The Considered Splashback

What a Splashback Actually Does

The splashback exists for a reason — to protect the wall behind the cooktop and the sink from oil, water, sauce and the daily grease that aerosolises from any heated pan. That is its primary job. Every other consideration — beauty, character, theatre — comes after, and only matters if the splashback first does its job.

The materials capable of doing the job are surprisingly few. The wall must be impervious to water and grease, easy to wipe clean, heat-tolerant near the cooktop, and durable enough to be cleaned thousands of times over a decade without degrading.

Within those constraints, the choices range from the very quiet to the very loud. Both can be right. The wrong choice is the one that conflicts with the rest of the kitchen.

Tile — Patient and Forgiving

Tiles remain the default splashback choice in Perth, and rightly so. They reflect light, are easy to clean, last forever, can be replaced in sections if damaged, and offer near-infinite design flexibility.

The classic subway tile in glossy white is a cliché for a reason — it works in almost any kitchen, ages without dating, and costs little. But the real opportunity in a tiled splashback today is in moving past the cliché.

Tile Options Worth Considering

The Grout Question

The grout line is too often treated as a problem to be minimised. In fact, it is part of the texture of the splashback and ought to be chosen with as much intention as the tile itself. A pale tile with deep charcoal grout becomes a graphic statement; the same tile with matching pale grout disappears entirely. Both can be right; the choice should be deliberate.

Glass — Clean But Unforgiving

Toughened painted glass produces a single seamless plane of colour, easy to wipe and modern in feeling. There are no grout lines to clean, no edges for grease to catch in, no joints to fail. For a homeowner who values minimalism and easy maintenance above all, glass is genuinely excellent.

It is also the splashback most likely to date. Colour choices that felt confident in 2018 — particularly the bold reds, oranges and lime greens of that era — already look very 2018. Glass commits the entire wall to a single decision. There is no escaping it without removing the panel.

The Honest Recommendation for Glass

If choosing glass, choose a quiet colour that does not announce its decade. Soft white, warm off-white, gentle stone grey, deep matte charcoal — these are the glass colours that age well. Bold accent colours, mirror-tinted glass and metallic finishes look striking on installation and tired within five years.

Stone — Bookmatched, Full-Height

Running the benchtop material up the wall behind the cooktop produces one of the most striking effects available in a kitchen. The benchtop and splashback read as a single piece of stone, the eye travels uninterrupted from horizontal to vertical, and the cabinetry on either side is framed by a single dramatic surface.

Bookmatched Marble

Where two slabs of marble are mirrored along their veining, the result is a near-symmetrical pattern that reads as architecture rather than surface. A bookmatched Calacatta or Statuario splashback running floor-to-ceiling behind the cooktop is, in our view, the most luxurious gesture available in a contemporary kitchen.

Sintered Stone & Porcelain

Both perform the same trick more affordably. Modern porcelain slabs are now so realistic that a porcelain splashback installed beside a real-marble benchtop is genuinely difficult to distinguish, even at close range. For homeowners drawn to the bookmatched-marble look but wary of the maintenance, porcelain is the honest answer.

The Rule When Using Stone

The technique is most successful when the stone is doing the work. Let it stand alone, without competing pattern elsewhere in the room — a quiet plain cabinetry, a simple benchtop in the same stone, restrained hardware. The stone is the room's statement; nothing should compete with it.

Mirror, Metal & the Unconventional

Antique Mirror

Slightly aged, faintly mottled mirror — sometimes called "smoked" or "antique" mirror glass — adds depth and reflects light without the harshness of clear mirror. It expands the perceived space of a kitchen, particularly a galley or narrow run, and develops a quiet luxurious atmosphere when paired with deep cabinetry colours.

Brass & Copper Sheet

Living metals that develop a patina with time and use. A sheet of brushed brass behind the cooktop will, in twelve months, look unmistakably aged in a way that brass-look porcelain never does. Best in classical or warm-modern kitchens where the patina is welcomed as character.

Stainless Steel

The professional kitchen's splashback. Brushed or bead-blasted stainless, in a single seamless sheet behind the cooktop, reads as serious and competent. It does not age; it does not stain; it does not date. Best in confident commitment — a small panel of stainless dropped into an otherwise traditional kitchen rarely works.

The Test for Any Unconventional Choice

The test is always the same: does the splashback agree with the cabinetry, or argue with it? A material that argues will always be the loudest element in the room — and not always in a good way.

Height & Proportion

The standard splashback runs from benchtop to underside of upper cabinets — usually around 600mm. It is the safe choice, and in many kitchens, the right one. The eye accepts it, the proportion sits comfortably, and the budget remains modest.

The Full-Height Splashback

A full-height splashback, where the wall behind the cooktop runs from bench to ceiling without interruption, is more ambitious and far more impactful. It is the gesture that turns a workmanlike cooktop into a focal point — particularly when the wall above the upper cabinet line is also lined with the same material, creating a single continuous vertical plane.

The full-height splashback requires a kitchen with enough breathing room around it to support the gesture. Cramped against shelves, rangehoods and bulkheads, it loses force and reads as cluttered rather than confident. When in doubt, less is more, and shorter is better.

Window Splashbacks

The kitchen window directly behind the cooktop has become increasingly popular — a glass panel set into the wall in place of a tiled splashback, allowing natural light and the outdoor view directly into the cooking zone. It is genuinely beautiful when it works. It demands a careful choice of toughened glass, easy access for cleaning, and a consideration for where the cooking grease actually goes — with no impervious wall to catch it, the window becomes the cleaning task instead.

The Honest Verdict

The kitchens we are most proud of, looking back across two decades of work, almost always have a quiet splashback — natural stone, a single colour of tile, fluted ceramic in a soft tone, or a confident commitment to mirror or metal. They allow the cabinetry to lead. They become the kitchen's gentle background rather than its loud foreground.

The kitchens that age fastest are the ones whose splashbacks shouted on the day they were finished. Bold accent colours, of-the-moment patterns, mosaics in primary tones — these are the surfaces that homeowners replace ten years later, often at greater cost than the splashback originally took to install.

If you are drawn to a bold splashback, the test we offer clients is this: find an image of it from at least eight years ago, in a kitchen that was photographed at the time, and look at it now. If it still feels intentional and considered, build it. If it feels like a moment, choose something quieter, and put the boldness in your art, your cookware, your flowers — places that can change easily as you do.