The best kitchen tile ideas

A kitchen is the centre of a home. It’s where you prepare your family meals and often socialise. Since you spend so much time in the kitchen, it makes sense to decorate it beautifully. One way you can do that is by choosing kitchen tiles that will add a fresh, new look to your kitchen. There is a wide range of kitchen tiles available on the market, which can make choosing tiles feel overwhelming. Here, we’ll help you narrow down your choices, and choose the tiles that will work best in your kitchen.

How to pick the perfect kitchen tiles

What part of your kitchen do you want to tile?

Before you choose your kitchen tiles, you need to consider what area you will be tiling. If you want to install new tiles on your floor, you should choose floor tiles that can stand up to the traffic. They should be non-porous, strong, and scratch and stain resistant.If you intend to tile your kitchen walls or the splash back, choose tiles that are sealed to prevent food and grease stains and that can be cleaned easily.

What tile colours should you choose?

The beauty of designing your own kitchen is that you get to choose the colours you like best. However, you should consider how the colour will affect the overall design of your kitchen. Bright, cheerful colours may look nice in your kitchen, but they generally require more frequent cleaning because stains tend to show on them. The same goes with black and white. If you want to minimise the amount of cleaning you have to do, choose neutral colours that will hide grease, food and other stains. Shades of light brown tend to work well with all kitchen decors and are good at hiding dirt. Another thing to consider withtiles is to avoid trendy colours that will quickly go out of style.

What size tiles work best?

Tiles are available in a wide range of sizes, from large format tiles to small mosaic tiles. Large tiles will make your kitchen look bigger and work particularly well on floors. Small mosaic tiles can be used to create a pattern that adds a visually interesting appeal to your kitchen, and work well on walls, splashbacks and counter-tops. One thing to consider is the smaller the tiles you use, the more grout you will need. If you choose small tiles, use an antibacterial grout to inhibit mould and mildew growth, to minimise how much cleaning you have to do.

Consider your budget

Tiles can get pretty expensive, especially if you start looking at marble and granite tiles. If expensive tiling is over your budget, don’t worry about it. There are plenty of more economical choices available, such as porcelain and travertine tiles. In addition, you can save money by looking for sales and discounts. One way to find large discounts is to buy discontinued tiles; however, make sure you buy enough to finish your project, since you won’t be able to buy more later.

Different types of kitchen tiles

Mosaic glass

Mosaic glass tiles are still popular this year. Glittered mosaics with gold hues and metallic, shiny tiles are selling better than the mosaics with colour. More subtle coloured kitchen tiles are also still hot. Large mosaic glass tiles are selling better and are expected to gain popularity in the coming seasons.

Subway or rectangular tiles

Known as ”subway tiles” in the United States, the big, rectangular shaped tiles are now becoming popular in Australia, and are favoured by city apartment dwellers. They are double in size, but make the kitchen appear larger. Order them in semi-gloss and pastel colours to soften their bold, imposing look. These tiles can be arranged in a ”checkerboard” style with black and white or black and red, to really make a plain wall pop. They are easily cleaned and hold up well against grease and splashes.

Graphic style

The most popular graphic styled kitchen tiles are digital in appearance and feature subtle changes in colours to make them appear less busy and distracting. Use these as splashbacks around countertops and smaller areas to showcase them properly. You can also use them as accents, so that they do not get buried in the background of the kitchen. Graphic style kitchen tiles come in many styles ranging from cartoonish images to animals and can be chosen to fit your kitchen’s existing motif.

Large format floor tiles

Large format floor tiles are the opposite of the smaller mosaic tiles. They look ideal on kitchen walls, especially as splashbacks behind the stove. They’re easy to clean since they don’t have a lot of grout lines in between. These tiles work best in kitchens with large walls, although the tiles can be scaled down for smaller walls.

Printed glass kitchen tiles

New varieties of printed glass kitchen tiles feature raised patterns of leaves with delicate veins running through them. This gives your walls a 3D look and plenty of lustrous colour.

Stained Glass Kitchen Tiles

A trend that seems to be continuing is the use of stained glass tiles to create stunning accents in the kitchen. The rich, jewel-like colours and dramatic effect they create make a drab kitchen come to life. Stained glass kitchen tiles are a colourful way to bring richness and light to dark corners.

Choosing tiles for a splashback

It’s time to pay attention to the splashback tiles in the kitchen – they’re one of the most important areas, design-wise, out there. Getting some stylish splashback tiles can make the difference between having a dull or impressive kitchen. There are four main types of splashback tiles – mosaic, glass, ceramic and porcelain, and natural stone.

Mosaic tiles are usually constructed with attractive, neutral tones to complement modern kitchen styles, although innovative metallic and glass mosaic tiles are also available. Glass tiles are cheaper now than ever before and make for very flexible and versatile additions to the kitchen. Ceramic and porcelain tiles are more expensive, but they can add plenty of flair to the kitchen with their attractive designs. As for natural stone, the current trend is to have it as kitchen wall tiling – giving the entire kitchen an attractive elegance. Try pairing up pale beige stones against darker benchtops and cabinets.