Kitchen backsplash

The building code requires a few inches of backsplash around the kitchen countertops, but I wanted the whole area between the countertop and the wall cabinets to be covered (it just looks better).

I spent a lot of time trying to pick tile that would look good because most good-looking tile is expensive. I wanted to stay within the under-$7/sq. ft. budget and there was hardly anything available in that price range. Fortunately, a local Lowe's had a few boxes of three types of tile under $8 that seemed good, so I bought one box of each and gave them a try.

Kitchen backsplash: option 1.

Kitchen backsplash: option 2.

Kitchen backsplash: option 3.

I suspect many people would choose option 1, but I went with option 3 because (a) it was a bit cheaper, (b) gave the kitchen a better accent, and (c) being darker, I expected it would mask problems better (consider food being cooked next to the tile and splashing all over; don't know maybe it's not an issue, but I wanted to be on the safer side).

One thing that I haven't thought about: if you use square mosaic tile, the tile rows and columns may not always end up straight because that's how they may come attached to the mesh holding them together. That's unless you want to cut each individual tile square and install them one tiny piece at a time (no, you don't want to do that). It doesn't bother me, but if you expect perfection, overlapping rectangular horizontal pieces (like in option 1) would be a better choice.

One thing that the tile subcontractor did not quite do right (in my unprofessional opinion): they covered the complete wall from the top of the range to the bottom of the wall cabinet when they should have left plain wall for the over-the-range microwave suspension rail. I suspect this was because to do otherwise, they would have needed the microwave installation pattern and it was not available at the time (over-the-range microwaves normally have standard dimensions, but there are also smaller models available). Or maybe that's how they normally do it, I have no idea. It was not the end of the world but it somewhat complicated the microwave installation. Which is another story.

NEXT: HOW NOT TO INSTALL AN OVER-THE-RANGE MICROWAVE

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