help me make a decision-kitchen splashbacks

[NoForkNKnife]

Had kitchen fitted over 6 months ago. Magnet white gloss units with a black quartz worktop. The extractor is also black (angled hood, not chimney), stupidly big stainless steel american fridge (DH's baby) and dark oak karndean floor.

No splashbacks. Orginally I was adamant I wanted glass splashbacks, but I've gone off the idea. Mainly cost but also lots of sockets and a large area to do (8-9 meters in length).

So, any ideas? I thought I had decided on white gloss metro tiles, hoping they wouldn't date. But now wondering if a white gloss tile upstand would be better, with a bit of colour painted above. Maybe a glass splashback behind hob? But I'm slightly put off by upstands-do you get a lot of splashes above them?

Very boring, I know. But I'm sick of looking at plaster and sockets hanging off. I can't make up my mind, and FIL is supposed to be coming very soon to fit whatever I decide. Help me please

How about red metro tiles? Ours look amazing with black work tops and dark oak units. B&Q do them :-)

www.diy.com/nav/decor/tiles/wall-tiles/wall_tiles/Colours-Underground-Pack-of-50-Gloss-Red-Wall-Tiles-L-200-x-W-100mm-12227513

These ones.

i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i347/mysk_girl/Mysk_public/null_zpsd2ade243.jpg

Part finished.

We have oak floor, oak cupboards and black quartz work tops. The splash backs run round the entire kitchen and are the same as the work top, but slightly thinner cut if that makes sense. So black work tops run into black splash backs. Also had problem with sockets etc, but they cut very well.

Red also sounds lovely.

gin and qhorses thank you. I do love your photo, gin. The red really breaks it up. I am a bit worried about using a dark colour as the room seems quite dark despite being big. It's north facing and in hindsight I would have probably chosen a lighter work top. The same with the quartz upstands/splashbacks.

Does anyone have upstands and no tiles above and regret it?

I had tiles before and they were the Bain of my life. Now, so easy to clean, no grout, brilliant. Have done the same in bathrooms, just panels, no tiles.

It has certainly made my life easier. I do love tiles as well, but just find maintenance so much easier.

Are yours full splashbacks rather than just upstands? Im not sure we can stretch that far tbh. We had budgeted for it 6 months ago, but things are tight now.
A friend has got ceramic very large tiles as an upstand. It looks very good and I think would be relatively cheap to achieve. I'm just worried I'd regret the gap above them iyswim. Would be good option to add and change colour though....

we have granite worktops in our kitchen, and decided against tiles, so just have a 10cms granite upstand. Looks fab. The sockets are above that, set into the walls. I did worry a bit about the sink area, but we wash up very carefully and any big items (saucepans, roasting dishes etc) get washed up in the utility room as there is a really big sink in there. The other stuff goes in the dishwasher. I would worry more about your hob - ours is in an island so not an issue, but if it had a wall behind it I would be concerned about splashes from cooking.

If you wanted glass splashbacks have you thought about the perspex alternatives?
Comes in all sorts of colours?

Friend has them in a dark purple and it looks fab.

Our kitchen sounds identical to yours. We have high gloss purple tiles with a purple glass splash back behind oven. Looks fab.

yes, they are full splashbacks. We got them when we got the worktops and they did work out cheaper than tiles to fit. The joiner we had put them up in not time but tiling would have taken ages.

Its so difficult to decide these things. Took me ages.

Ha! Maybe I should be thinking 'purple' then.

Pigley yes, I have looked into the perspex. The couple of things that put me off (although probably easy to get over) are having to send detailed drawing and measurements about sockets (we have 10!) and the fact it cant go behind the hob.

Thanks everyone for your input. You've helped me decide that I want to introduce a colour, but I'm worried about it dating or us going off it. So, im thinking white upstands and white glass splashback behind the hob. Then I can paint a colour between the upstand and wall units.

I'll probably change my mind again .