Lots of people pick out all the materials and put them on a story board and they come out great.

Those that don't pick out the backsplash right away have a few reasons for it. We waited until our counters were in because I really needed to step back and take a look at each step of the process. Handles weren't picked until the cabs were in and even though it's messier and more tedious, I won't paint until after my backsplash is in.

Additionally for some it's a cost saving measure. A backsplash is something that can wait and for people who are kissing their budgets or looking at that original budget number through the rear view mirror, the bs is something that can easily wait until the wallet has time to recover.

Good luck with your decision.

Personally, I like to pick everything together, so I'm not stuck with one thing and can't find what I want to go with it. I always choose things as an ensemble, juggling things around until everything works. (I redid a bathroom once, chose the counter, and luckily didn't order it before I found out that there wasn't any tile to go with it to create the look I'd wanted.) A lot of people here don't do it that way and add the backsplash at the end and seem to have fine results. I think you should do what you're comfortable with, so you won't have reason to doubt or regret at the end. If that comes with a price, you have to decide if it's worth it to you. If you're being put in the position of having to hurry a decision, that's never good.

I was one of those people who put my cabinet door, granite sample, and backsplash sample side by side and thought, "That looks great! This is going to be awesome!" In fact, I picked my cab door and backsplash first, and then the granite to coordinate with the two. I wanted to get the backsplash in immediately because it was a big design element in my kitchen, and would have been a lot tricker to install once the hood was up.

Once it all went up, I had some pangs of regret that the backsplash was too dark. I still like it, and it creates the mood I was after, but I might have chosen something brighter if I had seen how the light played off the other elements in my kitchen.

So, I think the advantage of waiting is that you can have a better sense of what your kitchen needs to make it really come together. If you march into a tile store with a sample of your granite and cab you will probably see several different tile candidates that will coordinate, but it's tough to know which one would look best until the other elements are in.

i agree. and depending on your countertop material, you might have a good gap in time between, deciding on, ordering, and installing countertops. with silestone, for example, it could be up to a four week wait for installation. i would say wait until the cabinets are up (by this time, there should even be some color on your walls, too).

I don't understand people who design a room one slow step at a time. I do the entire concept, hash out the details, then start the hammer throwing. My BS was picked two years before the granite went it. My stove back splash was on hand a year before the stove was installed.

When I worked in a tile showroom, many of the backsplashes were done later. The main reason was that it wasn't included in the builder's tile allowance for many new houses. Custom homes, especially those where the designer shopped for or with the future homeowners were more likely to plan the backsplash while making the other design decisions.

I planned and picked out everything down to (what I thought was) the most minute detail before I hired a contractor. There's definitely a cost to doing everything piece meal. I sure didn't want my contractor sitting around drumming his fingers while I hemmed and hawed over any of the decisions, or worse yet, put me on indefinite hold as he worked on other jobs while waiting for me to finalize my choices.

So yeah, my backsplash tile and instillation pattern was decided before my kitchen was even demolished.

I'm waiting till after. I'm expecting the kitchen will then tell me what it needs for a backsplash to make it sing! Hopefully you'll all hear the hallelujah chorus' when it happens. ;)

lowspark, you are a contractor's dream! Our contractor emphasized up-front that most delays are caused by indecisive homeowners, which was true for him because he was so on-the-ball. I can't imagine having everything picked and decided on before starting, but that IS the right way to do it.

Because of my contractor's insistence, my KD helped me pick the backsplash before even the cabinets were in. We went to the tile store with a sample of the counter (quartz composite). I'm glad we did, because there were many elements in the backsplash wall that affected the design (a shelf, a niche, outlets, wall where there were no cabinets, transitioning the tile around window trim). Also, some of the tile took a long time to arrive.

Actually, now I sort of wish we'd been bolder in the backsplash tile choice, but, it's very nice. So for design reasons, I'd like to choose the backsplash last, but for practical reasons and problem-prevention, I'm glad we didn't.

Don't forget grout color! It's so often an afterthought, but it can really make a difference in how things look.

I picked everything out all at once. First was cabinets, then granite. I had samples of each which I used to pick tile floor and tile back splash. Then I had all the samples in my kitchen against existing appliances to see if it worked. Hopefully once it's all installed I'll be happy with my decision. But this is my second kitchen and I did it the same way back then and was very happy with results.

I think if you put samples together, in your kitchen with existing light, you'll get a good idea of colors working together or not.

I'm another one who had everything picked out before demolition (all the way down to the switch plate covers!). It was important for me to see the whole picture before proceeding. We carried all of our swatches with us for ages and bored everyone we know to tears!

I had the cabinets, granite and floor selected before the construction started. Cabinets took 6 weeks to come in which gave me the time to select the floor and granite.
It's been 8 weeks now and the cabinets are almost all up.
I want to see the floor, cabinets, granite and the appliances installed before I get a feeling for the backsplash. I can't rush into this stuff because it is so permanent and I will never ever do another kitchen.

I have the floor picked out, the cab design decided, bought a faucet, and re-finished a piece that'll be part of my cabinetry and we haven't even started demo yet. I tend to work from the whole backwards... meaning I get a picture in my head and find the pieces to fit.

I picked out hardware, tiles, and all kinds of other things in advance of the contractor, only to find out that some of them didn't work out in the finished kitchen.
My advice is that you wait until your counter is installed, because the color of your cabinets and lighting may be slightly different when the room is completed.

In the meantime, you may relate to the list on the linked thread. Particularly, the item about being rushed into choosing things . . .

Here is a link that might be useful: Top Ten Things Learned while Remodeling

I am another one who picked everything out and had it all onsite before demolition, including appliances.
I started with the floor, then cabinets, then silestone,then paint, then sink and faucet,then backsplash. Waiting now for silestone installation, and then sink and faucet, then backsplash. Can hardly wait to get done.

Here is a link that might be useful:

we waited until after the counters were in before we picked out the actual bs tile - and i am very glad that we did - we have soapstone and the light in our kitchen really brought out the green highlights, much more so than when we saw the slabs - so we based our tile on that - before it was installed we were positive we wanted plain white subway - with the counters in, we went with a green tinted tumbled marble which is much prettier - i think it is important to see how the counter looks in your kitchen, with your lighting - as it may look different than under the florescent lights of a showroom, or the natural sunlight of a stone yard.

I picked out everything together - I was that sweaty pregnant woman dragging her cabinet door, tile samples, a tote bag overflowing with paint chips, tape measure, camera, etc. at the stone yard, LOL.

Putting together a storyboard worked well for me, but I can see how waiting until it's all up to pick the backsplash would be beneficial since you can see everything in context and do mockups with an entire wall. I was in a fairly unique situation where I picked my backsplash and THEN found countertops to complement them.