Just letting you know that a metal pressed splash back is only suitable if powder coated or left galvanized. It does not meet regulations when painted as the paint is not fire rated. Powder coating is. If you do it yourself, no one will know, but it is likely to dis-colour, blister or even singe! Powder coating does not make it easier to clean. But if you were really concerned about cleaning it you would avoid it all together. The recommendations above solve that easily. At the end of the day, a gloss finish will make spraying and wiping the grease, steam and fat away easily than a satin or Matt surface. Glossier the better, powder coat can control that.

Have seen painted colour one used as ceiling panels (not the whole ceiling, just several rectangular panels)...quite effective & a bit different.

Fill it with pieces you love and learn to zone out what you can't change. Funnily enough we are having the opposite problem - about to move into a home we have created but still with the 'rental' stuff...it will be an adjustment. Have you seen [this[(https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/meet-my-houzz-the-coys-stsetivw-vs~60048479) Houzz story about living in a (albeit friendly landlord) rental? Perhaps that is the key - find a great landlord...?? Good luck. I love the concept of hygge - it exactly describes the kind of space I want to create at home and I can't wait to share it with my friends and family. Thanks so much for that link :)

We did pressed metal splashbacks on a display in a kitchen showroom I used to manage, and as such many of our clients opted for the same look. Powder Coated is definitely the way to go. It stands up really well for durability and is in fact relatively easy to clean compared to many splashbacks. Often people think that glass or stainless steel are the easiest for cleaning, but due to being such a flat reflective surface they show up every splash and if you're going to clean them you really have to clean the full length of splashback. The textured surface of the pressed metal means that it doesn't reflect the same amount of light so you are able to get away with cleaning it less often, and you can also get away with just cleaning the dirty area rather than the full length. The biggest difficulty we found was getting the splashbacks installed as there aren't really any tradesmen who specialize in fitting pressed metal, and those that were willing to cut & fit it were concerned about what would happen if they damaged the paintwork. We had the panels cut to size first before they were powder coated to minimize the risk of chipping the surface.