Kitchen Backsplash Tile Part IV

Kitchen Backsplashes - The Earrings of the House!

In our experience the sizes that work best for backsplashes are 4x4, 6x6 and 3x6. Smaller tile are generally too busy and require too much grout and larger tiles look out of scale and in many instances like a commercial kitchen! Most deco tile are either 4x4 or 6x6 so if you use an off size your decorating choices are both limited and more expensive.

We are starting to see more and more demand for stone, glass and metal tile for use on backsplashes. The stone tile can both be quite dramatic and colorful when some of the red limestones are used. On the other hand, some of the lighter limestone are quite neutral and mix well with metal tile or with designs made with different sizes of the same light limestone material. With any stone material periodic sealing will be required to keep them from staining. Readers who are addicted to wild cooking with Italian or Indian foods might want to stay away from stone unless they are prepared to be very careful with their cooking activities and are prepared to seal the backsplashes often!

Glass tiles are generally used on their own and as such become a dramatic but reasonably expensive backsplash material. They clearly are the choice to get a contemporary or modern European look.

A trick to reduce cost with metal tiles is to use them as accents with ceramic field tile. By mixing a few 4x4 or 6x6 metal tile into the field, the whole area will look more expensive but the cost will be moderated in that most of the area will be covered by the less expensive ceramic or porcelain tile. When used alone the metal tiles do allow for a contemporary look at usually a lesser cost than glass tile.

More Kitchen Backsplash Tile Part 5