Jazz Up Your Kitchen With These 10 Backsplash Ideas

Nothing says ‘wow’ in a kitchen that a gorgeous, eye-catching backsplash. However, finding that perfect blend of trendy and elegant can be somewhat difficult. The backsplash is the area between the bottom of your cabinets and the top of your granite countertops. Although many people just leave this as a painted area, adding a backsplash is a great way to give your kitchen that extra pizzazz and jazz up the entire appearance. Here are 10 different ways to design your kitchen backsplash.

Rustic Look

If you are an individual who really likes the outdoors and brings that love of nature into your home, you might want to consider a rustic look. This can be accomplished by reclaiming wood from old shipping pallets. You start by cutting them into different sizes, scrubbing them clean, and staining them before applying the wood pieces to your wall. You can adhere these to the wall with liquid nails. This style of backsplash adds both color and texture to your walls.

Wine Cork Backsplash

This backsplash is perfect for wine lovers. Gather a variety of different corks from your favorite wines, and glue them to a board that fits your space and attach it to your kitchen wall. This type of backsplash adds a contemporary feeling and helps to maintain the warm feeling of your kitchen setting.

Wallpaper Works Too

If you want something simple, try wallpaper. However, as many people know, typically wallpaper withstand the events that occur in a kitchen. This is particularly true around the kitchen sink, where water splashes have been known to cause damage to wallpaper. Fortunately, you can choose vinyl wallpaper that holds up to kitchen activities, is easy to apply, and gentle on your budget.

Glass Painting

Another way to add some color to your kitchen and create a unique kitchen backsplash is by adding painted glass. Many home improvement stores, or design stores, are carrying sheets of glass that are painted on the back for just this purpose. However, there are many sites on the web where you can go to discover the art of painting the glass yourself, which does help save on your budget. These painted glass backsplashes fit best with glossy cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and modern-colored granite countertops to complete your kitchen design.

Rock Walls

Another unique way to add some texture to your kitchen is by stacking round pebbles on one another. If you want to do something like this yourself, however, you will need to find – or purchase – pebbles that are roughly the same size and shape. In addition, to keep the natural look of the stacked pebbles, you wouldn’t want to grout in between the rocks. Unfortunately, there is one drawback to this design – dirt and debris can collect in the cracks between the pebbles. You need to make the decision as to a more natural looking appearance, or one that is grouted and sealed to prevent any dirt, debris or mold from water growing in between.

Mirrors

Creating a backsplash out of mirrors is perfect for smaller kitchens. The reflection helps to give the space more depth. All you need to do is to purchase sections of mirrors that fit into your space and attach them with liquid nails. When choosing mirrors, however, understand that this design works best with white paint, white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and white granite countertops. A major benefit to using mirrors for a backsplash is that they are very easy to clean and maintain.

Recycled Tiles

If you have recently remodeled other parts of your home, where you used tiles, consider creating a mis-matched tile backsplash. You will certainly add color to your home and have a one of a kind backsplash. If you are short on tiles, check out the local home improvement stores for leftover pieces, discontinued styles of tile and more to create this backsplash design on a budget.

Stainless Steel

Although this type of backsplash is a little more difficult and quite a bit more expensive, it may be worth it when you see the end result. You can purchase stainless steel tiles and install them, which isn’t quite as hard as many people think – especially since no grouting is involved, and these tiles last forever. If you choose this option, consider wood cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, and neutral colored granite countertops.

Stepping Stones

Similar to the pebbles, stepping stones can be used to create a unique, natural appearing backsplash. However, this project is slightly different. First, the stones are typically pre-attached in square tile form, allowing you to cut where needed for them to fit your wall space. Secondly, once you attach the stones, you do need to apply grout – this is where it gets tricky, as the grout needs to be smoothed out over the entire surface.

Chalkboard

This type of kitchen backsplash is great, especially if you have kids. You and your family can enjoy writing messages to one another, making grocery lists, drawing funny pictures and more. Fortunately, this is one of the most simple and cost-efficient methods for a unique backsplash, as all you need is chalkboard paint. If you want to go a little fancier, you could install a custom cut chalkboard instead.

Now that you have some amazing ways to add a backsplash to your kitchen, you probably have some decisions to make. Start by thinking about the overall design and feeling you wish to accomplish in your kitchen. This should help narrow your choices. Next, figure out what backsplashes you can install yourself and fit within your budget. Finally, get to work on creating a jazzed up kitchen backsplash for your home!

Image Credit: Shannon Rhodes

hideme