It's not necessary anywhere in a house. But it is currently a popular choice for bathrooms and kitchen backsplashes. What strange places are you seeing it?

I love tile. Having said that, I think the obsession with tile backsplashes in the kitchen is way OTT. Look at deVol kitchens for a fresh take on the small strip of countertop used as a splash. They make that strip taller than usual and it looks gorgeous. They also used the short strip of countertop, as well as tile. Here is their site http://www.devolkitchens.co.uk/, it's worth browsing.

And you are right about bathrooms needing less that totally tile clad walls. Wallpaper and paint have looked good and worked just fine in WCs forever. Trust you instinct on this.

Tile or some other type of water impervious flooring (linoleum, etc.) is necessary for bathrooms, laundry rooms, and mud rooms with wet weather. Either tile, a self backsplash, or glass is needed around every sink (with the exception of a lightly powder room) and stove areas. Showers can be solid freestanding materials without using any tile. If you don't want any tile at all in your home you don't have to use it, but in most cases tile is a more upscale option than others for function and price. A better question is whether or not you have good options in each room other than tile. Hardwood floors may not be the best option in a dry coastal location due to sand, heat, and water.

Tile and grout are not the things that protect your wall studs and cavity from water. The waterproofing does that. I like this shower where a special wallpaper was used.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5276572/sochi-bathroom-reveal-shower-wallpaper-silestone-shower-pan#n=17

We actually have hardwood floors in our master bathroom, but I don't think I would have put them in myself. They were here when we bought the house. I share your feeling that sometimes there is just too much tile, such as tiling every single wall in a bathroom or kitchen, going over doors, around windows and such. I prefer there to be at least some non-tiled wall areas to paint.

You seem to have covered where tile goes in a relatively upscale home.

Tile for bathroom floors - tiled showers and I think most upscale bathrooms have tile on the walls up to the wainscot height.

Tile backsplash in kitchen. If you are on sensory overload in terms of tile, just wait until your kitchen is finished making sure not to put in that 4" piece of partial backsplash running up from the counter. Or use the same material as the counter for the backsplash which can be striking.

Other than that I am not sure where tile goes but I think it is functional in certain places depending on your home - e..g. mudrooms and laundry rooms done with tile floors seem functional. If there is literally no entrance other than one front door, I might also do some kind of tile or slate flooring in the expectation that mud and wet stuff would be tracked in.

You have other options: steel, wood, glass, concrete Etc. We did one bathroom wall in raw, paint included, hand applied and waxed plaster, another wall was concrete, the sink had a sort of built in backsplash, there was no shower. You can get a pop in shower unit, no tiles involved. One of our kitchens had an original tongue and groove wood wall I painted in oil enamel and the sink was a stainless commercial unit with counter and backsplash. Depends on how messy you are, the heaviness and type of use, and personal aesthetics, here you will see a lot of Portuguese and Italian traditional homes with a ton ton ton of tile, floor to ceiling wall to wall, and also it was not uncommon for Asian families to rip out old wood floors and replace with white tile, we have a lot of older homes here. Tile is not the only solution but it is practical and functional and some people really love tile.

https://www.us.kohler.com/us/Harborview-top-mount-or-wall-mount-utility-sink-with-3-faucet-holes-on-center-deck/productDetail/kitchen-sinks/421603.htm?skuId=373288&brandId=433017

https://www.americanstandard-us.com/bathroom/commercial-bathroom-sinks/akron-cast-iron-wall-mounted-service-sink-17413

https://www.walmart.com/ip/GRIDMANN-1-Compartment-NSF-Stainless-Steel-Commercial-Kitchen-Prep-Utility-Sink-w-Drainboard-39-in-Wide/110627406

https://www.ebay.com/itm/60-Three-Compartment-3-Bowl-Underbar-Sink-Drainboard-Commercial-Stainless-Steel-/252923288623

https://www.frigodesign.com/product/stainless-steel-backsplash/

https://www.idealhome.co.uk/kitchen/kitchen-ideas/check-out-this-colourful-kitchen-59013

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/you-can-actually-fake-a-concrete-wall

https://www.homedit.com/glass-backsplash/

Thank goodness someone else feels this way. I am also in tile overload. "Need" a kitchen backsplash but have put it off for 2 yrs. because I just don't want any more tile, no matter how beautiful it is. Have also used a bead of waterproof stuff and paint for now. Pippabean - your kitchen is spectacular.

@hazelcraddock You can use a mirror for your back splash. There are lots of alternatives to tile.

I have no tile backsplashes anywhere in our house. We have the 4 inch granite splash. I have tile on floors in bathrooms, laundry room and office. I have tile in showers. We are in a log house so our kitchen walls are log so we were not going to cover them in tile so we just went with the 4 inch granite backsplash. I carried this into the bathrooms because I just didn't want more tile.

I had wallpaper for a backspace for 32 years; I've very happy to now have honed marble large subway tile. It looks much better.

Since my house was built in 1948, I have a fully-tiled bathroom. This means the walls are tile about 4 1/2 feet up. It's nice - nothing gets nicked. My upstairs bathrooms are more recent and the wallpaper does sometimes take a beating. Thank heavens I had it vinyl coated!

I'm with you on the tile overload. It is beautiful but I can't help but wonder if all this lovely tile is going to look like my (very dated-90's) 4 inch tiles with fruit motifs in a couple years..........

pippabean, very cool look there! What are your counters?

Tile requires a commitment of time and money with both installation and also removal. So it can overstay its welcome, trendwise.

Paint, on the other hand is easy to change out.

hazel - thank you for that compliment!

mittens - glad you like the look! The counters are from Diresco, a Belgian quartz manufacturer. They're medium beach in velvet finish, which I think is just a tad shinier than typical honed quartz.

We have no issues with them the way other posters seem to have with their honed counters.

Crushed blueberries can stain, but these stains come off easily with just a couple of drops of no-bleach Scrubbing Bubbles with lactic acid. No scrubbing required, I just let it sit for 10 seconds, wipe off, repeat if necessary. That's it. The surface does occasionally show greasy fingerprints, but I can see them typically only against the light and wiping with a bit of dish soap or some sort of mild degreaser takes care of them.

These counters are everything I wanted: just a plain working surface that lets me see my stuff without a distracting pattern. Thank god for no streaks, smears and spots, no shiny flecks and glitter. Calm reigns!

Another huge fan of pippabean's kitchen. Gorgeous.

I've never liked tile everywhere, but 5 years after a major second-story remodel, I am rethinking it because the drywall just shows all kinds of damage. I'm also rethinking wainscoting (not beadboard, but maybe a more flat-surface wainscoting) as an alternative.

thanks pippabean! That looks really lovely. I see the closest Diresco showroom is 500 miles away, in San Fran. Odd that they have no SoCal rep. What are your other counters?

Civilization and cultures flourished historically first in hot climates. Tile /stucco ensued as appropriate . Over time ....advances bring culture and craft to different areas and we learn and are exposed.......it became available and provided much aesthetically that was new and adapted well. Doses of anything can please but certainly one can choose. Tile in constantly changing formats of use and looks is remarkable really.

We will be tile free soon. I have no tile in the kitchen, we put LVT over old tile in the master bath, and the shower is a solid surface surround. The powder room will also get LVT flooring. We *might* do a little accent wall tile behind the mirror in the powder room, but that's it! I said when we were doing our kitchen that I didn't want to hang dollar bills on my walls.

A house doesn't have to have any tile. Our last home (new build ) I didn't want any tile anywhere . Bathroom floors were laminate and had one piece tub /showers. Sooo easy to clean. Kitchen backsplash was copper. Our present house (used ) has tile on the bathroom floors, entry and kitchen backsplash. Thank goodness the tub /showers are flat panels. I hate cleaning grout.

Karen Mikolainis, I had to chuckle at the "I didn't want to hang dollar bills on my walls." So true! Though maybe more like $20 or $50 bills these days!

None of the houses I lived in had tile backsplash in the kitchen or baths until I remodeled my kitchen in 2003. I think that old oil-based paints may have better protected the walls and we were very careful not to splash. So 54 years without it! I have always lived in older, cheaper houses. Only one of my three 1955-era ranch homes even had tile beyond the shower/tub. The farmhouse I grew up in had just paint above the tub, and the shower was a cold steel box in the utility room. With no door on the room and only a trickle of water pressure, you really had to want to shower, and everyone had to respect your privacy.

I think for that reason, tiled bathrooms have always felt upscale to me.

Our big house has expensive, big porcelain tiles everywhere. Everyone comes in and they rave about the tiles and how beautiful it is. I'm so sick of it. We are in this house 5 years now, and I hate the cold, clinical feel. My hubby and I, with our teen and preteen decided we want a smaller house with wooden floors, only tiles on the bathroom floor. Can't wait to start over again.

I'm just as sick of my white kitchen with its blue splashback tile, and light grey floor tiles. It is like when we bought this house, someone else possessed me and took over the decorating, because I love earthy warm tones! I love cosy places.

zalco - I'm flattered, that's high praise, thank you.

functionlook - Epoxy grout does not need cleaning. We've used it in all our bathrooms (diy) and never ever need to clean any of it. It's not porous the way cementitious grout is. We occasionally use shower spray on the shower tile, that's it.

mittens - That's too bad you have no Diresco showroom close by. I think they are fairly new to the US market. They're on Houzz, so you could ask them there if any SoCal dealers carry their products. I love that they offer a variety of solid color neutrals, in various hues. I wanted a warmish grey, but not taupe, just no blue undertones. All our counters are medium beach, the island just looks darker, as the light through the windows brighten the perimeter counters and the lights above the island are not switched on.

Pippabean, thank you for the info. I like smooth flat walls for my baths/tubs. The only tile. I would replace, if any, would be in the master bath and entry. Even then it would be replaced with LVP.

The guest bath has the original 1974 tile on the floor and I love it and would never think about replacing it.

I love tile except when it is monolithic, shows no creativity and is boring. Unfortunately, today's tile tradesmen are all to happy with the time savings afforded by such work. Here are some photos of my own house. I've enjoyed designing and installing all the tile except for the showers. The house is large so the tile is not as prevalent or ans overwhelming as it might seem. The kitchen stove is in an island and doesn't have back splash...but if there was....

pippabean, I inquired immediately after you mentioned them. :) And thanks for mentioning the epoxy grout. I keep forgetting that (probably due to my skeptic nature). Do you use anything on it at all? Vinegar spray or ? Or does it just remain miraculously clean? (hoping!)

No, I just mop the tile floors in the bathroom every so often but I don't do anything additional to the grout. Epoxy doesn't absorb things, so dust and dirt just sit on top and wash off when mopped. That's totally different from old-school cementitious grout which is very absorbent, and therefore stains easily. The one thing to know about epoxy grout: it doesn't come in a pure white. Ours is a warmish silver. If you have bright white tile and you want pure white, epoxy won't be the answer. Since we did our bathrooms, there are now many more grout types (urethane based, maybe others?) on the market than just the old cement based grout and epoxy types. If I was looking at tile, I'd do some research on what's available now.

Check out the "Tile forum Advice board" for threads on grout etc. We did our kids/guest bathroom with their help, it's a very friendly, helpful forum.