A backsplash without a grid
A mosaic backsplash is a pattern of small pieces and a great many joint lines. Field tile goes the other way. 12x24 leads this range and 24x48 is the second group, and on a standard eighteen inch band the arithmetic is worth doing: a 24x48 left as it comes stands 24 inches tall, so it clears the band in one piece with a vertical joint every 48 inches. A 12x24 turned on its side clears it too, with a joint every 12.
Either way the count is a fraction of what a mosaic produces, where a foot of wall carries a dozen lines. Every joint behind a counter is somewhere for cooking to collect, which is the practical half of the argument. The mosaic kitchen backsplash range is the other approach.
How large a backsplash tile can go
24x48 is the biggest group here after 12x24, and at that size a single piece covers a substantial part of a wall. The 8x40 planks are the odd shape in the set: long and narrow, and their vertical trick only works on a full height run, since a 40 inch piece has nowhere to go on an eighteen inch band.
Large format has one condition attached, and the wall imposes it: the flatter the wall, the larger the tile that can sit against it. An old kitchen wall that has been skimmed and patched several times is rarely flat, and the bigger the piece the sooner that registers, so the wall itself sets the ceiling on size before anybody chooses a tile.
Matte and gloss above a counter
Matte covers over half this range, with glossy behind it and small polished, satin and honed groups. Behind a counter the matte argument is different from the floor one: a backsplash is lit from below by under-cabinet lighting, and a glossy surface at that angle reflects the light source straight back out at the person standing there.
Glossy still earns its place where a kitchen is short of daylight, because a reflective band above a counter does genuinely brighten a working surface. The crackled and gloss-matte pieces here sit between the two.
Concrete, slate and stone effects
The effect list here is unusual for a backsplash: concrete leads, then slate, stone, limestone, resin and travertine, with marble further down. On a mosaic page marble effect would be first.
That order is the field-tile format talking. A large flat piece suits a surface that reads as one material, and a concrete or slate effect gives a wall texture without a pattern to repeat. A heavily veined marble at 24x48 is a different and much louder decision.
The subway formats
3x12, 3x6, 3x9, 4x12 and 4x8 are all here in smaller numbers, and they are the formats most people mean by a tiled kitchen wall. 3x6 is the original subway dimension; 3x12 is the elongated version that has largely replaced it.
What those sizes buy is a layout. A stacked bond, a herringbone or a running brick in a 3x12 is a pattern in its own right, and no single large piece produces one; the lines are the design. Choosing between the two ends of this page is really choosing whether the wall should have a pattern on it.
Wall tile that is also floor tile
A real part of this range carries an anti-slip surface, and that tells you what these tiles are. A slip figure is something makers publish for floors, so a backsplash range full of them is a floor range that also carries a wall usage. The same tile can therefore run across a kitchen floor and up the wall behind the counter.
That is a specific design move and it works in a small kitchen, where a single material on two planes removes a visual break. It is also the reason the formats here are floor formats: this range arrived at the backsplash by way of the floor.
Thickness and what a wall carries
Most of this range is 9 mm, and an 8 mm group sits under that. The imperial listings round 9 mm to 3/8 of an inch, which is 9.5, so the two figures describe one group. Those are ordinary porcelain floor thicknesses.
On a wall the figure matters for a different reason than on a floor: weight. A 24x48 piece at 9 mm is heavy, and how a wall carries that is settled by the wall and the fixing. The handful of pieces at 3/4 inch on this page are pavers and belong outdoors.
Series and the matching pieces
Series names on these listings, Mood, Essence, Vision, Trail, Infinity and Explore among them, matter on a backsplash for one reason: where the tiling stops. A tiled band has a top edge, and whether a series carries a trim piece for it decides how that edge is finished.
The trim range covers the profiles, and the kitchen tile page holds the floor side of the same room.
