You will love my story, then!

I am doing a kitchen remodel with used kitchen cabinets from Green Demolitions. My cabs cost me $3600. Total. Plus $2000 to pay somebody to fly to Connecticut, pick up my rental truck and load and bring them home to me. I am sanding them by hand and re-staining them, putting on a new polyurethane finish. I am also staining and poly-ing the toe kicks and crown molding. My friend and I did the wall and ceiling painting after my contractor did the new wall and soffits and new skylight. Since that is the extent of my talent, the contractor is doing the rest.

I got the cooktop from a scratch-and-dent place for half price. I got the faucet off Craigslist for half price. I got a sink from Habitat for Humanity for $60 - used. Our counters are laminate, and the island will be polished porcelain tile.

I am using tumbled marble tile left over from my 2003 kitchen remodel at our last house as the field tile for the backsplash. We spent about $500 for the decorative tile design that will be the second row on the backsplash. I am about to spend about $300 on liner tiles to go between the deco strip and the field tiles that are above and below.

Yes, what you are paying for your backsplash is reasonable, as long as you can afford it. I think of the backsplash and the other trim (like the edging around my island) as the jewelry of the kitchen, and they may cost a lot more, when compared to other things that we were more frugal on.

My backsplash is definitely one of my big splurges. I've got 34 linear feet of backsplash required...18-20 inches high, plus a 30X42 area behind the stove.

I've decided to use oak beadboard behind one area (with a 4" backsplash integrated into my soapstone counter. But that still leaves me with about 45 square feet of space to be covered with tile.
A grand total of 12 Motawi decorative tiles plus plain tiles to border them with cost me nearly $1000. My field tiles are $12 a sf...that's another $800 or so. Yes, there are cheaper alternatives. But I want these SO badly. And, I can fortunately afford them, though not without sacrifices elsewhere in my life.

Bottom line, you are not alone: Backsplash splurgers unite!

You guys are great!
Nancy - you sound like me. Using a vintage Chambers stove we had to drive out of state for and haul back home ourselves ($600). Also using a 1940 Kohler sink with attached drainboard and back that was free on freecycle (would have paid for it gladly, lol). Our hardware was an ebay find of vintage brand new 1940s era pulls from the back of a hardware store that was being liquidated, still in the original aging paper envelopes! Saved at scratch-n-dent stores for DW and vent hood about $1,800 combined (replaced kick panel on dw, and no scratches or dents on vent hood, was mis-ordered).
We are going with IKEA slab front cabs since slab front white cabs are similar no matter how much you spend and IKEA rates very highly in quality. $8k installed vs. $35k un-installed from high end kitchen place (and $17k from Lowes and another more "reasonable" place").
We are saving in so many ways yet the dream back splash is something that I can't duplicate cheaper, and you can bet your bottom dollar I have tried. Our kitchen is part of a good size extension (400 sq ft) and remodel job of approx half of our main level. If I did not pinch every other penny, this would not be feasible to even do, much less with any sort of back splash!

Melissa - can you imagine the people who do their entire order at the high end place? I hate to say it, but my field tiles are $20 per sqft and they are just ceramic. It is just that they are the right color and shape (2 x 4")and I literally cannot find that combo or even close anywhere else. I can find 4 x 4" in that almost color, but at $18 a sqft, I might as well go the extra $2 (x 20) to get the ones that are perfect. I spent countless hours trying to find cheaper and was willing to compromise, but the best I could do was close in price (and many over), so that this seems to be the only path. The black tiles I am using are $.39 for each 4 x 4 (less than $4 per sq.ft), so that is hopefully, offsetting, lol.

I think I will forgo any Xmas gifts for myself in order to justify the ones I love. Dh loves them too, but I bet if we went cheaper, he would be much less crushed than I would be!

About $400 for the glass mosaic tiles and one sheet of stainless tiles for accents, then around $50 for supplies.

I really thought these would be out of our reach, but then Lowe's started carrying them for about $15 a square foot/mesh sheet. I think they are even lower than that now.

I was able to DIY with the sheet mosaics because I had
worked with them in the master bath. Lowe's will cut tiles for you, and I didn't need that many cuts.

I also liked the matching glass subways they had, 2" x 4", but these were $1 each tile and not on mesh. I decided they were too pricey and more difficult for me to work with, so I didn't use them.

Diana, I didn't use tiles so I can't help you, but it's good to see your name back on the forum.

About $400 for 20 sq ft of 6x6 botticino tumbled natural stone. Purchased from a local tile warehouse. We'll probably spend another $100-$200 on accent tiles.

The backsplash was my biggest splurge next to the quartz countertops. We had a lot of countertop (60 sq. ft.) and a lot of backsplash (41 sq. ft), so no matter what the choice, it was going to get pricy. But we did IKEA cabs, scratch-and-dent appliances and sink, kept the same footprint, and DIY'd everything but the quartz countertop and the final plumbing. The backsplash tile was about $750 with maybe $100 more for supplies. And this is for a kitchen that was done completely for less than $14K.

I too am shocked at how much backsplash tile costs.

I had my heart set on large glass tiles. At $20/sq ft, it would cost me at least $800 just for the tile (I need 40 sq ft). Yikes! I also wanted to DIY to save some $, but I heard glass tiles can be tricky. I may have to rethink my choice.

Antiquesilver - thanks so much, it feels good to be back ;) I had to take a break because it was getting increasingly hard to know how off our project was at the time and to stay enmeshed in reno talk. I loved seeing the FKB recently and recognizing many names. Luckily, we have been able to pick up from where we left off and much of the work on our end was already done. The tile, paint colors and counters were about all we need to worry about this time. Most everything else is already on our premises, lol. The tough part will be to dig out each element from all the collection of boxes all over our house. We had to replace our family bath's faucet and wanted to use the one bought for the master bath since it was just sitting around. Turns out, we had to buy another one because we could not find the mbth faucet. It has been another year or so and we still haven't found it. Our house will seem so spacious when it all gets installed and sorted out!

Gsciencechick - I know the tiles you mean. I saw similar in HD for a contractor I am working with to help flip a house. I could not believe that the "Big Boxes" carried them and at such good prices. That is a great way to add bang for the buck! I will be getting the black accents from HD & Lowes and that will mean fewer pricey tiles.

I woke up today and told myself to stop looking for tiles. We found the ones we really want and the $350 for the border accents may be crazy, but in the grand scheme of things, $350 is not so bad for what is admittedly a splurge. The field tiles in lavender only come out to $200 and cover a lot of space. They are not really a splurge since the tab is not that high. I know in my heart I could not replicate the look with anything less. It is not for lack of trying either. I was afraid dh would choke when he heard the amount, but he asked how much we'd save with something else, and when he heard it would be $100-150 or so, he said we should go for the ones we both like better since in time, that difference will seem petty. I guess there are some things one can compromise on such a single french door, not having a front porch added, fewer (but larger) skylights, carpet instead of fixing hardwood floors in master bedroom after extending, etc, but some we shouldn't, like cheaper tiles and counters (mid-range, which is our only other "splurge"). The other stuff we chose to do without cost much more than these items' upcharges. It is work to find the balance of saving money yet still making going through this all worthwhile. We technically could save more, but if we are going to spend over $150k to get the total project done and end up looking at it as ALL a compromise, then why bother? The other things we saved on will not impact our overall enjoyment by very much. I am just so grateful we are back to doing it before too long! With so many people losing their homes, doing any of this is a splurge.

Dianalo,

If you can afford it, that seems to be a very reasonable price for tile. Since you are doing a lot yourselves -- and congrats on the Chambers! I did the same with a 1949 O'Keefe & Merritt -- have you considered learning to tile and doing it yourself? If I could, anyone can! The book Tile Your World by John Bridge tells you everything you'll ever need to know, and there are excellent online support forums to talk you through issues. A backsplash is much, much easier than tiling a shower or bath, and the materials are readily available.

Me, I paid $1000 for 90 sft of ceramic tile, would have been half that without the 5' tile wainscot I put in. But I got my stove for $400 and my used cabinets for a song, so I could afford it and still stay under $20,000 for the project.

Of course it's all a splurge compared to folks without homes, jobs, etc, right now -- but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy what you have. And what you're working on is perfectly reasonable -- it's not like you're insisting on $140/sft hand-painted tile to match the pet mongoose. ;-)

You made me laugh. The border tile works out to approx $175 a square foot because it is $14.50 for each 2 x 6" piece, so therefore you'd need 12 of them to make a sq foot! Luckily, we are using it for linear space and not as field tile! I think I should never have worked out the sqare footage because that makes me feel I am overpaying more than the total tab. I guess I need to suck it up and just enjoy the end result!

I think ours was in the $400 range, but I don't remember for sure. I just remember that I stressed over $2 sq ft vs $8-10 or more. The difference came to $100-200 and for the whole project wasn't worth the stress. We decided to get what we liked best and then just looked at the tiles rather than the price tags. But then I was glad I wasn't looking at $30+ sq ft tiles. We did consider a glass liner at one point. That was $15 per 6 inch piece, and I think they were about an inch wide -- so 24 times that for a sq ft. I might use some glass in the bathroom or utility room later, but I wasn't convinced it fit our kitchen and saved some money instead. Helps rationalize the more expensive field tile too. ;-)

8 sheets of 1"x1" Verde Laguna Marble tile = $80.00 from EBAY
and 1 sheet of 5/8 Verde Laguna Marble tile = $26.00 from local tile store. 50.00 per hour labor plus the cost of grout, and impregnator/enhancer, and sealant. So I am thinking it will be under $500.00 depending how fast he can put up the tile. It is going to be about 6 inches high backsplash and he doesnt have to worry about electrical plates, windows, or any strange areas. This the splurge of the whole project other than the Wolf cooktop.

Here is a link that might be useful: life dithyrambic

i'm using Hirsch Murano glass.
Definitely less than a $k all told.
The glass surface is rippled not flat.

I may cut strips out of a Fastbo Ikea panel for a few accents.

Mine was pricey! I ordered sonoma handmade crackle tiles and a herringbone on mesh for behind the range. The subways are $18.91 sf and the herringbone was $33sf(only needed 5 sheets)then the liner was $7 a tile.Everything came to a little under $1200. Almost 40sf of backsplash. This was a splurge for me, but hopefully I will love it. We are installing it in a few weeks.

We used about 48-50 square feet of travertine subway tiles ($4.00 per square foot) $10 for the grout but the big splurge was the oil based sealer/enhancer at $78 for one bottle. The entire backsplash was less than $300.

45 sq ft of subway tile at just under $1000

Just ordered Mission Tile West Revival 2 X 8s in gloss white. (If you go to the "I need pictures of subway tile" thread, it looks a little like the Ann Sacks Heath only glossier, whiter, and a little more uniform in color.) The main downside is the six week wait as they make them to order.

You'd think all white subway tile was alike but boy do they look different when you put them side by side. I wanted them flat, not crackly or beveled or rustic looking, with really thin grout. BUT I wanted them a little more handmade looking than Dal-Tile. My cabinets are more creamy white; my soapstone's white streaks are more grey than, say, caramel. Their white is a little warmer than the Dal-Tile. I just fell in love with the 2 X 8 size and when our tile guy came to measure he agreed that this size would work better for my kitchen measurements than the 3X6.

Would love to do a 1/2 inch liner but it would cut through all of my outlets. Also I chose a BLUE La Cornue Cornufe stove, and it's proving really hard to match the blue, so by going plainer the stove will be the focal point. I will probably hang a pot rack behind the stove and hang copper pots, enameled pieces, maybe garlic or herbs, etc. so that I can change out the decorations with the seasons.

If you ever dream and look at the Cornufe brochure, the tile looks just like the one on the cover behind the black stove - except I just want it to be laid like traditional subway tile -- have seen the photo posted various places in Garden Web.

Cost of field tile was $22 sq ft; they then discounted 20% (I bought it directly but they give everyone the "contractor discount".) About 5 sq. ft. of the order is various bullnose and corner trim pieces.

When we did our master bathroom five years ago, we put in four rows of Oceanside Glasstile 1" by about 8" big bead trim in turquoise and spa glass vertically down one shower wall, and I think the trim alone was about $1000. Good thing the tile guy placed so that it reflects in all of the mirrors and we can see it from just about every angle of the room and even when we are just looking through the doorway. It really makes the room pop, but it's the trim that costs so much!