Have you checked the Finished Kitchens Blog (FKB) to see if anyone has done something similar to what you want to do? (The "Read Me" thread has a link to the FKB in the first post.)

New to Kitchens? Read Me First!

I totally agree Miranda, but I also feel like the countertop will look weird with 3" of tile between the matching low backsplash and the range. I don't know... I don't love the stainless backsplash behind the range for this kitchen and if I did it I'd want it to be the same width as the range and not the hood.

Have you considered using the marble? Just bring it up to the hood (or as far as you need) behind the range. And I'd do 36". If you do tile, you can have that 3" of counter material go across the range gap (imaginary counter here) and tile above that.

What kind of range do you have that you already know won't fit right with a thicker splash?

It's a kitchen aid induction slide-in range, so it would work but it would add an awful lot more to the budget and we're already over. Also I really don't want the range getting pushed out by the added depth of the stone. Tile and glass aren't nearly as deep as the marble would be.

I'm trying to decide between running the marble up behind the range to the hood or doing back painted glass there in the wall colour. I worry that the darker grey marble would look odd in this application because the walls are off-white (BM White Blush) and the trim and cabinets are BM Snowfall White. The marble backsplash would be 2cm thick and the glass just 6mm.

Unfortunately the glass guy won't be able to give an estimate until after the marble fabrication has started, so I basically need to make up my mind without a cost comparison.

Based on the photos below, what do you think? Can you imagine the blue-green cabinets being white? The marble I've chosen is definitely lighter than in the inspiration photo, but I still wonder if it would look heavy and out of place.

Does your range actually push in right tight to the wall? Some have a slightly raised back part or in the past, required a small bridge of counter top at the back. Sometimes the thick power cord and outlet etc. require the range to stand away from the wall a bit. This may help you decide what to do.

Also, some fabricators can make a smaller piece of granite or marble thinner. Ours did for small niche pieces in our shower so they didn't eat up all the volume of the niche. I know those are much smaller pieces than a back splash. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Installing a slab of the marble as back splash will be less labor than having someone tile it so you might offset a bit of the cost there. Just some food for thought.

Thanks Silken. The range does in fact push right back to the wall, and there's very little space between the wall and the vent that is slightly taller than the cooktop surface.

The stainless door of this range is very thin and so you see the black sides when the oven is pulled away from the wall. If we pull it out 2cm for the marble that's another 2cm of black showing on the side of the range, right beside my white cabinets. I don't love that, but if people feel the marble backsplash would look good with white walls, cabinets and range hood, then I'd of course consider it.

There is is a glass artist who lives 5 miles from our house and he does these glass pack painted backsplashes "all the time" so that's an option that would only push the range out 6mm from the wall, and which would maintain all white above the countertop.

I'm hoping someone with an equal obsession with Plain English/DeVol/British Standard will weigh in on which is the better choice aesthetically. Cough cough, Anglophilia. ;)

The wall behind our range sustained smoke damage after roasting a chicken. Kitchenaid says this will continue to be a problem on occasion, and since marble is porous I think glass is our best bet after all. I'd be leery about using tile because grout is porous too. I'm all for honed marble having a patina over time, but I can't live with a big grease stain up the backsplash, and don't want to apply a poultice each time I roast a chicken.

I put sealer on my tumbled marble backsplash and grout and it is like new going on 5 years now. I cook a lot but it just wipes down.

Silken, that's good to know. I wonder if the way the range vents makes a difference. My old KA gas oven didn't vent so close to the wall, but this induction range vents within an inch of it. The marble installer said she'd suggest I go with the glass because the steam would etch the marble. What do you think? That Gardenista post said she was going to do the following:

"Just in case, we re-applied sealer–three coats–to the backsplash ourselves. We plan to mount a 3-inch-high strip of stainless steel flashing against the backsplash to divert future chicken smoke and grease from the marble. I am sure it will be perfect."

The installer said their sealer doesn't protect the surface from etching, it only keeps liquid from absorbing into the stone, and the sealer other people use may not be one they recommend. Stumped.

Here's the previous inspiration photo, photoshopped to more closely reflect the colours in our kitchen. What do you think? If I went this route I think I'd need to install a 3" stainless backsplash in front of the marble backsplash. I just don't know that it's worth it. The marble would be a feature and a focal point, which would possibly be high maintenance. The glass would be low maintenance, and no focal point at all. I don't know that I need a focal point though.

Our GE Profile has a vent at the back too. But I can't say I have ever had a bunch of smoke or anything coming out of it. It almost doesn't seem to emit smells from back there. The oven seems so air tight that you can only smell what is baking once you open the door. And we have had to adjust to being careful not to get our faces too close when we open the door as the heat and moisture blast could singe eyebrows! So I am not sure what that part actually vents but it is an open vent. I do use this (see link) spatter guard when I am frying or making a tomato based sauce to prevent excess splattering all over everything. But I have still gotten tomato and grease on the backsplash and it has just wiped off. I don't leave it there and clean up as soon as I can. The product I used was recommended by our tile supplier. It is called aqua Mix Rapid Cure (Sealer's Choice Gold) Good for granite, marble, limestone, travertine,porous tile and grout. I only used it on our tile backsplash. Not on our granite countertops. This is it: Aqua Mix But I would test it on a scrap or clear it with your fabricator.