one side? im not sure you need a back splash in this space.

There are cream subway tiles available and with them blending into the cupboards, your brick will still take centre stage. The butcher block above for your counters would be lovely. I'm not sure how expensive poured concrete is, but that's another idea (2nd picture) - slighlty textured and not polished.

I would go with butcher block countertops (they have at Ikea). I think they would be perfect with your lovely brick. I would go with a butter yellow, light coral or light teal for porcelain subway tiles to install in a running bond horizontal pattern. You could use a larger than normal subway as the area you have is very spacious & I would use a charcoal grout since it is very light in the room & you have black appliances. What do you think?

Be sure to add under cabinet LED lighting on a dimmer & I can easily see a string of LED lights above the cabinets to show off the brick & your high ceilings. Also add some colored fiesta ware pottery dishes & some colored wine glasses in some of the glass cupboards. Beautiful!

thanks for all the comments. I think we will go with the ikea timber tops. Then see if we can get the right kind of white/cream subway tiles with black grout. like the led lights over the cabinets ikea. I am also going to get a feature black light for over the larger bench return. this is a pic of us sealing the brick wall. we are going to put in a white barn style double size door the slides along the brickwork with a black industrial rail so I think all that together is going to work well. thanks all :)