The splashback is cut around the sockets. Not the other way round.

Choosing the tile

Zellige: hand-glazed, irregular, every tile different, it catches the light. Laid with very thin joints, needs a good tiler and a little patience.

Metro tiles: the 7.5 × 15 white or coloured, bevelled or flat, laid straight or in herringbone. The classic that goes with everything.

Ceramic and porcelain: formats from 10 × 10 to 60 × 120, matt or gloss, stone or terrazzo effect. Large-format porcelain gives an almost jointless splashback.

Lacquered glass and the worktop that rises: the same quartz as the worktop rising to the wall units, or a glass panel in the chosen colour. Zero joints, easy to clean, dearer.

The fitting that shows

A splashback starts straight from the worktop, with a silicone joint at the base, not mortar. The tiles are cut around the sockets and switches, which are recessed at the right height before tiling, not added proud afterwards. The joints are thin, regular, in the chosen colour, and waterproof behind the sink and hob. The last tile under the wall units is a whole tile, which means the layout was worked out before the first one went up.

Tiling the whole kitchen

In old kitchens, the tiling often rises to 1.20 or 1.50 m on every wall. We can remove it and plaster, or re-tile full height for a kitchen that is easy to wash. Both are priced per m², and removing the old tiles counts: a 1900 brick that has held its tiles for a hundred years does not let go without the plaster behind needing redoing.

What it costs

On the Belgian market and in our quotes, supplied and fitted excl. VAT: ceramic and metro 90 to 140 € per m², large-format porcelain 110 to 180 €, zellige 150 to 250 €, lacquered glass or quartz as splashback 250 to 450 €. A 3 metre by 60 cm splashback, 1.8 m², therefore comes to between 200 and 500 €. Removing old tiles with the plaster redone is priced 35 to 60 € per m².