Yes, and I am thinking about doing it again on our current project. I am going to be doing mosaic tile on the backsplash. The stove is stainless steel & black and so is the Microhood. I think it will tie them together. Plus like you said, I think it will be a lot easier to clean.

We have a 3" backsplash of the counter soapstone with paint above everywhere except for the stainless behind the range. It's only been in use for a couple months, but so far I've been very pleased with the ease of clean-up. Greasy splatters wipe up with a dishcloth with no streaking.

(Sorry the photo is so blurry. One of these days I'll get myself a real camera instead of using my phone.)

{{gwi:1758885}}

mnerg - your pic is very similar to my kitchen in my mind. We are planning lighter maple hardwoods, cherry cabs (probably natural cherry - cant tell if yours are stained or its just the lighting), dark black counters (would LOVE soapstone, but hubby and KD are doing their best to sway me from that), and even right down to the green walls! We really would prefer stained trim, but are still negotiating whether or not we will have stained or painted windows. We are going with Marvin Integrity and contractor quoted us $10K extra for the wood clad, but we think (HOPE) he made a mistake and quoted us for all wood, not the ultrex-wood, so hopefully we will still be able to do stained trim and windows. Otherwise, they will be white like yours. Thanks so much for the pics. Do you have more in the FKB or elsewhere? I am a very visual person and it is helpful to see "my vision" in full color!

Barb - your BTDT experience and willingness to do it again are very helpful! Thanks!

I like it. Very easy to keep clean (which of course it isn't in this photo, go figure)

My opinion is one of dissent. I have a friend with a Wolf set-up and they deep fry a lot and their backsplash is a solid mess.

I have the island trim kit for my range. It is ss that extends about 2" up in the back. I also deep fry a lot on the back burner. After cooking for one party is was, literally, a hot mess. Oven cleaner got most of it off but it is slightly stained in the area behind the wok. So, we have a bit of stained steel.

Now I just put a sheet of foil behind the wok when I deep fry, to protect the 2" backsplash. The rest is cheap opaque mosaic tile with white grout. That has not been affected by my slobbishness.

My cheap white subway tile with gray grout that is at our big clean up sink is by far the easiest surface in the world to keep clean.

What is your countertop material going to be? Would you consider using that behind the range?

Fiveunderfive -- I don't yet have finished pictures. We have a couple of details left, such as shades for the windows and a table for the banquette. And, of course, I could use a better camera.

Our floor is natural maple. The cabinets are maple too, with a stain that probably falls somewhere between a golden honey brown and pumpkin. The walls are Sherwin Williams Sassy Green. (In person the green nearly matches the green of the GW logo banner at the top of forum pages.)

We didn't replace our windows, and only had to replace some of the window and door trim. The original trim that was left was already painted, so we just ran with that. I'm VERY pleased at the crispness that this white adds to the room. Don't despair if you have to go with painted windows. I for one would do it again without hesitation.

As far as the cleanability of the stainless backsplash, please note that my review is an early one. SO FAR no grease has been hard to clean off, but that only covers about two month of cooking. It's certainly easier to wipe clean than the stainless of the range, though that's not particularly difficult either. (The range is a Bertazzoi, and the splash was made by Vent-A-Hood.)

Good luck with your decision-making.

Bertazzoni, of course, not Bertazzoi.

Home Depot / Lowes sell standard size panels. They are not expensive at all. We glued ours up.

Our first kitchen remodel(in the early 90's) we used a similar panel put it was an almond color which coordinated with my (gasp) flowered wallpaper.

Hi five...

I think a stainless backsplash is very practical and a good idea...I just didn't go that route.

I dreamed up this idea ever since my marble backsplash was installed...

Whenever we fry something that I think is going to be a splattering mess, I lean a couple of my large baking sheets behind by stovetop. When I'm done, I simply wash the sheets...and I can still have the look of my backsplash for the majority of the time...

Is this silly? Maybe, but it works for me..

KA:)

To take it a step further, we are considering buying the shiny sheet metal, using screws to attach it (giving it an industrial eclectic look) and using that for our one wall of backsplash. I'd love to know if anyone has done anything like this before.

We used painted beadboard as backsplash, so we used a stainless sheet behind the range. I believe the brand was Frigo, and we ordered it online from Home Depot for a little over a hundred bucks.

OT, for Fiveunderfive, a few of the in-progress pics I had of my kitchen. Hope it helps!

{{gwi:1636542}}

{{gwi:1648392}}

{{gwi:1603754}}

{{gwi:1648393}}

Do what restaurants do, and have a quilted stainless backsplash behind your cooktop. The quilting will add visual interest, and show splatters less. I'll link a pic so you get an idea, though I don't know anything about the website, it was just the one that came up when I googled.

I once saw a pic of a kitchen in a high-end magazine (Architectural Digest or Elle Decor) with a quilted stainless backsplash behind the range, and a matching quilted stainless panel on the huge fridge. Very cool. The homeowner said she didn't want a cabinetry panel on her fridge, liked the restaurant look of a stainless fridge, but didn't want fingerprints or drips to show, so the quilted panel on her fridge solved all that. Her kitchen was pretty big though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic of Range with Quilted Stainless Steel Backsplash

We did it too, it was cheap and installed easily. We wanted a full slab backsplash but not behind the range and this was the perfect neutral choice for us as it did not involve another material (which we were really trying to limit) HTH!

mnerg - thanks for the pics. Can't wait to see the finished kitchen. I NEVER would have guessed that your cabs are maple? They look "too nice!" Are they custom? I guess I tend to equate maple cabs with "stock" or "cheap" cabs, though yours certainly do not look that way at all. We had stock maple cabs from Home Depot for our first house. A 8x10 kitchen we "remodeled" ourselves for around $4K when we first got married. We replaced a metal sink base and 3 metal uppers with some and while the "new" look was a HUGE upgrade, they still screamed cheap, which they certainly were. Anyways...

brickeyee - thanks for pointing out cheaper ways to find the metal. I figured there had to be a better way than the ones that come with the stove...but wasn't certain. I could still drill through for a pot filler if I wanted to, right?

Sabjimata - thanks for your "flip side of the coin" POV. I do worry that someone who really fries a lot (like us) would make a big mess...I am not sure what we are doing for counters yet. I like the look of a soapstone without a lot of veining (matte, black, nice contrast with cherry cabs and lighter maple floors which we plan to use - also will work with the rest of our very open downstairs floor plan). Hubby equates soapstone with the "oily" stuff he used in chemistry lab and thinks the streakiness will drive me crazy. KD has also tried to steer me away from soapstone, saying he does nothing with it and it is not in our price range. We have zodiac now in our current house, and while I do (mostly) like the look (we have a black with some light speckling) and the ease of maintenance, we have chipped it in multiple spots and broken several cups/dishes on it as it is unbelievably hard. We only met with KD once, but he was trying to push us into granite. I need to do more research I guess...we haven't even broken ground yet, so I still have time.

idrive65 - did yours come with the stove? I like the baskets.

kitchenaddict - your idea of using a cookie sheet and subjimatas of using foil make sense. I can see myself needing to do something like that to keep it clean. Though I wonder if I clean it down right away, while still warm, it would clean off well enough. If they sheets from a metal fabricator or Home Depot are cheap enough, I guess they could be replaced every few years too, if needed.

Carrie - every time I see your kitchen i drool over those counters. Beautiful!!

Wow Shannon - that quilted look IS very nice! I really like it. Though I will have to look into it more, bc on quick glance it says it can't be used with warming shelves and I wonder if I could drill through it for a pot filler. But thanks for the link to get me started.

Laura - love all the glass! Wish I had the balls (and OCD) to do that and keep it looking that nice! Though our plan does not call for a lot of uppers, so I have a feeling my cabs will be full! We are hoping to do 12inch cabs at the top of 42in (9ft ceil) and those will be glass I think.

Thanks to the rest of you I did not specifically mention by name. It is very helpful to get your opinions and/or pics.

Here's another thought.....People tend to complain about cleaning stainless...with grease especially, it can look sort of smeared without a really good cleaning. And wiping a vertical surface isn't easy.

I've been struggling with this decision for our redo. Have thought about stainless. Also thought about vinyl wall covering (which might be OK). But I've recently been considering the material that we have right now: plastic laminate. It's matte, very very slightly textured, and cleaning it is easy. I can take a quick swipe at, say, splattered spaghetti sauce, without the smear that stainless steel would have.

Our cooktop is on its own short wall, with maybe 24 inches of counter to one side. That might look odd in stainless. But a neutral plastic laminate =-- something that would go with our new marble counters -- might be OK.

We installed a brushed stainless steel cabinet end panel from Ikea behind our cooktop. Fits perfectly and only cost $32. It wipes clean easily and looks great.

Mnerg, would you mind sharing what kind of knobs you have and what finish they are? I'm in the process of picking out knobs and finishes right now.
Also, what color paint did you use on the walls? Just curious.

Thanks for all the ideas about where to buy ss sheets. I will likely do this behind my stove, as I am going with beadboard for the rest of the backsplash. Carrie--love your bb backsplash!

OT for Lobita -- the walls are Sherwin Williams Sassy Green.

All the hardware and light fixtures came from Rejuvenation, all oil rubbed bronze. Their ORB is a very consistent color, and reads like a warm black, which was great with the cabinet stain. Unfortunately, my soapstone leans into the cool side of black, so it's not quite quite right. Someone more persnickety than I might care enough to change them out. I care enough to notice, but not enough to be bothered by it.

Here's the scheme:

--plain bin pulls, on all top drawers (i.e. the row just under the counter)

--offset drawer pulls, on all other drawers, on the trash pull-out, and vertically on the few very tall narrow doors (Bin pulls on the lower drawers seemed like too much bother to reach UNDER to open those drawers, instead of being able to snag a handle from the top.)

--Old Town Faceted Glass Knobs, on the four glass-fronted cabinets (which are just like the house's original knobs on my dining room built-in, except those have oval backplates)

--1-1/4" Hollow Round Knobs, on all other doors

The offset drawer pulls, by the way, get my enthusiastic endorsement. They're simple but slightly interesting, offer plenty of room for you fingers, and feel great under the hand.

Good luck with your decisions!

Here is a link that might be useful: Rejuventation's offest drawer pull

Stainless is about the easiest thing to clean.

Try and use anything harsh on vinyl, or get the grout clean between tiles.

Just use about any decent spray cleaner and the stainless comes clean.

If you really burn something on you can always try oven cleaner.

idrive65 - did yours come with the stove? I like the basket

I originally ordered the VentaHood warming shelf with pulldown wire shelves, but it was flimsy and only came down to just under the shelf. I brought it to a sheet metal fabricator, who copied it in heavier material and extended it all the way down behind my range. He re-used the pull-down shelves, which I usually leave up out of the way unless I'm using the heat lamps.

Thanks, Mnerg. We're doing something very similiar to your kitchen, so I'd love to see more pictures as it progresses!