The wall between worktop and wall cabinets is a small area that changes a kitchen more than its size suggests. There are really two decisions: how high it goes, and whether it matches the stone or contrasts with it.
The standard sits between three and six inches, and four is what most kitchens get. It is a strip of the same stone as the worktop, it protects the wall where splashes actually land, and on a twelve foot run it adds roughly $200 to $400 to the worktop price. Example range, not a quote.
Full height runs from the worktop to the underside of the wall cabinets, and occasionally to the ceiling where there are none. It reads contemporary and makes the run feel like one surface, and it costs considerably more because it can double or triple the square footage of stone.
Tile is the third option and usually the cheapest per square foot, though installation adds labour that stone does not. Professional tiling on a normal kitchen commonly lands between $500 and $1,700. See quartz, granite and the countertops hub.
Recent work
How it works
How a Backsplash Gets Decided
Decide it at template
Height is settled with the worktop, not afterwards. A full-height stone panel is cut from the same slab, so it has to be planned before the slab is laid out and cut.
Match or contrast
Same stone as the worktop reads calm and makes the run feel continuous. A contrasting tile gives the kitchen its one point of pattern. Both work; mixing three surfaces rarely does.
Treat the hob wall separately
Grease behaves differently from water. Stone or large-format tile behind the hob, and small mosaics kept away from it unless you enjoy cleaning grout.
Check the sockets
Socket positions and any under-cabinet lighting have to be known before tiling or cutting, because cutting stone around a socket discovered late is not a small job.
Where it matters
The Wall Behind the Hob Is Different
Everywhere else on the run a splash is water and the occasional bit of sauce. Behind the hob it is hot fat, and hot fat gets on everything within about half a metre of a pan. That is the one stretch where the surface choice is practical rather than decorative.
Stone or large-format tile wins there, because there is little or no grout for grease to sit in. Small mosaic tiles look excellent in photographs and mean a lot of grout lines directly in the firing line, which is a cleaning job forever.
It is also where a full-height panel earns its cost even if the rest of the run stays at four inches. That combination, full height behind the hob and standard elsewhere, is what we fit most often. It gets planned with the hood, the cabinetry around it and the worktop template.
Practical detail
Other worktop work
Materials and the Surface Below
The backsplash is decided with the worktop. These are the materials it sits on.
Heights, materials, cost and the wall behind the hob.
Three to six inches, with four the most common. It protects the wall where splashes actually land and, on a typical run, adds roughly $200 to $400 to the worktop price. Example range, not a quote.
It reads contemporary and makes the run feel like one surface, but it can double or triple the stone. A common compromise is full height behind the hob and four inches elsewhere.
Stone matches the worktop and has almost no grout. Tile is cheaper per square foot but adds installation labour, commonly $500 to $1,700 for a kitchen. Both are fine; the hob wall is where it matters.
Because it takes hot fat rather than water, and grease settles into grout lines and stays there. Stone or large-format tile behind the hob saves you a permanent cleaning job.
Not generally, only directly behind the hob. Everywhere else the grout takes water, which wipes. Behind a pan it takes grease, which does not, and there are a great many joints.
At template. A full-height stone panel is cut from the same slab as the worktop, so the slab layout has to account for it before anything is cut.
Positions have to be confirmed before cutting or tiling. Stone cut around a socket that was discovered late means either a compromise or a new piece, and neither is cheap.
Height, material and the hob wall all get settled at template, because a full-height panel comes out of the same slab. Quoted alongside the countertop rather than after it.
