It’s time to focus on the kitchen! Let’s be straight, the kitchen is the hub of the home and the gathering place for all of your home’s activities. The kitchen is also one of the most costly areas of the home to build or renovate so you want to make sure you get it right!

The toughest and most significant choices in the kitchen tend to be your flooring and cabinets. They are a bigger investment and installing them is a big job so typically changing them out happens many years down the road. When choosing them we tend to lean towards timeless and more classic styles.

Playing it safe with the flooring and cabinets is perfectly fine, but we won’t truly be happy and enjoy our spaces without our personal style and taste shining through. When it comes to adding that style the best bet is to look at elements that are a bit less costly and easier to change out.

This is where your backsplash can take centre stage! What you choose to do with it can ultimately set the stage for colour, style and interest and that influence can trickle all throughout your home.

Choosing the right countertop/backsplash combo in a topic for another day, so today we are going to focus on some of the styles, hottest trends and materials to consider when doing your kitchen backsplash.

Carrera Marble Slab

This look is clean and fresh and creates the perfect canvas to showcase all of the trimmings from cabinets and range-hoods to your light fixtures and hardware choices. It is a very luxurious feel for a modern kitchen.

Elongated Hexagon Tile

This look can be subtly interesting or a bold move! Whether you go tone on tone with tile colour and grout or do a rich dose of colour the style influence is present. Choosing this shape and adding a bevel to the edge or sheen on the finish will make it a stunning addition to even the simplest cabinets.

Complimenting Backsplash

Making the choice to combine two styles for your backsplash is an exciting one! For example, say you want to pull a certain style or colour from your backsplash into the rest of your home so you choose a unique backsplash to install over your range that supports that style. Then simplify the rest of your backsplash to be more muted and complementary. This will focus the attention towards above the range (or whichever area you choose to feature) and make that area pop!

Herringbone, geometrics, metallic accents, grout and so much more….with so many styles, shapes and colours where do you start? When you walk into a store notice what draws your eye first. If you are walking into numerous stores take note of what styles keep coming to the top.

Contrasting grout will make your chosen shapes or accents stand out more so consider if you want it subtle or bold. Keep in mind that a contrasting grout will accent the backsplash but also give it a busier look which will play into which counter you choose. My rule of thumb is to choose a busy backsplash or choose a busy counter but you can’t have both!

Have fun with your backslash selection and don’t forget it’s the perfect way to inject your personal style into your home!