I know their purpose is to make cleaning easier, and to keep moisture from running down the back of the cabinets.

Backsplashes have one purpose-- to decorate and personalize your kitchen. Enamel paint will make it easy enough to keep clean, and caulking the gap between the countertop and sheetrock will keep fluids from running down behind the cabinets. It's is strictly for decorative purposes, and it's for this reason that I tell people that this is the one thing you can wait on indefinitely, until you decide exactly what you want to do, and you can afford to do what you want to do.

Thank you!!!! I really don't want tile and what I *do* want (Glaskote) is prohibitively expensive. I can just paint a nice color and be done with it. Yeah!!!

Do what you want..it is your kitchen!
I could not decide what I wanted for backsplash so I waited 2 years.
I did my own and really had no clue until we had lived with our new kitchen for a while!
And, I think there are so many choices that this is a good one to wait on.
Karen L

IMHO the backsplash has more than a decorative function. One purpose is to protect the sheetrock above the counter. The right type of calking, if maintained, can keep liquids from running down behind the cabinets, but will do nothing to protect the sheetrock above the counter top. If it happens to get wet from a serious spill, it can easily deteriorate, get moldy, etc. No amount of paint will protect it.

That being said, the likelihood of a big spill is small, and I doubt if waiting to see what you want for a backsplash would matter much. At any rate, I would consider using a "wet" location type of sheetrock around the sink and D/W area, and I wouldnÂt tempt fate too long.

A friend of mine had a disaster with a bottle of champagne and was SO glad she had a full backsplash. I would never consider a backsplash as a strictly decorative element.

I also disagree that a backsplash is strictly for decorative purposes; I'd say that is its second purpose. It is as you and others have said - it protects the drywall, make messes easy to clean.

For what it's worth, I started out with a backsplash exactly as you're thinking - sheet glass behind the sink and stove and painted wall behind the rest. Well, after several months , the paint was getting splash marks from the splashes on it and the drywall at the edges of the counter was getting this gray marks from where the counter sponge abraded the drywall as I wiped the back of the counter - I don't know if gunk on the sponge was transferring to the paint or if the daily wiping was wiping away the paint.

Anyhow, that's how I started. & I ended up doing just what you're contemplating - glasskote sheet glass.

BTW, while this is how I ended up with this stove-sink wall, on my other non-wet wall, I had always had plans to put in a rift oak backsplash so I did had already done that. (The plan had been to stain that dark but after I saw the rift oak, I didn't have the heart to do so). I looked for a RC white oak plywood but the ones I saw at the time didn't have the interesting grain so I used veneer glued to regular plywood and adhered to the wall. I sealed it with 5 coats of sealer and now any prep splashes wipe right off. I do all my baking prep on that counter and this works perfectly well for that caliber of protection. Plus I think it looks good. :-)

If it happens to get wet from a serious spill, it can easily deteriorate, get moldy, etc. No amount of paint will protect it.

Wrong. This is why I specified ENAMEL paint. It WILL protect the backsplash, unless you turn a firehose on your kitchen to clean it.

mindstorm, what kind of hood do you have? It looks great.

Mindstorm, I meant to tell you in my earlier post that your kitchen is gorgeous! I love the cabinets, both upper and lower. You must have lots of accessible storage space!

What kind of countertop is that? It looks very sleek.

mls99, The hood is a Gaggenau but quite a few brands have a similar concept - Miele and F&P being others. I don't know and haven't seen the F&P but some others have used it. The Miele is also fantastic and was the one we were going to get but then I found this Gaggenau in the shot-blasted finish which I thought integrated very well with the frosted/brushed metal rims of the glass doors and so just went for it. Best hood I've never had - fantastic at rounding up the cooking emissions and really quiet. All my other hoods have been the exact opposite - of dubious suction but imposing audio.

amemm, Thanks so much for the comments but how funny! I had done the same KLUDD thing for months until I put the glass backsplash in. It was my proof of concept that the glass sheet is a workable concept. The counter top is "Blue in the Night" polished granite. More pictures of it are at this link although already a bit dated as I've changed a couple of items since I took the pictures.

I have an open concept floor plan and my kitchen and dining area share a wall. The kitchen is also open to the living room.

As much as I've admired some of the decorative backsplashes here, I decided to leave the under-cabinet area just painted so I wouldn't be constrained to decorating other areas in view to match the backsplash. Even with a subtle choice like white subways tiles, it would have chopped up the space visually where I chose to stop them. I do have a short rim of soapstone tile around the perimeter of the countertops to stop spills from flowing under the base cabinets.

I think a lot depends on how your kitchen is set up, and the look you're going for, but I don't think backsplashes are a must.

I lived in this house 8 years without a backsplash. Nothing horrible ever happened. No mold, decay, bubbles or anything when we gutted it and I am not a neat cook for sure. Granted I did paint it a few times but just to change colors. So I agree Bill. I'm going to wait on the backsplash for the new build too. It's going up so fast there just isn't time, so I'll let it speak to me before I decide what to do, if anything. But again I'm strange. Things start to annoy me after a while so I'm sure I'll have this burning need to change it. I'd hate to spend a ton of money only to be ripping it out within a year or two...paint is so much easier!
But again, that's just me. I LOVE so many kitchens that I've seen on GW, it's almost impossible to decide anyway!!
KAT

Hi,
I currently (still) have paint. Until I decide to do the marble subway tile. Paint will never hold up like ceramic, porcelain, glass or stone. But since it's paint I can be easily renewed should it deteriorate. And be certain that the proper paint (and caulk) _will_ protect the substrate.
Casey

While we have been indecided for the last year and a half, we have just the flat latex paint. I am cooking with induction. There is almost no spatter. I put a picture on the wall behind the cooktop and I can wipe that off. The other day I dd a little bit of touch up paint and it blended right in. No wall damage at all.

Our "new" kitchen is almost 3 years old....and still no backsplash. At the time of our remodel, I just ran out of mental capacity to make yet another decision. As it turns out, I like the look of the painted wall (latex satin) and the splatters have wiped off just fine, but what actually bugs me is all the crumbs that collect in the (caulked 1/4") gap between the back of the granite and the wall. I wish I had told my granite templater that I was not going to do a backsplash and that he should plan the countertop to go as tight to the wall as possible. Because of this gap, I will hopefully soon get back to thinking about a tile backsplash!

Good luck,
--DJ