Kitchen Backsplashes

Where the counter meets the wall, a kitchen reads as one surface, so the backsplash works best when it is planned with the countertop, not after it. Elite Stone Countertop Design fabricates and installs countertops in Dallas, TX and across Dallas-Fort Worth, and backsplashes are part of that work, along with cabinets and sinks. Since we cut the counter, the stone, the veining and the joints on the wall can be worked out at the same time. Call (469) 478-0220 for a free estimate.

Backsplash Installation in Dallas, TX

The backsplash covers the strip of wall that takes water from the sink, grease from the range and the knocks of daily cooking. It is also the largest upright surface in the kitchen, and the one you face while you work. Stone there has no grout lines to scrub, and it can carry the same color and pattern as the counter so the two read as one piece.

Three questions decide a stone backsplash: how high it goes, which stone it is, and how it meets everything else on the wall, from the outlets to the window and the range hood. Each one is easier to settle while the countertop is still being planned, because the counter and the wall can then come from the same slabs.

A 4-Inch Splash or a Full-Height Backsplash

• A 4-inch splash is a strip of the counter's own slab, about 4 inches tall, along each wall the counter touches. It covers the joint at the wall, matches exactly, and leaves the wall over it free for paint or tile.
• A full-height backsplash takes the slab up the wall to the underside of the wall cabinets, or to the hood or the ceiling behind a range or sink. With a veined stone, two slabs cut one after the other from the same block can be book-matched: opened like the pages of a book, so the veins mirror each other at the joint.
• Stone with tile over it. A common mix is a 4-inch stone splash with tile on the wall from there up. The tile rests on the splash, so the stone goes in first.

A full-height wall uses far more stone than a 4-inch splash, often a slab of its own, so the choice is best made before the slabs for the counter are picked.

Which Stones Work on the Wall

A backsplash takes no knives and no hot pans, so it can be a stone you might not pick for the counter.

• Quartz matches a quartz counter exactly and needs no sealing. Its resin dislikes high, steady heat, so behind a powerful gas range keep the clearance the range maker asks for.
• Quartzite is a hard natural stone that handles heat behind a range and gives the long veining people want on a full-height wall. It is usually sealed; our quartzite countertops page has more.
• Marble etches from acids, which matters less on a wall than on a counter, though tomato and lemon splashes behind the range still leave dull marks on a polished finish. A honed finish hides them better.
• Porcelain comes in large, thin sheets that are light on a wall, and it resists heat and UV. See our porcelain countertops page.

Outlets, Windows and the Range Hood

A full-height stone backsplash covers the outlets and switches on its wall, so each one gets a cutout. Stone adds thickness, so the outlet box often needs an extender to bring the cover flush. If an outlet has to move to land in a clean spot in the stone, an electrician moves it before the stone is measured.

At a window over the sink, the stone can stop at the window, wrap into the opening, or form the sill itself. Behind a range it can stop under the hood or run behind it to the ceiling, and the hood's mounting and vent are settled before anything is cut, so the stone is not drilled twice.

How It Meets the Countertop

The countertop goes in first. The stone backsplash is measured after it, from the installed top, because the splash sits on the counter and walls are rarely flat or square. The joint where the splash meets the counter is a color-matched caulk joint, not a glued seam, since the wall and the cabinets move a little with the house. On a full-height wall, the pieces meet in tight seams placed at a corner, a window or the hood, where they show least.

New cabinets come before all of it, and we do cabinet installation too. Our kitchen countertops page covers the counter side of the job.

What Decides the Cost of a Backsplash

• Area. The length of the walls and the height: a 4-inch splash comes from the counter slab, a full-height wall can need a slab of its own.
• The stone. The material and color, and book-matched slabs if you want them.
• Cutouts. Each outlet, switch and window return.
• Edges. Ends that stop short of a wall or cabinet are finished and polished.
• The wall. Whether old tile has to come off first, and the shape of the wall behind it.

Ask about the backsplash when you ask about the countertop, so the slab count covers both. We serve Dallas and the towns around it, north to Allen. Call (469) 478-0220 for a free estimate.

Planning a Stone Backsplash?

Call (469) 478-0220 for a free estimate.

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