Originally I was going to make upper kitchen cabinets and a range hood for this side of the kitchen.  But, after making a mockup of the range hood, I decided I liked it on its own.  The range hood is made from a block of balsa and decorative wood trim.  I built a lip on the bottom of the balsa base so it would look like there was a vent.  I had photos of the process, but my hard drive crashed and I lost them.  (I knew it was coming, so I didn't lose much else.)

Here it is with just primer, before sanding and finishing.

After the polymer clay backsplash didn't turn out as I had hoped, I searched for more ideas online and found some nice images of tin ceiling tiles used as a backsplash.  It seemed like something fairly easy to replicate since Houseworks makes a sheet of vinyl molded to mimic tin ceilings.

I first taped a piece of scrap paper to the wall behind the oven and bottom cabinets.

After mounting the range hood with tape and placing the ceiling board on, I marked where I wanted the tin tiles to end.  I used the paper as a template to cut a piece of the tin ceiling sheet.  I like this much better than the polymer clay idea - at least for this particular kitchen.  I plan to paint the vinyl sheet and the range hood.