Alternative splashbacks to glass and tile

[encino_]

I have seen the Robot Trading products and think they're brilliant.... I am not talking about them in the context of splashbacks requiring heat resistance, which they are unsuitable for, but as a translucent 'accent' or 'detail' material they're spectacular. I recall one material that had an amber hue and 'bits' in it like fern pieces ..... it was backlit softly and was stunning. I thought it'd make beautiful lampshades. I reckon they'd work well for all other areas in a kitchen..... even door panels .... upper ones with soft lighting behind .... yummy!

- OK, back on my head!

Any idea of the prcing? I was thinking of using them to make some "glass" framless doors for some wall niches in the bathroom, although if they are flimsy then maybe I might have to back them with some ply or something.

PS. That faux glass stuff looks really good (at least from the tiny pic). Anyone know where to get it?

[Daren]

Hi Daren,

There are a few good options that are fire retardant and durable.

Tiles, Toughened Glass, Engineered Stone, Granite and Steel are at the top of the list.

These all have thier pros and cons as well as significant price differences for supply and Installation.

I am particularly fond of glass.
It is smooth and mostly seamless, which makes it easy to keep clean and is available in a large range of colours.

Cons are price and installation.
A template needs to be made once all cabinets are in place and holes need to be cut for GPOs and other services.

Alternatively you can choose to only put a fire retardant material such as glass behind the cooktop and finish the rest of the splashbacks in some of the other options previously discussed.

If you are looking for a cheaper option I think those 600 x 600 square edged vitrified tiles (as per MickJ) are a pretty good option.
The idea with them is that the amount of exposed grout is kept to a minimum which keeps things clean and tidy.

I hope this helps some.

Cheers,

thanks mate. I was kind of keen on the glass look too.

I talked to a kitchen guy today and he said that theyve changed the rules recently for splashbacks behind ovens(gas) More or less saying that tile is the only option unless you put villaboard on top(or behind?) your gyprock wall. hmm, is that right ??

yeah those 600 mm tiles might be good though..

[Imp]

I like the idea of the 600 tiles. Any idea of the cost of these, and where to get them?

[Sybarite]

I like the idea of the 600 tiles. Any idea of the cost of these, and where to get them?

I don't know pricing - but here are some shots of a job we recently finished.
The client sourced the tiles themself - these are 600 x 600.
40mm Caesarstone tops.

Cheers.

[Imp]

Looks great - looks a lot like a glass splashback, really.

[wonderplumb]

I done a job for a friends brother who was at the time a sheet metal worker at Qantas, he cut 300 x 300 sheets of polished stainless with a 6mm lip folded at 90 degrees on all four sides, he then cut squares of villa board to fit inside the stainless and glued them together. When the kitchen went in he used these as his splashback tiles, grouted and all. A bit of a polish and they looked a treat against the ceasar stone bench tops. It took him a couple of months to make enough and back in the glory days of working at qantas he managed to turn out six or seven tiles a shift. Impractical I know but just thought Id share the story.

[chromis]

I experimented with painting my own glass to try and DIY but I couldn't get a finish without bubbles - I don't have a compressor - though I recon it wouldn't be that hard and if you dont go for star fired glass you can bring the cost down.

Bleedin. A mate painted his glass just with a roller and it was perfect. I'm sure you have tried that but perhaps it was the type of paint that mattered?

The only real different to the normal splash back was his are not so shiny. But you could never tell the difference if you didnt know...

[Bleedin Thumb]

I ended up using metalic painted starfired toughened glass.


Attachment 70448

Attachment 70449

[chromis]

I ended up using metalic painted starfired toughened glass.

Ohh nice! Did you paint it yourself?

[Bleedin Thumb]

No I got a professional mob to supply and install. By that stage in the reno my enthusiasm had waned so I took the easy option.

Actually my rationale was one of the pieces of glass was huge and I would rather someone else take the liability of transporting it to and from a spray painter as well as installing it.

I wasn't 100% happy with the installation but it was acceptable.

[Metung]

I was going to have glass splashbacks and the plumber insisted that I install a fire retardant sheet (can't remember what it was called) behind the cooktops before he would put them in. He said it was a new regulation. This stuff was the same thickness as the plaster so caused no major drama.

I later got a quote for the splashbacks that worked out at around $700/sq.m. Needless to say I brought some tiles for a tenth the price and am more than happy with the result.

[glenne79]

I don't know pricing - but here are some shots of a job we recently finished.
The client sourced the tiles themself - these are 600 x 600.
40mm Caesarstone tops.

Cheers.

What did you use behind the cooktop?
Looks like small tiles, What about the maintenance?

Thanks

[Sybarite]

What did you use behind the cooktop?
Looks like small tiles, What about the maintenance?
Thanks

The client chose the tiles themselves and had them installed after the cabinets and tops were fitted, so I wasn't involved with the tiling process on this job.

I have had a few clients put this detail in their kitchens recently, lots of narrow broad tiles, sort of 60's stacked slate revisited - it is one of those things that is currently very popular...and I suppose it looks pretty good; this particluar kitchen has dark slate floors and the tiles tie in with that quite well.

I didn't look closely enough to see how the tiles were applied, but I would imagine that they came in larger sheets, maybe 100 x 300 or something like that.

I agree that this is possibly the worst part of a kitchen to have lots of tiles with lots of grout, but as said, I wasn't consulted on the tile choice, and the client probably wouldn't have listened to me anyway...in my experience, if someone sees something they like, the opinion of someone who makes a living working in the industry will rarely influence them.

Cheers,

Earl

[Master Splinter]

Those stacked slate-like tiles are currently the trendy thing with interior designers. They are even available at Bunnies, they come as 150x300 'tiles' (about 4 or 5 courses of slate) from memory.

If you though cleaning grout was hard...there's absolutely no way I'd put those tiles behind a cooktop unless the cooktop was never meant to be used - they'll get spatter marks, grease and dust trapped in them so easily they'll start looking like the underneath of an old refrigerator in no time.

[wavylos]

What about lining boards? We are doing up our kitchen and we are planning on using Weathertex strips turned on their side or something similar to get the whole lining board look.