6 Beautiful Kitchen Backsplash Designs That Will Inspire You

A kitchen may seem like an unlikely place to add some artistic flair, but with a kitchen mosaic tile backsplash you can easily add distinctive style without sacrificing functionality. For the luxury homeowner, kitchen backsplash designs can also be a place to add their own individualistic touch. Yet, where will you get your inspiration for your next kitchen remodel? If you’re having trouble figuring out how to make use of this valuable backdrop in an otherwise crowded kitchen, take a look at these 6 beautiful backsplash design ideas.

1. Sexy Curves

Ornamental Mosaic Mural - View Details / Get Quote » Whether it is delicate painted scrolls on stone tiles or water jet precision cut curved inlays, these types of kitchen backsplash designs are a timeless classic. Twirling scroll work can be used as an accent along borders of the backsplash or even as a centerpiece. It can evoke delicate filigree designs or bold, modern, curves that interlace and intertwine in unusual patterns. Curv Dimas Water Jet Mosaic Pattern - View Details / Get Quote » They can even include giant circles, created from hundreds of tiny mosaic squares. Univo Naturali Circle Mosaic Mural - View Details / Get Quote »

2. Sculptural Relief

Stuck on how to make your backsplash stand out? Why not add some texture or sculptural relief to literally make it stand out? Just because a backsplash uses mosaic tiles, it doesn’t mean those tiles can’t have a sculptural design element embedded in them, like glass beads, or simply a sculptural relief pattern. Check out this video on the start to finish process to create relief tiles which are made to showcase intricate sculptural patterns and images with a high degree of textural appeal. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9VJQbo-MrA) It may not be a simple process to get the tiles created, but it can have a stunning effect when you lay them out on a backsplash. Here’s one with a floral relief pattern on the corners in a pattern of diagonally set tiles. If you still want more inspiration, just look back in time. Univo Diafol Floral Pattern - View Details / Get Quote »

3. Period Art

Civilizations and cultures tend to have great sweeping art periods that impact the images in a certain time period. If you are particularly enamored of ancient Rome or Greece, for instance, your backsplash may make use of mosaics to echo that time period with Italian fruit bowls or landscapes, thus creating “Old World” charm. Pietre Arte Hand Painted Scene - View Details / Get Quote » However, there are also past periods more in the recent past that can appeal to a discriminating homeowner without being so far back, like the Art Noveau period that was most popular between the year 1890 and 1910. This style of art in Europe influenced everything from furniture to architecture. Out of it came some highly stylized paintings and illustrations, like those from Alphonese Maria Mucha, a Czech Art Noveau painter. If you think it’s impossible to add such intricate designs to your backsplash too, take a look at this lovely mosaic mural which makes use of the Art Noveau style to make a kitchen backsplash statement. Noveau Portrait Mosaic - View Details / Get Quote »

4. Modern/Abstract Designs

You don’t have to be into cubism or Picasso to appreciate modern art, although even interlacing rectangles can be pretty dramatic as a kitchen backsplash. There are a variety of artistic interpretations of the natural world that still can be termed “modern art,” like this flower motif. Univo Anandale Flower Mosaic Pattern - View Details / Get Quote » Don't forget what everyone thinks of when they think modern, too: Geometric shapes. Curve water jet designs allow for the creation of tiles with interesting geometrics that take shape and are given additional interest with variegated materials like marbled stone. Curve Water Jet - View Details / Get Quote »

5. Glass Tiles

If you really want a unique and different material for your tiled mosaic backsplashes, try glass. It adds shine and a glow that other materials just don’t have and can be used in a variety of ways. A kitchen mosaic tile backsplash composed of thin glass strips can be very contemporary and sleek, and can have a number of different colored tiles, giving it a dappled look from light streaming in kitchen windows. Glass is a material with a natural inner glow when light hits it and it can be the perfect way to give your art some life and the feeling of motion as the sunlight traverses it in its daily travels. However, glass tiles are not just limited to rectangular pieces. Glass mosaics made with different types of glass mosaics can even be used to “paint” a picture with glass that makes it come alive with color and light. Glow Tiami Glass Scene Mosaic - View Details / Get Quote »

6. Contemporary Design

If making a bold statement isn’t something you want in your home, then opt for something more neutral, like contemporary design. Subway tiles are a contemporary take used in subways (thus their name), but that also make a calming and neutral backdrop in any contemporary kitchen. Using stone tiles, the effect can also be quite visually striking. Blanch Sabba Herringbone Mosaic Pattern - View Details / Get Quote » You can lay them flat, vertically aligned, horizontally, or diagonally. If you want to tone it down even further, opt for lighter tiles with a pattern that seems to melt into each subsequent tile, like this herringbone pattern. Carrara Heringbone Mosaic - View Details / Get Quote »

Put Your Unique Stamp on Your Next Kitchen Backsplash Project

Kitchen backsplash designs not only protect hard-working surfaces, but they can add high drama and style to a luxury kitchen. To gather inspiration, you can borrow from other artists to celebrate your favorite painter, time period, of art style, or you can make up one of your own designs and mix and match materials to suit your tastes. Walking into a kitchen with one of these beauties is sure to create a lasting impression. Which is your favorite? Let us know what designs in kitchen backsplashes have caught your attention, in my list or elsewhere, and why in the comments below. Share your ideas with us and your friends and followers online.