Wall tiles in a kitchen - yay or nay?

[Cheekychip]

I always assumed I'd be having wall tiles in our new kitchen - perhaps coloured ones to break up the neutral tones, BUT I just noticed that a lot of my saved photos of kitchen I like don't have tiles. Some have a an extra bit of granite going up the wall.

What do other mumsnetters have and how do you find it? Is the no tile look really just for show rooms?

[atonofwashing]

We've had tiles in our kitchen for the past 10 yrs. am about to rip them off, paint walls and have upstand round the back edge of counter, against the wall instead. My mum has that and I like it. My DB and SIL have white subway tiles and that looks good too. Tiles easier to clean I guess. I may change my mind, but for now think I'll take a chance.

Good luck!

[Skyland]

I'm finding it too hard to choose tiles so have gone for upstands and a tek wall at the hob with glass in front of it.

[Ohanarama]

I much prefer the look of tiles and they are much more practical than painted wall to clean. I would only choose simple, plain coloured tiles though as I think you would either get bored of bold patterned tiles or they would date quickly. I'm not keen on the look of coloured glass cooker splashbacks either - think they will also date quickly.

[pippop1]

I have a granite upstand and the plainest white matt surface tiles that you can imagine. They are large and oblong with the short end touching the top of the upstand. There is only one tile and the wall units are immediately above this tile so it looks a bit like paint.

The kitchen installer didn't want to do this but wanted to paint the gap with kitchen paint but every time I splash something on the tiles I am so pleased that I had this. The tiles were not expensive ones.

[BaronessBomburst]

Don't use an aluminium one unless you want to polish it every day. They show every speck and splash.

[unlucky83]

I dithered for ages over my splashback...
First of all you would (imo) be crazy not to have anything on a wall behind a hob. I have a stainless steel one - don't like tiles cos they are a bit of a pain to clean. As to the 'normal' walls behind units I dithered like mad. Walls do get splashes etc so whatever you have it needs to be cleanable - the easier the better.
You can get stainless steel, glass (coloured, patterned or clear and plain- so you can paint/decorate however you like behind), perspex (same principle as glass) or laminate (usually the same as your worktops -which I personally don't like). If you get the thin stainless steel or glass they have to cut out the holes for the sockets etc usually off site -the measuring has to be spot on or it will look terrible. I have loads of sockets and isolator switches - that measuring would have been a nightmare. In the end at the last minute I decided I would go for tiles. But the fitters said I shouldn't get big ones cos the sockets would cause problems again -lots of breakage cutting but also where the grout was in relation to them. I went out the day before and bought enough of 3 or 4 different kinds all 12cm square. Didn't really like any so went for the plain grey value ones as a 'for now' ...then the fitter suggested black grout rather than white... and now I love them.
(Would have got better quality thicker ones if I thought they were long term but actually they have survived really well - 6-7 yrs on I have one broken one on the window ledge where a cast iron pan got dropped on it -not sure a better quality one would have survived that - and I have lots of spares and will be quite easy to replace - when I finally get round to it...)

[Mrsladybirdface]

We have no tiles,upstands or splash back and it's fine. We've got dulux trade extra strong paint and I just wipe it down like you would have to do a tile. It wasn't a design choice I just couldn't find a tile or splashback I liked. ..now I'm glad! it looks clean and uncluttered

[Marmitelover55]

We have granite upstands and a glass splashback behind cooker (I love it and don't care if it dates - it was designed and made to order specially for us ). We currently just have matt emulsion on the wall behind the sink. It keeps getting splashed and I keep having to reprint it. I have bought some metro tiles and will be tiling it soon as I am fed up with this!

[Cheekychip]

Thanks, there are clearly no hard and fast rules then.

Pippop, what size was your tiles or do you have a photo, intrigued.....

[atonofwashing]

I've ordered a clear splash back for behind the hob. I quite fancied a coloured one, but howdens didn't offer one. Wickes do, but you can paint the wall behind the splash back to get the colour effect you want. Currently there are tiles, and that's practical. They do get sticky though and I've found them quite hard to scrub off the greasy splatters. Hopefully a smooth splash back will be easier.

HTH

[Millymollymama]

My hob is in a central island so no splashback. The sink splashback is a mirror, but the depth of the sink base cupboard is about 800mm not the standard 600mm so splashing is not really an issue. Definitely no tiles, just a granite upstand. I have had a granite sheet behind a hob beofore and this is easy to clean, and much better than tiles with grout that goes yukky.

[CointreauVersial]

No tiles here - just a granite upstand all round and a granite panel/splashback behind the hob.

[Longdistance]

We're just going through a major renovation. We're having granite up stands, and splash back behind the range. No tiles, as we had them previously and hated them.

[unlucky83]

Aton best thing for grease splatters ime is a damp cloth dipped in bicarb of soda (dry)...
but agree about tiles behind a hob...something smooth is easier to keep clean.

[MadamG]

We have a granite upstand and no tiles. Drives me mad. Needed repainting every year. Dot do it. Tiles or glass splash backs or whatever are much safer. We are tiling the wall again soon.

[pippop1]

The tiles that I have are approx 33cm x 38cm but I think they might have been trimmed down slightly. I had my wall units in the kitchen put as low as possible (bought the tiles first) because I am not very tall.

Hopefully you can see the photo but it's a bit blurred. There is a tile either side of the socket.

[pippop1]

2nd try. As you can see I have pale blue paint on the walls of the kitchen that are not between the worktops and the wall cupboards.

[atonofwashing]

Unlucky, thanks for the tip.

Pip, I see, that's interesting.

I've attached a pic of why I am changing to upstand. You can see the grouting has moved due to this side of the kitchen being where the dishwasher and washing machine are. All the movement has cracked it. I am hoping an upstand will stop that. Will have to see. It may not.

[CointreauVersial]

You should have used flexible sealant between the tiles and the worktop - this would have prevented cracking due to small movements.

[pippop1]

Upstands are nice but there's still a join. I guess a one piece curve like the coving on a ceiling (if such a thing exists) would be the best.

[Cheekychip]

A granite splash back is a good idea millymolly and Cointreau, not sure my budget will stretch to that though.

Thanks for sharing pippop. I'm torn now, do I do white tiles above upstand.....

I'm so bad at making decisions!

I was going to go for a light granite but today changed my mind to have black.

[dontcallmelen]

Granite upstands here with a sort off half moon shape granite splasback behind the cooker, which made it a bit cheaper than a large slab of granite splashback, also we have recently painted the walls in mylands
marble matt emulion, tis brillant really scubbable & much tougher than little greene/f&b which we have used previously.

[UsedToBeAPaxmanFan]

Another one here with granite upstands and no tiles or splashbacks. However, our hob is on an islsnd - if it was against a wall we'd have to have something (glass splashback would be my preference), plus we don't do any washing up in the kitchen which minimises splashes to the walls.

[atonofwashing]

Yes, pip, I was thinking about the join for the splash back, what with a washing machine underneath causing movement.

Will ask kitchen fitter about that, see what he thinks. I just thought an upstanding would make me feel like a grown up!

Used to, I just out of interest, where do you do your washing up?

[applecatchers36]

We have granite upstand and tiles behind the range cooker as we have a faux chimney and it is to try to give it a traditional look. Very happy with the combo for looks and practicality.