I don‘t have a ton of money for my kitchen but I feel I can do some minor things. I) Orange countertop MUST go. I am seriously considering due the lack of counter space in the kitchen, what you see is my only countertop space, is move the fridge to the wall on the right, which you cant realy see in this pic, but there is an inside interior wall im going to set the fridge against, and then extend the countertop the wall, and put a base cabinet below it, and one above it to be the same size vertically as the one next to the fridge. A neutral beige-ish countertop, and then probably a range top thing for above the stove. Replace old sink faucet too.My question about making a tile backsplash for above the sink, would ie be more logical to measure it out, and put the tiles on a piece of plywood and screw that 2 the wall instead of grouting the wall and tiles affixed to the wall directly.
You must apply the tiles directly to the wall. Putting them on plywood would be terrible. Take the extra time and do it right.
With all due respect to others answers, some valid, and to you, and even to the installer, and after having installed thousands of sq. ft. of tile, and miles of grout lines, I have a few things to offer. First of all the installer may have just been a SUB, and not at all liable for what YOU chose. Second: Without knowing the dealer I suggest that any Decent / vaild / reliable Tile sellers would currently have Grout samples of the REAL color choices. Those are usually in a demo kit type form in 1/4 inch strips, maybe 4 inches long. With no offense to you, choosing a grout color from a card is like choosing a paint color from a card, and I've applied thousand of gallons of paint as well. At this point the tile grout stain may be your best option, and may in fact work for awhile over sealed grout. in any case it will be an issue you may have to maintain, just as you would a normal cleaning program for any tile surface and even sealer isn't a forever thing. Personally I don't use sealer. I use a quality poly blend, sanded grout, that once set needs no more than proper cleaning on a regular basis. Steven Wolf
tiling directly to plywood is not recommended for 2 reasons. the first is that specific products must be used to guarantee its adhesion to the surface and the second is that you would have the thickness of the plywood showing at the edges. it would look odd and incomplete. just pick some tile you like from lowes, home depot or you local tile distributor (which offers better quality tile than home depot or lowes, and usually at just as comparable prices) and adhere them to the wall with either mastic or thinset. mastic should only be used for ceramic tiles under 6 inches and not for glass tiles or marble. your best bet is just to buy thinset. ultraflex II from lowes is a good product. a tumbled marble on a diagonal with stone accent pieces placed throughout would look nice and not break the bank, since your backsplash space isn't more than 15 square feet. mosaic tiles would look nice as well and wouldn't be too costly. the great thing about such a small backsplash space is that you can splurge on the tiles that range from $3-$10 a foot if you want. a 4x4 or 6x6 ceramic tile in your preferred color would look nice on a brick pattern if you aren't into the tumbled marble. i'm including some links to some backsplash pictures. the 1st couple are specifically tumbled marbled designs and the last couple are just other different options. good luck!
