Kitchen tiling: splashbacks, walls and floors done properly

Worktops first, then the tiles

Wall tiles in a kitchen sit on the worktop, so the worktop has to be fitted, level and fixed before we set anything out. If the worktop is replaced later, the bottom row of tiles almost always has to come off with it. When a customer is planning a new kitchen, we try to be involved early enough to agree where the tiling starts and stops.

Floors are the opposite question. Tiling the whole floor before the units go in means the tiles run underneath and any future change of layout is easy. Tiling only the visible floor saves material but ties you to the current footprint. Both are reasonable, and it is worth deciding deliberately rather than by accident.

Setting out behind the hob and around the window

The eye goes straight to the hob and the window, so that is where the setting out is decided. We centre the pattern on the most visible feature and let the cuts fall into corners and behind appliances where nobody looks. On a window reveal, the tiles are planned so that the returns are even on both sides rather than ending in a sliver.

Sockets and switches are the other giveaway. Each one needs a clean cut around the back box, and ideally the box is brought forward so the faceplate sits flat on the finished tile instead of pulling away from it.

• Centre the design on the hob, sink or window
• Keep full or half tiles at the eye line
• Plan returns on reveals so both sides match
• Bring socket boxes forward to the tile face

Heat, grease and grout

A kitchen wall behind a hob gets hot and greasy, and ordinary pale grout discolours quickly. We talk through grout colour with every kitchen customer, because a mid tone often looks cleaner for longer than bright white. Where the splashback meets the worktop, a flexible sealant rather than grout takes the movement between the two materials.

Glazed and handmade style tiles, like the blue ones in our gallery, vary slightly from tile to tile. That character is the point, but it means the joints need a little more judgement to keep lines looking straight across the run.

Kitchen floors take a beating

A kitchen floor carries appliances, dropped pans and constant foot traffic. Before any floor tile goes down, the substrate is checked for movement and level, just as it would be in a bathroom. A floor that flexes will crack grout and eventually tiles, however good they look on the first day.

Our tiling page explains the wider approach to preparation, and the same thinking applies here: the part you never see decides how long the part you do see lasts.