Alternatives to tiled kitchen backsplash
joenorm
| Posted in General Questions on
Hi All,
Anyone have any cool alternatives to a tiled backsplash behind a stovetop and below the hood?
Stainless is a little to cold/industrial so that’s off the table. But the clean continuous surface is appealing.
That area gets so much greasy splash it’d be nice to avoid grout lines.
thanks for any ideas!
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We have used a piece of the same countertop, granite and the like.
We used back-painted plate glass on this project: https://cdn.branchcms.com/39ZRppKR8d-936/images/gallery/3-kitchen-14.jpg.
Michael-
What was the process here? Is this DIY friendly? I would have to cut out a pattern in glass which sounds tricky. Cabinets are in already.
I definitely cannot speak for Michael and how it may work in this application relative to the counter-to-ceiling application, but I have worked with back-painted glass and acrylic a lot in the environmental graphics trade and can maybe offer a bit of perspective on the painting portion.
In my opinion, the process itself is pretty straightforward and DIY-friendly on a small scale. That is, if you wanted to do a smaller piece(s) for behind the stove you would simply do as the name suggests and paint the backside of the glass. I’ve used a variety of paints all with great results. Multiple coats will be required in any case. Roller application is fine as well.
Oil-based paint is ideal because adhesive tapes like VHB stick to it much more readily. I have had to apply panels in LEED-certified buildings where oil-based paints were off-limits. In that case we still used tapes, but needed a mechanical fastener such as z-channel or other transition strip as a backup.
Joe, our project was complicated by the floating shelves and the glass window jamb extensions, but for a simpler project I think it's something a DIY-er could tackle. We looked into spandrel glass but it wasn't good enough quality, so we got 1/4" tempered glass and had it back-painted with a coating made for glass. I don't recall the product; this was several years ago.
whoa. Nice kitchen.
Thanks Andy! More photos here: http://www.finelinesmaine.com/gallery/item/broad-cove-contemporary.
I like the horizontal wood on the cabinets. Not crazy about the all-white look, I know it's trendy right now but it just seems regrettable for a kitchen.
DC, if you're talking about my project, it looks white in the photos but it's really a light, warm gray/tan: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW7022-alpaca. We used the same color here: http://www.michaelmaines.com/lakeside-modern-kitchen.
Holy smokes, that’s a beautiful kitchen! I’ve worked a lot with back-painted glass in environmental graphics, but never thought of it’s utility value in that application.
Thanks Brian! An interior designer picked out the finishes but we designed and built it in-house at the D/B firm where I used to work--it was quite a challenge!
Michael - kitchen looks great. I wanted to go with glass but the other decision maker in the family thought it was too modern looking. Is that walnut ship lap?
Joe Norm - We ended up matching the cooktop backsplash with the same granite as the countertop. I cooked salmon and steak this week and the backsplash was a greasy mess afterwards, but clean-up was simple.
Jonathan, thank you. It is definitely a modern look! And not inexpensive. We used that kitchen for inspiration for a more budget-friendly kitchen I designed and built a couple of years ago: http://www.michaelmaines.com/lakeside-modern-kitchen. Fine Homebuilding featured it in last year's K+B issue.
The island is wrapped in black walnut with seven coats of hand-rubbed tung oil. It's installed with custom-milled Richlite splines that allow for no visible fasteners.
Thanks Michael! Nice trick to avoid the face nails.
Copper?
I've seen broken pieces of granite used before, with the broken edge polished. That look was all the rage maybe a decade or two ago. I prefer to just use a regular piece if needed though, so you end up with a sort of continuous look of the counter going up the wall to the hood. This works with Corian too, and probably just about any other material.
Copper works, and stainless steel sheet can give you a commerical kitchen look. Some people like the commerical kitchen look with the big overhead sink sprayers and stainless everywhere. If you have the edges formed over, you can hang metal panels on concealed metal fasteners for a clean look, but you'll have seams every so often between panels if you're doing a large area.
I've seen glass block used when there is something on the other side of the wall from the counter that can provide some light. I'm not a fan of that look myself.
Bill