Hang the cabinets and then tile.

Cleats.

Can you tile the back of a standard cabinet?

I thought about tiling the back, but the cabinet builder didn't like the idea of having all the mess and grout inside the cabinet. Same problem if we decide to hang the cabinets first and then tile. Seems like the only way to do it is to tile the whole wall and hang the cabinets over it somehow.

There should be a 1 x 2 as part of the cabinet back / top. Use that to hang the cabinet. Tile the wall first.

It would seem to me that the back of the cabinet would have a frame around it (built into the structure of the cabinet) that you'd screw it onto the wall with. Do you have a picture of one of these cabinets that you cabinet maker built?

The wall is ALWAYS tiled after the cabinets are hung. He just doesn’t want to deal with the inevitable touch ups that result from that, and which is standard procedure.

I think it's be a bigger pain to drill holes in the tile (as well as the cabinet) so you can hang them. I don't think the problem you've got is how do you hang them, I think it's whether or not your cabinet maker wants to hang them.

This is a discussion you need to have with your cabinet maker today.

I would get the cabinets on the wall very secure, then worry about the tile. I don't understand why the cabinet maker would be worried about the tiling after the fact. That will be you tile installers issue. Be prepared to pay a premium for a good tile install.

I'd also bet that your inspiration kitchen's cabinets are screwed into the ceiling joists as well as cleated or 1x2'd along the interior top to the wall. The joists could have been cross braced in between to provide extra wood for the screws since most joists are 16" apart.

I’d also bet that those cabinets actually have backs. And the tile is applied to the backs.

Sophie; shead: As an engineer, making shelves without lateral support (a back) - the cabinets will 'rack', have no strength. They need that stability.

At the same time that tile will be quite heavy. I think they need to be hung from the ceiling and attached to the wall.

IMO, it's silly,

@Sophie, I think I agree with you. When I zoom in on all the photos of this kitchen posted online, it does seem the tiles inside the cabinets appear slightly closer to the camera than those on the wall.

Defintely tiled inside the cabinets, if you look the joints do not line up if the walls were tiled first and cabinets installed with no back.

Could you hang regular cabinets and faux paint the back to look like the tile? Or just paint the backs white (same color as tile)? It seems like this look relies heavily on some amazing lighting (think photography) in order to get the back of the cabinet--in shadow--to look the same as the rest of the wall.

Why don't you ask Julianne, she has a blog and a contact page. You never know, it might work? Maybe she'll be flattered or give you her contractor's name?

if the cabinet was over the tile, there would be gaps along the side of the cabinet, in the troughs of the grout lines. i'd rather butt the tile to the cabinet.

Also, did you actually read the article in Better Homes and Gardens? There might be some narrative about "at first, we didn't know how we were going to mount the cabinets on the tile" or there might be credits for who did the work.

I've changed my mind...lol

I definitely think the cabinets were installed over the tile. In this zoomed in photo, you can see the shadow from the grout indention reflecting on the cabinet and it appears that indention continues beyond the edge of the cabinet.

I scoured the internet, found the instagram of the interior designer, looked at all the photos for the past two years, and finally found this. I think the cabinets are definitely over the tile, I'm just not totally sure how.

"Sophie; shead: As an engineer, making shelves without lateral support (a back) - the cabinets will 'rack', have no strength. They need that stability."

Back to school, Mr. Engineer. Proper wall mounts to the cabinet sides would turn the kitchen wall into the cabinet back wall. No racking; plenty of strength and stability.

To add to what Joseph said, if you have a cabinet more than about 33" wide, you need a 3/4" thick shelf, otherwise the shelf would sag in the middle. Longer shelves typically need a support at the middle. It's usually a shelf peg on the back of the center stile that the doors close to or in the back of the cabinet. Because they've got inset doors, these cabinets have no center stile.

Hi Alicia! Was your installation succrasgulla? We’re doing the same thing so thought I’d check!

seems like making the cleat deeper than standard (by the exact same depth as the tile and grout will add) and then tiling around the cleat would be a possible solution. you could then hang the backless cabinet from the cleat the same as you would on a non-tile wall.