Did you put a tile backsplash in your appliance garage?

15 years ago

We will have two appliance garages in our kitchen (my husband and I are both OCD-ish about visible clutter.) Should we tile the backsplash inside the garages? We are planning to use the mixed whites brickbond tiles from Trikeenan. My thought was, they'll be hidden from view by the doors, they'll be behind the toaster, mixer, etc., and there will be a lot of outlets back there. What did you do? Thanks!

Comments (13)

kateskouros
15 years ago
well, to be honest i never thought about this. i didn't in my last house. the tile was extremely pricey and i wouldn't think of putting it somewhere no one would see it.

the inside of the appliance garages were painted the wall color. GL!
bill_vincent
15 years ago
I don't know about appliance garages, but I HAVE gone inside built in breadboxes. If you look in the corner, you'll see what I mean:
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tile first is industry standard. its much simpler for the installer and keeps your new sink and faucet flawless. make sure both are covered in plastic while still giving room to get caulking gun in for silicone,etc appliances have tile behind them not up to them so also need to be moved out. thats why normally it happens first. then final plumbing/electrical and appliances. especially of its gas stove tht will be a plumber visit all at the end anyways. Most importantly dont call her ”dramatic” because she wants to do the job right and happens to be female. Do let her know that in rhis case the faicet will already be in as well as sink and that you appreciate ger working woth that and taking the extra time to protect your things and do tile/grout and silicone then a final clean up around faucet that sits closely
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We didn't put in a tiled or granite backsplash b/c we postponed it due to budget (plus I didn't know what I wanted). We just painted w/a scrubbable paint (BM Cornsilk). However, be sure you tell the templater that you will not have a backsplash...and keep telling him/her! Otherwise, they'll assume they don't have do that good a job of templating along the wall b/c they'll think the tile will hide it. Oh, and put it in writing! Even though I was very explicit and they had our design with NO backsplash, they still gave me a gap that was big enough to push my fingers in up to my knuckles...I refused to sign off until they fixed it. I now have a fairly small gap that black silicone (or is it caulk?) hides very well and also keeps water (and crumbs) from falling behind the counters. I have a black counter, so the black is perfect. There is one run that has clear and we tried painting over, but the paint doesn't "stick"...so make sure they use something that either already matches your counter or wall or that can be painted.
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Maybe he will! Sorry-- I don't always catch all the posts. :-) As for where the stone ties into the wood trim, that should be caulked with a siliconized latex caulk that matches the grout. A for the switchplates, palimpsest isn't kidding. the cheapest I've seen matching stone switch plates is about 75.00 a piece, and that's just for a single pole switch cover or plug cover. The prices go up from there. As for color, there are a couple of things you could do here, depending on your taste. You could go with plain plastic plates (my preference would be cream to blend in as best as possible to the tile), or you could go with paintable plates and paint them to match the wood trim. Or you could either go with wood or again painted plates (whichever is applicable) to match your cabinets. Those would be my choices.
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Backs plashes are difficult because they are basically design decisions vs building decisions and while most of us are good at picking and figuring, pre-visualizing is tougher. Even some KDs aren't especially good at doing a back splash so don't beat yourself up. Tile design can be very challenging -- if the store will help out with it that's always a bonus. Some will for a nominal or no fee. They'll do the design and sometimes even help find an installer. . When it gets tough, instead of getting lost in tile world I think it might be easier to find a photo of a backsplash you love, or even of a tile object you love. If you post it folks here can give suggestions about how it will work in the kitchen and whether it will produce the result. Then it can be used as the basis for the splash (take it along while shopping). Here's an extensive list of tile sources which can help with some of the pre-shopping. http://www.atticmag.com/shopping/tile.html My backsplash basically sets the style of the kitchen. It runs from countertop to ceiling on 2 walls -- so it's the opposite of the 4" micro-splash. I began with the tile and picked around it (not typical). My inspiration was ceramic tile stoves. I drew out a scale "cartoon" of the splash and colored it in and taped it up to see how it would look. Tile has repetitive pattern so it always draws the eye. The cartoon was a bit of work but very helpful as it covered nearly a 2' x 3' section (paper taped together).
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oldjgw
15 years ago
No, I put appliances in my appliance garage and tile in a cardboard box.

I'm sorry I couldn't resist.

I'd guess the answer is actually no. We didn't tile behind the microwave shelf just put a couple of coats of finish paint on the wall. It's completely hidden back there. If I can't see it I'm not paying for it.
sue_ct
15 years ago
To me it would be one of those nice touches that would surprise me but leave me with an impression of a very nicely detailed job. Like buying a handpainted box and opening it up to find some painted detail inside, and the bottom of the box finished as nicely as the top. An easy place to cut out without sacrificing much, but a nice detail if it isn't expensive or price is no object. But then again, I also like my cabinets and drawers to look nice inside as well as the outside.

JMHO

Sue
ci_lantro
15 years ago
I would tile the splash & then install the appliance garage. That way, if you decide to reclaim your counterspace, you can remove the appliance garage & not have an ugly gap in the splash.
ljsandler
15 years ago
Ditto ci lantro.
rmlanza
15 years ago
But wouldn't the tile make the appliance garage stick out beyond the cabinet a little bit? Or would you install the garage first and then tile up to the sides on the outside and then inside??? But then if you removed it you'd have gaps in the tile. I guess you just trim down the sides of the garage to make it sit flush with the upper cabinet? I dunno but I didn't tile inside mine, just painted the wall color back there. We don't leave it open for any length of time and the only appliances we have in it are the Food Saver and the electric can opener. I guess if I had a coffee pot or toaster in it it would probably stay open for longer periods of time.
susan205
15 years ago
The back of my appliance garage is actually finished cabinetry. It looks nice when open, even though it is typcially only open in the morning.
growlery
15 years ago
I'm with ci lantro, lsandler and the expert bill vincent. Finish it.

A) The price is small. Less than 2 sq ft of tile? I do believe "take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves" but in my kitchen, I'd look on this as a foolish economy.

B) Think 5-10 years down the road if/when styles change, or the door breaks or you make a layout change or something -- there's that big gap and no matching tile.

My parents had a similar situation in their bathroom, and were very glad their tile guy 35 years ago tiled something invisible, or they would have had to retile the whole thing! Bless him, wherever he is!
lowspark
15 years ago
Same as Susan205, the back of my garage is actually wood cabinetry. However, if it weren't, I'd have had the backsplash completed behind it. Bill's photo says it all.
sue_ct
15 years ago
According to my kitchen installer the proper installation method of a garage is bottom cabinet, then garage and then top cabinet to make sure it sits on the garage with no space in between, where as you install the top ones first when there is no garage. I can't remember where in there the countertop gets installed. But it is so everyting fits tightly. So, since it gets installed with the cabinets, you really wouldn't do the backsplash first. Some have cabinet backs and some do not.

Sue
laurmela
15 years ago
Our garage was the last thing installed. That way there are no funny cuts in the tile. I have 2 plugs in there as well and it is nice to have it finished.

L
sue_ct
15 years ago
That is good to know, that means I could have one installed later if I want to. My installer didn't give me that impression at all.

Sue

Did you put a tile backsplash in your appliance garage?

Comments (13)

kateskouros

bill_vincent

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ci_lantro

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