Matte leads, which is unusual here
Matte is the finish on most of this range, with glossy, honed, anti-slip and polished groups behind it.
Compare that with a white or a green backsplash page, where gloss dominates, and the difference is about intent. A glossy wall returns light and asks to be looked at. A gray backsplash is frequently chosen so that the counter or the cabinetry can be the thing being looked at, and matte is what does that.
Concrete and travertine, not marble
Concrete look is the largest effect here, then travertine look, with marble, slate, stone, resin and limestone looks behind them.
On most porcelain pages marble look is far and away the commonest effect. Here it comes third, because a gray backsplash is more often reaching for a plain industrial surface than for a figured stone. A concrete face also hides the joint pattern better than a veined print does.
Mosaic sheets are most of the page
Mosaics outnumber field tile here, and a 2x2 group is one of the larger size entries.
A small gray chip is about as quiet as a tiled surface gets, and a 2x2 sheet in a mid gray is the closest thing to a wall that has been tiled and then forgotten about. That is a compliment in a kitchen where something else is doing the work.
The undertone problem
Gray is never only gray. A slate leans blue-green, a limestone leans warm, a concrete print can be pushed either way, and the color names on this page say so: Ash, Silver, Star Grey, Modern Grey and Montauk Grey.
Against white cabinets a cool gray reads crisp and a warm gray reads soft; against wood the reverse. This is the decision that most often goes wrong on a gray backsplash, and it is a temperature problem rather than a shade one. Gray tile and mosaic sets out where each gray comes from.
The grout line on a gray wall
Gray is the one color where a joint can be made to disappear almost completely, because grout is manufactured in the same range of grays the tile is.
That is not true of a strong color, where no joint color sits neutrally against it, and it is not true of a pure white either, where a joint always reads slightly dirty or slightly blue. On a mid gray tile a matched mid gray joint gives a continuous surface with no grid in it at all, which is the quietest wall the catalog can produce.
Formats from a chip to a panel
12x12 and 12x24 lead the sizes, then 2x2, 24x48, 3x12, 4x12 and 24x24, with a spread of smaller pieces behind them.
A 24x48 on a backsplash is a single panel behind a run of counter with almost no joint in it, which is the modern alternative to a tiled wall. At the other end a 2x2 sheet is nearly all joint. Both are gray and they are opposite propositions.
Behind the range, and the rest of the wall
A gray kitchen frequently treats the wall behind the cooktop differently from the runs either side of it, and a quiet color makes that easier rather than harder.
Because a mid gray recedes, a panel of something else set into it reads as deliberate: a marble section behind the range, a band of a darker gray, a change of format. On a strongly colored backsplash the same move competes with itself. It is the practical advantage of choosing a wall that is not trying to be the feature.
The marbles in the range
A marble group sits here alongside the fired tile, including Bardiglio, the gray marble of the Carrara district, and a set of silvers.
A stone gray brings veining and a warm or cool cast it cannot be asked to change, where a printed gray can be made to sit exactly where it is wanted. The quarried side is gray marble tile.
Where a gray backsplash goes
A kitchen, a utility room, a bar and a bathroom wall. It is the backsplash for a room where the cabinets, the counter or the floor is the feature, which describes most kitchens that were planned rather than assembled.
Backsplash tile is the same wall in every other color, and kitchen backsplash tile the kitchen cut of it.
