Splash backs

[Rod Smith]

G'day
My daughter has just bought a unit and someone might have to do a new kitchen for her. Of course money is an object so is my dislike of chisling off perfectly good but brown tiles. Any suggestions.
Maybe some sort of sheet material over the tiles. Or paint the tiles after suitable preperation.
Any input appreciated.
cheers
Rod
PS Anyone want to adopt?



[This message has been edited by (edited 21 August 2002).]

[Vonrek]

Dear Rod, I have just completed a budget kitchen reno and had the same situation. In my case the tiles were mosaic tiles which are all the fashion right now. Problem was, brown tiles with balck grout looked very drab and needed a lift. My bright (read stupid) idea was to remove the old grout with a grout rake and re-grout with white after removing approx 50 tiles and replacing with same-size, new, blue, glass mosaic tiles in a random pattern to break up the brown. Got myself the HD grout rake with carbide chips and proceded to curse myself and the very hard to remove old grout for two days. Hating to start something that i can't finish i decided i needed to add electricity to the process and bought a dry- cut diamond grinding wheel for my angle grinder. These things CUT!!!! ANYTHING!!!! Only problem was, i had to stop every five minutes or so, so that the dust would clear and i could see my hand in front of my face. I mean this baby made some REAL DUST. Luckily i had thought to seal the kitchen off from the rest of the house and i wore a respirator. Now as part of the reno i also had to repaint the ceiling and the walls!! Anyway, the result was worth it as the tiles look brand new and the kitchen has been given a real lift (along with the new benchtops and cupboard doors boast boast). However i would VERY STRONGLY sugesst you DO NOT use this approach. I decided never to do any such thing again as i finished cleaning the dust at 12:30 am the next morning. For the other side of the kitchen(the re-grouted tiles form the splash-back over the sink but the same old tiles re-appear on the opposite side of the kitchen behind the cooker), i have considered a few options:
1.Gloss enamel painted mdf: very smooth and the gloss finish of a good enamel is very tough and easy to clean. Also you can choose any colour you want.

2.Plastic laminated mdf: after making some nice new benchtops with tas oak edge banding, using plastic laminate is not so daunting. Again, a good tough finish, easy to custom size to the job and a broad range of colour textures etc.

3.Fake plastic tiles, you buy this stuff in big 2400X1200 (approx) sheets and glue it on. I think maybe the same stuff that doorstop suggested. Limited colours though from what i've seen.

4.Paint: White Knight brand sell special preparations for undercoating and then painting tiles, you can find the whole range at......................Bunnings!! I've also seen that stuff called "Penetrol" which claims to make paint stick to anything, including glass??

5.Grout pen: basically a paint pen designed to touch up white grout. 2-3 coats and the grout is white. I've only mentioned this option because i used one to touch up the old grout where it had to stay as it could not be removed by the beast (diamond blade). Using it i thought that with a few of them i could have saved myself a lot of time, gotten a very similar result (ie face lift with white grout) and not have had the dust...... oh the dust. As i said, Ive seen many new kitchen and bathrooms with dark mosaic tiles (the little 25mm square ones i mean) and white grout which look really good and are very fashionable now, and it seemed a shame to cover them up as people are paying big bucks for that look.

Anyway, hope I've given you some food for thought. Some of the ideas are certainly a bit "Changing rooms" i know, but in my situation spending big would have been over-capatalising for a house we dont plan to stay in for a long time anyway.

Good luck, cheers, Tim

I've also got what i think are good ideas for new benchtops and cupboard doors if your interested!!

[This message has been edited by Vonrek (edited 21 August 2002).]

[Kev Y.]

Rod. I once saw on one of those "home make over" programs, where they replaced the tile splash backs with a sheet of stainless steel.

Just a thought.

Kev.

[Rod Smith]

Thanks guys, sorry I'm a bit slow responding, been a bit busy.
Doorstop, the ceramilite sounds like it could be the go, I did a search and came up with their site which had all the info about it.
As for 2 teenage boys, I've got one, thats enough thanks mate.

Vonrek
I'm glad you didn't recommend your experience with the grout grinding, didn't sound like a lot of fun to me. LOL
As for the other suggestions good food for thought, I'll do some enquiring. Certainly would like to hear your ideas for benchtops and doors, though I think that I will just cut the doors from plane lam mdf and get postformed benchtops. Tas oak would look good but time consuming to get, plane glue, sand finish, blah blah. Toooo much to do tooooo little time.
Kev, good suggestion for the SS but probably a bit pricey, I'll check it though. One kitchen I did a few years back for my niece and hubby I used mini orb style corro iron for the door panels and splash backs with recyled oregon for the doors, tops and panels. With SS appliances looked pretty good.

Can't get to look at the place again for a week or so, should be able to work out whats best then.
Thanks for the help.
Cheers
Rod

[Jon]

Rod,

this is a very late reply but the "Ceramilite" caught my eye. Did a shower stall in this a few months ago for the in-laws and noticed how soft the surface is. As a splashback it may get a few knocks.
Take a look at "Lamipanel" by Laminex Industries. This is Laminex on a back board and a bit more durable.
Probably cheaper to paint the tiles though.

[Rod Smith]

G'day Jon
Have now checked out the tiles and they are solid so due to financial constraints paint it will be.
cheers
Rod