TONS OF TILES

For months I’ve been dreaming of tiles, tons of tiles. Wall tiles, floor tiles, metro tiles. There are bargain tiles and there’s tiles that will cost you a month’s salary for a square metre. Tiles that look like wood and tiles you can use both inside and outside. Patterned tiles in a myriad of designs or colours. So many to choose from both online and on the high street. And therein lies the problem, too much choice.

Eventually I bought the wall tiles for my kitchen having whittled the list of potential contenders down to these last four:

My top 4 tile choices

Top of my wish list was Lampas Peacock from Topps Tiles. A luscious deep bluey green colour but needing a lusciously deep purse to pay for them. Allow around £500 plus for 7 square metres.

Lampas Peacock - Topps Tiles

Running a close second and considerably cheaper at around £300 for 7 square metres was Crackle Glazed Peacock a metro sized tile from Tile Mountain. Beautiful rich deep colour and likely to be purchased for the downstairs toilet refurbishment.

Crackle glazed peacock - Tile Mountain

Third place goes to Aurelia Kingfisher from Homebase. Lighter in colour than the first two tile choices and flecked with black to add interest. Often on a buy-one-get-one half price offer, bringing the price for 7 square metres down to a modest £262.50.

Aurelia Kingfisher - Homebase

And last but not least the Opal Emerald from Porcelain Superstore. A beautiful jade green tile and very reasonably priced at £256.20 for 7 square metres.

Opal emerald - Porcelain Superstore

The prize for best kitchen wall tile has been awarded to Aurelia Kingfisher which co-ordinates very nicely with Dulux’s soft fauna 5 paint that I’ve used on the walls.

How your tiles are to be placed on the wall is yet another decision dilemma. Do you go for a standard brick pattern or the more complex and costlier herringbone effect? Remember - the fancier the design, the higher the cost of tiling so what you desire and what you can afford may be poles apart.

Beautiful herringbone tiling

I asked Google ‘how high should my tiled area be? And got about a million different answers. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter if the tiles are only 4 high or if the entire wall is covered, it’s a matter of choice, budget and what might look best with the overall look of the kitchen that you’re trying to achieve.

How high should the tiles go?

As high as you want them

Tiled splashback 4 tiles high

In the end, I’ve decided to go 4 high and trim the top edge in polished chrome to co-ordinate with the sockets. I feel that a painted border space at the top of the tiles frames the cabinets and adds an opportunity for the space to be used for other things such as hanging cooking utensils, cup hooks or rustic shelving.

Tiles topped with a polished chrome flat trim

Then there’s grout. Boy, oh boy, yet another minefield to navigate. Think about whether you want your grout to contrast or compliment your tile colour and don’t forget practicality when making your choice. How many of us have struggled to scrub tomato splashes off white grouting in the kitchen? It never looks quite the same afterwards.

Grouting colours - which to choose?

And so as the days slowly tick down to the festive season, the tiles are going up in the kitchen. Here’s a sneaky peek of the un-grouted tiled kitchen splashbacks.