Tired of safe, neutral backsplashes? Craving a splash of drama behind your stove? Take inspiration from the daring backsplash designs in this guide to give your kitchen an exciting and vibrant new look.
Backsplashes might be the smallest part of your kitchen, but they provide a prime opportunity to unleash your creative side. Forget minimalism and embrace your inner maximalist with bold colors, eye-catching textures, and showstopping shapes guaranteed to make your backsplash the life of the party.
Create an Accent Wall
One simple yet high-impact way to spice up your backsplash is by turning it into a full-on accent wall. Dedicate the entire surface to a striking color or fierce pattern that contrasts beautifully with your cabinetry and countertops.
Contrasting Colors
Deep teal, ruby red, emerald green–these saturated hues look spectacular against a crisp white or neutral kitchen. For ultimate wow-factor, combine multiple accent colors in a mosaic design. Just be sure to coordinate accent wall tile with fixtures, flooring and appliances so it enhances rather than clashes with the rest of the space.
Cohesive Color
You can also paint or wallpaper the backsplash in the same hue as your wall color. Extending a moody navy or earthy terracotta onto the backsplash creates a enveloping, cocooning effect. For rustic charm, use reclaimed wood planks tone-on-tone with cabinetry.
Unleash Your Inner Artist
If sleek geometric tiles leave you cold, warm up your kitchen with the tactile, handcrafted look of a mosaic backsplash. Mix and match recycled objects like china shards, marbles and seashells. Combine different tile shapes and embrace imperfect alignments to mimic an artist’s canvas.
Found Object Mosaic
Raid your cupboards for colorful mugs, plates and glassware to shard and arrange in an abstract collage on a mesh backing. Embed legitimate found objects too – old keys, costume jewelry, toy cars. Follow your creative bliss with a completely one-of-a-kind backsplash.
Wabi Sabi
In Japanese culture, wabi sabi finds beauty in imperfections and appreciates the natural cycle of life. Apply its principles to your backsplash mosaic with handcut ceramic shards, unfinished concrete, peeling paint and other imperfections to emulate a weathered work of art.
Shape Up with Geometric Tiles
Nothing spruces up a dowdy backsplash like an infusion of head-turning geometric tile designs. Tessellating shapes layered in eye-catching patterns infuse kitchens with energy and life.
Kaleidoscopic Patterns
Get lost in a maze of hypnotizing geometric tiles like herringbone, chevron, hexagon and triangle. Combine multiple shapes and layouts for dizzying optical illusions. Echo patterns with coordinating floor tile, cabinets and open shelving.
3D Depth Effects
Stacked rectangular and square tiles lend backsplashes the appearance of actual depth and dimension–without the hassle of building out the wall. For even more 3D oomph, combine high-relief tiles and mosaics with floating shelves displaying covetable tchotchkes.
Material Mixology
Most backsplashes stick to one main material but blending multiple textures and finishes opens up exciting new possibilities. Go bold by mixing natural wood, sleek metal, smooth glass and tactile stone.
Natural + Classic Combo
Pairing natural wood planks with classic white subway tile creates an unexpectedly harmonious study in contrasts. The soft warmth of the wood beautifully offsets the clean white tiles. Mix up plank direction and staggering for added interest.
Metal Mesh Murals
Modern metal mesh backsplashes lend industrial edge to soft, pastoral scenes painted or printed on the wall underneath. Picture serene lake vistas and woodsy forests peeking out from behind a screen of aluminum, copper or stainless steel.
Satisfy Your Dark Side
From deep plums to midnight navy to matte black, the dark side of the color wheel offers the perfect palette for stunning high-contrast backsplashes. Especially alongside light cabinetry and countertops, deep dramatic hues make the ultimate style statement.
Monochromatic Magic
Select one magnificent color like an emerald jewel tone and display its full spectrum from radiant lime through forest green to deep hunter. Gradating color from top to bottom or alternating shades among tile creates a mesmerizing colorwash effect on the backsplash.
Pure Drama
If bold color makes you nervous, start with a saturated accent tile stripe on either end or perimeter of the backsplash surrounded by a field of classic white subway tile. Deep blue or eggplant perimeter stripes look especially posh with brass fixtures.
Catch the Rainbow
Vibrant color-wheel tile designs like complementary yellow and purple or triadic red, yellow and blue inject serious fun and playfulness into kitchens. With colorful backsplashes, rules go out the window so you can let your imagination run wild!
Selecting a Color Palette
Choose accent colors that pop against your cabinetry – crimson red complements white; cobalt blue flatters warm wood tones. Refer to color theory if unsure how shades interact. Limit yourself to 2 or 3 hues for visual harmony rather than chaos.
Neutralize the Walls
Paint surrounding walls a light neutral like soft white, alabaster or light grey. This prevents competing colors from clashing and allows the colorful backsplash tile to truly take center stage. Think calm backdrop that highlights vibrant feature.
Budget-Friendly Boldness
Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you can’t achieve showstopping backsplash style. Affordable materials like peel-and-stick vinyl tiles and smart design decisions help you fake high-end flashy for less.
Strategic Accents
Limit pricier statement tile like handmade ceramic or marble to mere accents. Surround with affordable white subway tile or neutral faux wood panels. Using accent tile along the perimeter, on the range wall or as inserts helps maximize visual impact.
Faux Finishes
With some paint, brushes and creativity you can mimic almost any backsplash look for less. Faux techniques like ragging, sponging, stippling transform inexpensive materials into stunners. Search Pinterest for step-by-step tutorials to recreate wood grain, marble, travertine and mosaic tile effects.
Finish Strong
You selected showstopping tile and daring colors for your backsplash, so protect your design investment by properly sealing, grouting and maintaining it.
Seal and Grout
After installing the backsplash, apply grout between tiles then seal the grout and the tile surfaces. This prevents staining and damage from kitchen messes. Re-seal tile and grout once a year.
Gently clean backsplashes with mild detergent and soft cloth, avoiding abrasives. Immediately wipe spills and splatters to prevent staining, especially with porous natural stone. Use trivets and hot pads to shield backsplash surfaces.
