Give Your Kitchen Some Sparkle by Dressing Up the Backsplash!

 

You are searching through house plans for your dream home – or maybe you’ve homed in on it already – and you excited about actually building it. If you’re like most homeowners, you are going to pay special attention to the kitchen. The cabinets, appliances, countertops, fixtures, and fittings will all have to be up to the task of providing you with a state-of-the-art food-preparation center, not to mention family gathering place.

 

As you make your kitchen design checklist, don’t forget about the countertop backsplash! Sure, you need to cover it in tile or some other nonporous surfacing material to protect it from splashing water, spitting tomato-sauce pots, and spattering bacon grease. But just as important – if not more so – is the look of the backsplash. There are many design tacks you can take to spiff up the look of the kitchen by dressing up this small section of wall between countertop and cabinets. Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

 

    

 

             1. Travertine extravaganza

Travertine, the porous limestone tile with a soft look, is common in kitchens and bathrooms alike. It comes in many shapes and profiles, so you can use it as a design element in itself to create stunning backsplashes, especially for the space above the range or cooktop, and end up with a home that has a truly great kitchen. 

 

 

 

 

2. Spotlight on the range

Rather than make the – usually – expansive range area a fancier extension of the rest of the backsplash treatment, why not call it out a bit and make it stand out from the rest? Use a completely different treatment from the balance of the backsplash and make it a focal point of the kitchen!

 

 

 

3. Plain Jane 

Understated can sometimes make an elegant statement. If you have simple but tasteful décor in your kitchen, why not go simple and tasteful with the backsplash by using plain stone tile without mortar joints for a stacked appearance, especially if you don’t have a range-wall area to show off?     

 

 

 

4. Continuous continuity

Simple décor is one thing, but some homeowners like to take it to the extreme – with easy, supremely understated and practical results. How about decking out the countertop and backsplash all in the same material?

 

 

 

5. Glass, marble, and metal

How about wrapping three of the hottest kitchen tile materials together in a grand showpiece package as your backsplash? Any one of them would make a statement if used as an accent with a common-variety tile. But together? Stylish!

 

 

 

6. Marvelous mosaic

Speaking of mosaic tile, how about using that staple of the late 1950s and 1960s is new and modern ways and colors? Mosaics are back – as accent, trim, and field tiles alike – and designers are looking at them in different ways and materials, from glass to metal.

 

 

 

             7. Traditional and modern

You can get some décor mileage from combining old materials like travertine with very modern, contemporary materials like glass tiles to give what would otherwise be a very serviceable but uninspired treatment the extra punch to make it really special.

 

 

 

       8. Metal to the rescue

The past few years have seen metal really take off in the kitchen – most recently in tile treatments. Metal first made inroads as accent pieces in marble and travertine tile treatments, and now it is making its mark as dramatic field tiles!

 

 

 

       9. Backsplash? What backsplash?

Finally, sometimes the best backsplash treatment is no backsplash treatment. Case in point: a kitchen situated on a wall of windows. There is no point to putting up a protective treatment against glass, and besides, why would you want to obscure the view? Some homeowners like to put up a traditional “backsplash,” which is essentially the same material as the countertop surface that runs up the wall about 3 inches. The balance of the backsplash area between the countertop and cabinets is finished in the same way as the rest of the kitchen walls. This kind of “backsplash” was often seen when post-formed laminate countertops were popular: the countertop and 3-inch backsplash were all one piece. Small granite backsplashes are most often used in bathrooms.

 

 

 

With some inspiration and a touch of imagination, you can have a spectacular backsplash that completes the look of your new kitchen.

 

 

Footnote: The bottom left photo in the lead montage image for this article is the kitchen of a 2-story, 4-bedroom Luxury Craftsman-style house plan. For more details, click here (Home Plan #161-1017).