Kitchen make-over - Part 2: Backsplash

We finally had our kitchen backsplash installed.  We decided to go with a traditional white subway tile and also picked out an accent tile for a recessed niche behind the sink.  Well, come installation day, things didn't go so well behind the sink:

The pipe got in the way and having those wires there didn't help either.  Actually, the contractor accidentally sniped the wire with his saw when he was cutting the niche.  Oops!  Thankfully, the electrician was able to fix it quite easily.
So, here are the before photos:

And a look at the opposite side of the kitchen:

And here's the after.  What a huge difference!

And here's our niche turned accent wall:

Pretty but Bob's comment was "... but it doesn't do anything!"  Ha!  The kitchen does look brighter:

I did have a problem putting on one of the face plates back onto the wall, so looks like it's not quite over yet!
Thankfully we did manage to piece together some tiles for the kitchen floor.

I think the accent tiles actually worked alright here!

There were some other tiles that sounded hollow underneath.  Hopefully none of them will pop off and crack!
Next project will be the cabinets. Eventually we'll get this all sorted out!