Barry on the "Living Room" did this with a reno in a home which had stained pine everywhere, he stripped the timbers back, painted and then rubbed them back which made them look rustic, then the timbers became a splash back behind extended kitchen cupboards and it looked great. The glass splashback over would be a good idea near heat or water, you may not need to do the whole kitchen, i.e. on opposite wall or near display shelves you may get away with just the timber splashback. Good luck.

Hi Jacey Eve, How is your splashback coming along? We are the manufacturers of the Pressed Tin Panels product (yes we sell it too - but believe we know what we are talking about- most of us who work here have a pressed metal splashback at home too!) I believe the great responses have covered what we would recommend for the panels as a splashback and that is the powder coating. It makes them a non-porous and easy to clean surface as well as a long lasting, good looking surface. With basic care it will remain that way for many,many years to come. We believe it is very competitively priced and an easy DIY product to install. If we can provide you (or anyone else reading this) a sample, prices, details of stockists, an install guide or a quote just let me know mardi@pressedtinpanels.com Visit our website for more info and ideas: www.pressedtinpanels.com Regards Mardi

I work in tiles all day. Glass and mirrored splash backs are on the way out. Texture is what everyone is chasing now. Lots of interesting textures and tile shapes coming in particularly hand made looks in gloss and mat. Maybe 150 x 75 mat laid in a herringbone style (45 degree) or black gloss or matt laid brick or h/bone with contrasting grout. For a modern look 600 x 300 size tiles with grooves in mat finish. Bright colours with black and cream such as red are great if you like them but if you plan to sell the majority of people don't seem to like bright colours in tiles and your colours are classic at the moment.

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.