we finally managed to finish the kitchen. backsplash is up. toe kick is in. sad thing is it barely took any time at all, but we managed to put it off for nearly five months.
luckily, we had the foresight to put the cement board up back in january. this made putting the tile up quick and easy. we used premixed thinset and grout. and didn't even have to buy the tiles - we had a ton leftover from the bathroom.