apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have green glass mosaic tiles in the vein of #7 with all different shades, and I'm sure you could find colors to match your wood. It's the first thing everyone sees and loves when they enter my apartment.

When I did my recent renovation, I was talked out of subway tiles because people thought the trend might be ending soon, and that everyone had them nowadays.

Congratulations and good luck finishing.

Love the green glass, but I'd love to know how to use pennies as tile so it looks a good as that floor! If you like the green glass best, you might consider trading your mixer with someone who has an identical mixer that is not quite the right color for them.

I do love the subway tile, but if you cook a lot, I'm not so sure about the white grout....grout is not the easiest to clean.
One pot of spaghetti sauce and you're done.

The glass tile is the best.
If the green will clash with your mixer, why not just go for a different color palette of glass?

I also have the nexus black/brown kitchen and when I redid the kitchen I left the backsplash unfinished so I could take my time and find the perfect option. I've been in my home over a year. I've colored it with oil pastels, tried to make homemade clay bricks and decoupaged, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/flickr-finds/flickr-finds-decoupage-backsplash-083059
but I still was not loving it.
I finally found the answer. I am in the middle of tiling the backsplash with beveled mirrored coasters I found at the dollar store. They are octagon shaped and I am putting a variety of colored square tiles between them. It is totally unusual but is looking awesome. I too was scared of the cleaning involved in a mirrored backsplash, but because it is not one flat surface, it does not present the frustration that #6 above most certainly would.

I would warn anyone against anything made from today's stainless steel.

It is not easily cleaned, picks up grease like crazy, and contrary to the name "stains" easily from acidic foods like tea, coffee, tomatoes, also hard water, and heat. In my last house I had a new Maytag s/s dishwasher that stained within a month from the heat of the unit itself. I also had (brand new) Maytag fridge and range. My boyfriend's grubby fingerprints never came out of the fridge handles.

On the other hand a recent rental boasted a vintage s/s Hotpoint range; I could finally see where stainless steel got it's rep about being easy to care for. The old stuff is shiny and doesn't have the brushed finish.

I would stick with the glass mosaic but in shades of greens so that you could put any green/yellow in the kitch. Add some orange too, heck.

For the pennies you need to buy those little plastic spacers and very thin cement backer board. Cut the board to the correct height for your backsplash. It will be in sections. Find out where the studs are in your kitch and mark three to six spots to drill holes in each board; make sure you use a countersink. Drill the holes. Mount the boards using really long wood flat head screws (screw heads should recess into the holes) and put a cement filler in any gap that might be between the boards. Draw a grid on the boards. Put the pennies in the grid using a dab of "Weldbond" or other ceramic glue and use the spacers to keep them at the correct distance. You'll need to come up with a way to handle the edges. You could saw a bunch of pennies in half or use a strip of matching wood or even skinny ceramic tile. Let everything dry for a day. Seal the pennies with a good ceramic tile sealer. Then grout the same that you would for ceramic tile.

linbo-
pennies are easier the way I did it- creating tile sheets.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/good-questions/good-questions-ideas-for-the-penny-tiled-powder-room-073000

Directions are in the comments section.

...and metal snippers cut right through those suckers... the ones with later dates snipped easier than the ones pre-1970's....
-Tova

I love the rulers. Genius!

I have been trying to decide on my backsplash as well. I wanted something different than tile. I decided on laminate. there is a company called Arpa. (arpausa.com) They have some amazing laminates for vertical applications. I am going with a pearlized white ashwood look. I'm hoping it will make a very sleek, seamless look that will be easy to clean. the sheets are 51x120" so that should cover most kitchen splashes. i am paying around $200.00 for the sheet and should be very simple to install myself....they have about 500 colors to choose from with different textures and finishes. the online pictures don't do it justice, so i would recommend ordering samples.

Wow, that second kitchen is striking.

The pennies look cool and are a very creative idea, but it seems high-maintenance. Lots of grime and such building up between the coins.

Alicia13z, can you send a link t o the product you used? I couldn't figure out which were the laminates for vertical applications? ... Also any pics of the finished product?? very very interested in this as I've been looking for a cost effective way to finish off my kitchen backsplash!
Thanks!

You mentioned not wanting to go with mirror. I just got my mirror backsplash a few weeks ago and I am thrilled. It is ridiculously easy to clean - no grout to get dirty which is a huge plus, everything smooth for wiping. You would be surprised to but at least in our kitchen while you can see water spots they don't really show up that much.

By all means though get whatever makes you comfy. Mirror such easy care though that i had to mention it.

teeze,
Great idea about the template; much better than using spacers and a grid.

it's a backsplash. back. splash.

In defence of stainless steel ... I love stainless steel tiles (really love those long thin ones you're looking at too). I had a backsplash with larger 50x50mm square tile and I found it really easy to care for and clean. I got mine from a metal tile designer in Sydney (www.alloydesign.com.au) they were high quality, solid metal, so I think that makes a big difference with the look of them and how they last - apparently the lower quality stainless steel tiles can show rust and can mark over time. So go for a good quality ss tile. Ours weren't cheap but we were thrilled with the result - it was worth it, it really 'made' our kitchen. Obviously you wouldn't scrub them with a heavy duty scourer because they might scratch (what surface wouldn't?), but I never had any problems on the cleaning front - I used a stainless steel cleaning solution from time to time just to give them a bit of a birthday. Not much more work than a glass back splash I wouldn't imagine.
From memory, I think they also did a 'penny' tile in copper which looks kind of like the penny tile on the floor of The Standard (love that too) - but unfortunately without the Abe Lincoln effect!
Good luck with the new kitchen.

Any options for temporary backsplashes for renters? I can't paint in my kitchen, but I would like to add some color. My cabinets are light-ish wood and the walls are white (http://www.flickr.com/photos/apointe01/4030224036/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/apointe01/4029468795/... from the Cure so sorry about the open cabinets).

I was thinking of either a temporary backsplash that I could remove when we move out or maybe cutting fun contact paper to put on the front of the cabinets. Any thoughts?

I'd go with back-painted glass (image 2).

We did subway tiles in our first house ('93), and white glass mosaic tiles in our latest house (2006).

Love both types of tile, but it is nice to try different things.

The rulers are my favorite. Very unique! I'd stay away from the subway tiles--they've been overdone at this point.

I also have a Pistachio Kitchenaid mixer, and I've found that it is a suprisingly neutral color--it seems to match anything. I wouldn't worry too much about it clashing.

I recently installed a glass tile splashback with tiles from Modwalls. It is fantastic (and the Pistachio Mixer looks great too).