I would do granite, personally. Looks more integrated.

thanks raenjapan for the response. I wasn't sure what looks best and "wears" best. never having had a slide-in before, I had not even considered the back. I would imagine the granite would also be easier to clean.

Personally, I wouldn't use the 4" granite strip anywhere, especially behind the stove. I think kitchens look much better without it. The previous owner of my house put the strips in my kitchen, but not behind my slide-in stove. You can google "images of kitchen with 4" backsplash" & look at kitchens with the strip and without one, and then decide which look you prefer.

ashef, I meant the flat granite as a continuation of the counters on both sides. It would not be a backsplash. Is that what you meant? I was planning on tiling from the counter up to the bottom of the upper cabinets.

Yes, do the granite....it will look better and flow with the rest of the counter..easy clean up. We did it and it all blends in nicely.

thank you, joaniepoanie. As i posted previously, i had never given it any thought and then looking at the installation instructions I saw that the counter is usually notched out and the range slides in with granite on three sides. this "project" has been quite an education for us both! I appreciate any and all help.

We have our quartz along the back of our slide in Elux range. We didn't do the notches at the front. Looks great.

The stainless blends seamlessly and lets you replace the slide in with a free standing range later if you need to. If you do the granite, you need to have a granite fabricator come out and remove that granite bit to be able to do any other kind of range. Plus, you also need to engineer some type of ledger board at the wall for the granite to rest on, and you'll have two seams to either side. You only get a "notch" in the counter with a slide in if you are willing to have the hole cut on site and pay for all of the waste that you'd be cutting away.

I would only consider the stainless if you have a stainless backsplash behind the range, or maybe if the strip is really narrow. Otherwise, use the granite. It shouldn't take a competent workman more than 10 minutes to fabricate and install a support ledger board for the granite strip. Your granite has a pattern which should minimize the visibility of the two small seams.

What is the notch?

beaches1980 - Thanks for including this picture in this discussion. I love your granite as well! Would you mid telling me what it is called?