Herringbone seems like a lot to me.

Me too. Tile seems like a lot.

I'd keep it VERY simple - you have a lot going on in this kitchen.

trying to decipher your overall them is difficult with the picture shown. would you say rustic...Spanish/southwest/old world? to me, I would want to calm it down a bit [you have lots of texture and intensity]...look into stainless steel panels on that wall. or divide it into two areas...stainless up to bottom of hood and larger format simple tile or stucco application up the rest of the way, with a couple small pictures left and right of hood.

How about stone on the whole wall except a piece of stainless between the cooktop and hood? Use materials you've already used.

There is already too much going on with the room. It needs less pattern now, not more. I would suggest having a hood that matches the cabinets instead of the visually heavy and complex stone that clashes with the wood. That leaves the extremely busy wood as the dominant pattern. Then the backsplash could be something simple in a neutral color.

This is still a lot going on, but again, it does not give you a fourth (drywall) and fifth (tile) material in addition to the existing wood, granite, stone and stainless steel.

The stone is busy, but it reiterates what is going on with the fireplace wall and it lessens contrast between the existing elements by not introducing more elements

I agree with greendesigns. With the knotty alder and the dark, rich granite, your kitchen is not in danger of being lost--it's in danger of being cave-like. The stone backsplash makes all the elements the same dark tone. Maybe a rustic ceramic tile in a lighter tone could work.

If you keep the stone or use tile, I'd almost double the width of the wood trim. I like the uniform look palimpsest shows, but not in stone. I wonder if you can tile a hood. I haven't seen photos of tiled hoods, but then the alcove could be all handmade, rustic tile with the thick wood trim of the hood being the focal point.

Looking for rustic tiled hoods, I just came across this photo where the wide trim is more in proportion to the stone.

Here's a photo of herringbone with stone and alder cabinets. Do you have inspiration photos?

You can see that the tile goes on first.

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Rough "natural" stone does NOT run in a herringbone naturally, unless you have had one heck of an earthquake.

I's use the meekest, quietest subway I could find that blends with the stone, laid in a 1/3 overlapping brick pattern to minimize the grout lines. Because you have a lot going on there.

On a side note - have you considered putting small can lights on dimmers in the soffits flanking the hood? It could really help make that area be a dramatic focal point in the evening.

Oh, wow. How about a sheet of glass? I would want absolutely no more stone. If you must have tile, and I think you probably shouldn't, I'd stick to a large format ceramic with a simpler layout.

side note - I wouldn't bring the stone down to the counter because I wouldn't want to clean splattered tomato sauce off of it.

As simple as possible. I actually like it as is right now, so I like the idea of glass. I'm just not sure if this may read too modern.

Agree no more pattern! There's plenty going on already. All beautiful individually but if you put too many stars together they start to fight each other. Go extremely simple on any thing else that's going in. I think I would go with a plain brushed stainless steel backsplash under the hood all the way across and do nothing up along the sides of the hood. The ss would be easy to clean and you already have ss in the kitchen so not adding something else. Glass would work too, just clear letting the paint color come through.

My concern is that anything different, or simple, or nothing is really adding to the visual contrast, so in turn adds more pattern.

Its like wallpaper. people think that an accent wall is less visually stimulating than four walls of wallpaper. I had a client who did a room in wainscot, paint above and an accent wall of wallpaper because all wallpaper would have been "too much", so there were three completely different wall materials instead of one. What is "too much" is sometimes debatable.

I would choose a back painted glass in a sheet, picking up one of the stone colors. I agree with all the others that it's very busy already and you don't want to add another element.

I really like what you have done as well. I do agree that backsplash should be clean and simple. the suggestion above to get professional help who can see the entire space is probably what I would do. good luck. Hope the comments above don't leave you feeling bummed,