I haven't done one, but if you do a Google image search on "back-painted glass" you can see a lot of pretty pictures. I love the look, but am also curious about cost and logistics. Hopefully someone with experience can weigh in.

I've never done it and I'm not a kitchen designer but I know a bit about glass. Tempered glass is super strong, and what you use on table tops. It should be available at a reasonable cost unless you are needing to cut shapes or put holes in a sheet of it (like for outlets). Then it can get pretty expensive, because the loss rate during tempering can get high. Ask your designer for a relative cost of this kind of product.

My MIL has a glass backsplash. Instead of painting the back her KD put a wire mesh behind it. It looks really cool.

karen belle - your MIL's backsplash sounds very interesting. Is there any chance you could post a picture?

I've looked at the tempered glass back splash a lot. There is a local Trainor store that has them on display. Karen is right that cost is reasonable until you get into a custom fit that works around outlets and such. I think I'm going to try a piece behind my range to start and see how it goes.

Downfall is that if you accidently hit the backsplash and chip it, you have to replace the whole thing. This is more important to think about if you do the custom version.

I have back painted tempered glass backsplash and I love it. I think it looks splendid and it is also the easiest thing in the world to clean.
Tempered glass BS can get expensive - not because of the "loss rate" but because of the number of steps involved in the overall processing. Holes etc. are cut after the glass sheet is fabricated to a template and BEFORE the glass is tempered - so there is one more step to the finishing process. Then of course, it needs to be painted. But frankly, it isn't that horrifically much.

Couple of my glass backsplash pictures:

CLose-up of behind stove:

Wow, I'm glad I asked. I had to stop work with my designer because she was getting way way over my budget and we hadn't even started construction. She was very annoyed with me and wanted the final payment. That's when I discovered I didn't have any specific notes on the tile we had picked out or the name of the Ceasarstone, or the wall paint, well, hardly any specifics. She had brought a glass tile with her. When I paid her last bill, I asked for any plans, materials, etc and that's when I discovered that she had switched from red glass tiles to tempered glass with Pittsburgh tea blossom paint.
In the meantime, I found a Villi red tile that I thought was what we had originally picked . It comes in sizes of 4' by 4" , subway, 12' by 12", and up to 18" by 18". I thought that would be easier to put up around the 4 electric outlets and if I wanted to put up a magnet for knives. ??

Looking at these beautiful pictures, why would I want to put up a magnetic strip anyway?

Now I'm confused again. I'll post pictures of my space.

Well, I've tried twice to post a picture. First I thought it was because it was too big. So I downsized it. Still nothing. Both times the picture appeared in the preview, but when I pressed submit, nothing happened.

Maybe the link below will help? If not, check out the 'first time on kitchen forum' thread, it may be helpful. I'm not much help - I know how to post pictures from my flickr account, but not from other web sites.

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Thread on posting pics

I have a flickr account but haven't figured out how to upload to this site. I'll attempt a link again. My New Kitchen without counter tops or backsplash

Just posted this link as a suggestion for Sochi's bs.

Here is a link that might be useful: coated glass backsplash

Thanks for the link, sabjimata. And thanks for all the pictures.

I clicked on your flickr link and it says I don't have permission to view your pictures.

Here is what I do from Flickr:

1. Bring up or click on the picture you want
2. Click on "all sizes" (from the long list of options just on top of the picture)
3. Choose whatever size you want, i.e. original or medium probably
4. Just under your picture you should see these directions:
To link to this photo on other websites you can either:
1. Copy and paste this HTML into your webpage:
5. Then, as it says, copy the code and paste that code into the text message box of the GardenWeb screen. You should see your picture when you hit "preview message."

I was contemplating a glass backsplash too, but just getting things lined up was too difficult and the cost was prohibitive.

Fortunately, I think I've been able to come pretty close using porcelanosa tile.
http://photos.ivillage.com/images/photos/resize/gardenweb_Home%20Galleries_1269661246736_371949D.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

EKS6426 "Downfall is that if you accidently hit the backsplash and chip it, you have to replace the whole thing."

I wonder if that new auto glass repair process for chips would work?! It is for tempered glass. It's by a company called SAF-T or something like that.

Yippee, Sochi! My cabinets (reclaimed fir made from railroad trestles.) The counter tops will be Misty Carrera Cesarstone.

"I wonder if that new auto glass repair process for chips would work?! It is for tempered glass. It's by a company called SAF-T or something like that."

I think auto glass is a different animal--typically it's laminated with plastic in between layers of glass. Tempered glass like you use for windows doesn't get chips that slowly spread into cracks--instead, the whole thing goes at once into a zillion tiny cubes of glass. I had a bird hit a sliding window once, and it was pretty spectacular. The entire window cracked into a zillion pieces and the only thing that kept it from falling immediately from its frame was that it sagged against a chair that was in front of the window.

Does anyone know if it is okay (acceptable under code and also not incredibly stupid) to use untempered glass for a backsplash?

We used laminated glass for our backsplash. Dont know what code is though. It has been three years. no problems.

The larger the piece of glass, the greater the danger. I once saw a guy in the ER with a severed nerve bundle & artery in his wrist due to a large piece of untempered glass breaking when he was carrying it.

My architect told me he used glass back-splash behind his cooktop in his house and it cracked from the heat. I have no idea what type of glass he used. Any ideas?

Has anyone ever attatched supermagnets behind a glass splashback so utensils and recipes etc can be attatched to the front?

Hi "mindstorm",

Just wondering what is the brand of your white hood? Do you like it? Is it working well?

Thanks.

Where can i buy reasonable priced glass sheet for