Please help me determine best backsplash tile for kitchen !

6 years ago

Hello!

So we are in the process of redoing some parts of our kitchen. We just replaced our counter tops with River White granite and we are in the process of re-hinging and repainting our cabinets pure white. I used the paint visualizer to get an idea of what the white cabinets will look like with the new counter tops and I'd like to figure out a good backsplash color/idea for when it's time to work on that. We were originally considering white subway tile, but upon seeing the counter tops, I'm starting to wonder if that will be too much white and it will look too sterile.

Current state of kitchen:

Testing out the pure white color that we will be painting the cabinets (or a color pretty close) You will also notice that I changed the wall color to Sea Salt by SW in lieu of the current color (silvery sage) which looks a little too drab and warm in the space so I will broach that, or repaint the walls this weekend because that silvery sage color is so drab to me. haha. I don't know what we were thinking when we chose that color 17 years ago.

So my question is- what kind of tile backsplash would you recommend? Gray? Variegated?

(also preferably something classic and affordable) :)

THANK YOU!!!

Featured Answer

Beth H. :

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

River White is a cooler white. so you could use soft blues, pale greens grays, diff shapes. I agree, a white subway would be ho-hum.

like this one:

gray subway in a stacked pattern

frosted random linear glass bar in a solid color. ( i love this one w/yoru granite)

the fan is different

check TileBar.com and order some samples.

Calloway, and also look at Castle Wind Chill, and the Cadenza Line, Wales and Thunder gray

these are my samples. far left is the Cadenza

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Comments (7)

tedbixby1981
6 years ago
Wait until you get the cabinets painted to decide on the backsplash. Then you can bring home samples and see how everything works together. I'd also hold off painting until after you pick out the backsplash otherwise you could be limiting your backsplash choices.
Andie
Original Author
6 years ago
@tedbixby1981 I am a little bit confused by your statement- first you say wait until the cabinets are painted and then you say wait until painting?

or do you mean painting the kitchen? the kitchen is in the center of the house and is open into the family room/dining space so that's not high priority. But cabinet painting is already in process (paint is purchased, etc) so it is not an option to hold off on painting them. :)

Also, I don't need exact tile recommendations- just some colors, shapes, etc. that would work in this space. Like I mentioned, it opens up into the family room so that may be something to consider. We definitely plan on bringing home samples and such, but I don't want to waste time grabbing a bunch of white tile samples if I know white will be too much white.
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tedbixby1981
6 years ago
Sorry. Paint walls after. You won't know if white tile samples will be too much white for you until you have the cabinets painted. Some people love an all white kitchen. Also, what we see here on Houzz is that since there are 1,000's of color of white paint you may pick out a white backsplash or one that has white in it and find that the whites don't compliment each other.

You may want to spend some time looking at all the white kitchens on Houzz with similar countertops and see if you lean towards a certain style and color of backsplash. And also taking into consideration your familyroom.

One other thing, it appears that you have a 4" backsplash lip? Are plans to remove that?
Andie
Original Author
6 years ago
no, there is no 4" backsplash We just painted that area white in the meantime until we can pull down the old backsplash (it existed with a 4" backsplash) we are going to pull all of it down.

I'm leaning toward a gray backsplash, but I'm not sure what is out there besides subway tile. We have looked at several but all of the ones I liked were way out of the budget haha.

@tedbixby1981
tedbixby1981
6 years ago
Here are a couple of white kitchens that came up when I searched Houzz - white kitchens with gray backsplash. If you went gray, does it tie in nicely with your familyrm? Also, you might want to look at Tile Bar https://tilebar.com/ to see if anything grabs your attention. One other thing, you may want to take the current tile off before you finish painting the cabinets. Just in case you find it difficult to remove the tile or need to repair the wall and then you won't have to worry about messing up your newly painted cabinets. Just a thought..

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wanna_run_faster
6 years ago
I would go with a nice cement tile with a design you like.