Look at your picture above...the left corner used to have tiles but for you new back splash--NO tiles on that wall. Only the back walls get tile.

Quarter inch backer seems like a lot to me. Maybe a tile expert could weigh in on that. It's not like this is a shower wall. Possibly overkill and creating a problem.

If you were going to stay with a regular depth fridge they could have bumped out the wall and cabinet above to hide the side and make it look more like a built-in.

What you needed to do was patch and smooth the drywall and then install tile and schluter for me is always a nice clean finis to a tile edgeyou do not need tile on that side wall so really no need for an edge material there . I agree that fridge should have been counter depth or the wall neded to be deeper.

Right, Leelee & Patricia. That was an older picture I grabbed. We are not putting tile on that corner end wall. That’s taken care of.
The contractor heard the tile guy mention needing backer board so said that would take care of patching the electrical holes.
That’s not sheet rock behind the backsplash. Paneling (which was in the kitchen) or plywood, I guess. So is it too late to smooth that down or is there another option besides backer board? One tile guy (who is coming by Monday to look at it) mentioned tearing out the paneling there but that it would be pretty messy to do. Is that the best option? Did I see something about DITRA backing that would be thinner? Anybody have a picture of a schluter edge kitchen backsplash? Would you suggest a stainless look next to my dark gray tile?

And, yes, the refrigerator look is not the best. We only had this one about 2 years so didn’t spring for a new one. And didn’t get counter-depth then because we didn’t have the width to make it fit. Cabinet guy suggested counter-depth (I said maybe at some point, after this one dies . . . ) but never mentioned making deeper built-in. Would you have made all the cabinets on that side deeper or just the fridge part?

So we’re only looking at needing a finishing edge on the wall to the right side of the sink & the left wall by the range.

Just the cubby for the fridge and cabinet above.

I keep waiting for someone to say you don't need the 1/4 inch backer board.

If you do need it then look for pencil tile that would work with the medium/dark gray backsplash.

Just get schluter for the edge

Me too, Leelee! Hoping there’s a thinner alternative! I’ll start looking for a pencil rail that might work when our tile stores open Monday. Just thinking that may be a difficult task. May have to go with Schluter but can’t quite envision it yet.

Btw. the tile we actually bought is the darker gray leaning against the wall behind the range in the last picture.

tile can go right on drywall, or green board, or the cement board. is he planning on putting the backerboard over the existing wall? because you certainly only need one, not both. If he put the 1/4" cbu right on the framing, you shouldn't have a thickness issue. If you can't smooth out what's there, then remove it and put up another substrate. just cut it out and replace. a little extra work but certainly nothing that difficult.

btw, your picture looks identical to this one. you can see they used a thicker liner on the edge. why don't you see if Schluter has something you can use?

Beth, it’s not drywall (if that’s the same as sheet rock.) The kitchen had paneling. It was in such rough shape after the laminate backsplash was pulled off that’s it’s hard to tell if they put paneling or ply board back there.
I will look at Schluter; just wasn’t what I had in mind. I talked to one tile guy back before the tile came in. Another is coming by to look Monday.

I don't like Schluter with a traditional kitchen like yours. It's got a commercial flair to it. I'd prefer a strip of molding painted to match the cabinets to Schluter. Will there be casing on the opening by the toaster oven? I can't tell what type of passage it is but it it could be cased, that would take care of it.

But yeah. Who suggested adding backerboard? Was it actually the tiler?

And no, Beth, nothing has been put up yet. Just demo of old laminate. The first tile guy was just concerned that it’s rough & peeling where the glue for the laminate was. He thought it might peel more or the tile might not adhere well without a smoother backing.

catgo, after rereading your previous comment, I deleted and reworded mine. I realized you hadn't done anything yet. so you can reread that if you want

basically what I said is to cut out all of the old wall that had the laminate and replace w/new substrate. do not put new board over the old board. with new substrate in place, you can use the bullnose tiles

Beth, I’m hoping that’s what the tile guy will say on Monday-that it won’t be that big a deal. It’s just that we should, of course, have done that earlier. Now, the painting is done & hubby won’t be thrilled to backtrack.
$$ Lol!

well, after all that, don't cheap out now and have double thickness. have him cut it out and do a green board for tiling. you don't even need the cement board unless you're going to hose down the wall while cleaning!

Fori, I guess a molding or casing might work. We actually have something similar on the pantry corner right across from it where sheet rock & painted paneling intersected. We’d have to work around the granite overhang & not sure how anything like that would work/look on the other wall by the window.

I don't like Schluter either. My tile guy really wanted me to use it in my bath. Ugh. So glad I went with pencil tile instead. I found a marble pencil that was just about an exact match with my limestone tile.

If nothing else use wood trim or try a quarter round. That might be more in keeping with the look of your kitchen than a metal edge.

This is Schluter.

I really prefer Schluter but it is certainly a more modern or contemporary look. It comes in many different colours & finishes depending on how much you want it to blend or not.

Shop for pencil that matches from another company.

What are your countertops?

Amy, countertops are Thunder White. Here’s an older, random picture!

Beth H knows what she’s talking about

Sorry for not responding earlier - full day. Thank you, Rai Kai and Leelee, for the pictures of tile with Schluter edges. I guess I have thought Schluter was mainly aluminum colored metallic or plastic edges, but maybe a color can be found close to the tile or even the grout, as Karina suggested. And I will look at pencil rail from other companies, Virginia. That might be my preference, if I could match something. I appreciate those suggestions as well as the quarter round or wood trim, Leelee and Fori. All good possibilities.

Kathy, I'm sure Beth H. is correct. This is not the time to cheap out. :) I would rather have the tiling done "right" than add backer board on top of the old to try to fix it & cause other tile decision issues . So, I'll see what the tile guy says tomorrow. Hopefully we can get it fixed without too much additional time/money & use the bullnose after all. I'll let you know!

1) Are you tiling the full walls around the windows? I think that would look really nice instead of stopping the tile at the ends of the upper cabinets

2) Can you order some tiles with a finished edge? We had a similar situation in our kitchen and we were planning to special order some of the tiles to come finished on a specified edge so that we wouldn’t have unfinished tile sticking out.

Heather, I do plan to tile around & over the kitchen sink window. Had not planned to tile around the lower, bigger window on the right. That's the part of the kitchen that you see when walking toward it from the den. Don't really see the rest & thought I might prefer looking at painted sheet rock from that perspective. Not sure what you mean by tile with a finished edge. I have bullnose. The problem was that a tile guy thought we needed backer board over the rough, glue-peeling old wall. If so, it would then be too thick to use the bullnose. Is there some other finished tile for the edge of subway? Our tile/color doesn't show anything else.

Gotcha. I meant something like this tile where the end of the tile doesn’t look like a cut end...easier with natural stone I think, but they do sell it for some other tiles

heather,,that's a bullnose edge. that's what she wants to do

I thought she meant something like this for a bullnose edge

that's not a bullnose. that's a quarter round liner. bullnose is rounded edges on the tile. either on top or the side or both. quarter round, cove or pencil liners are all different edging pieces.

heather, you last pic is what is used when a bullnose isn't thick enough, and they don't make a radius bullnose.

And, Heather, I do love the pictures of tile going up & over windows & did consider tiling around both. Guess if I now decided to do that, I wouldn't need a finished edge on that wall . . . might need more tile though. :)

Gotcha. We did order bullnose. My brain's not working. Heading to bed . . .

I used Schluter Quadec. It has a square profile rather than the curved Rondec. I think it looks fine.

Bagergal, your square profile does look good! Surely we’ll figure out something that works for us, too. Thanks for posting your picture.

Update: Thanks for all the suggestions as I stressed! Out solution may not be as “correct” as removing that layer of board in terrible condition but . . . We covered it with 1/8” plyboard to get a smooth surface. We were able to use the bullnose & love the results!

Great!