Parts of our kitchen were kind of stuck in the 1970s. The tile backsplash was among them. We thought about trying to mount the pot filler over the existing tile, but that proved impossible without an obvious water source to tie into.
So we dug in. We tore off all the existing tile and found a water line right behind the oven. We have no idea what it was for, but we tapped into anyway (which always weirds me out a little). It turned out to be hot water. Score!
Taking down the old tile was kind of fun, but it was destructive to the underlying drywall. We had to patch a few areas that had giant holes.
Then came the hard part, picking out the new tile. Really!! Who new it how difficult it is to pick with SO MANY OPTIONS!
Eventually I did manage to pick some tile, (a mix of light and dark gray) and after much deliberation, we decided to adhear the tile with construction glue. It was so easy!! Squirt some on the tile, stick it on the wall. Easy... until you have to cut.
Some work had to be done in between soccer games... (what the?)
At this point I realized that the tile seemed to be at a bit of an angle. I couldn't figure out why until I noticed that part of the cutting block had been removed and the countertop wasn't sitting on it correctly. I quickly unstuck all the tiles to the right of the oven (thankful that construction glue is somewhat forgiving!). I corrected the countertop and replaced all the tile. Phew! Crisis averted.
The next challenge was the backsplash behind the stove. I decided that I wanted to do that section with the tile in a diamond pattern. I kept trying to start at the top and work my way down, because that made the most sense to me visually. I would have to cut fewer tiles because they would end below the stove. Unfortunately, my tiles kept sliding down the wall. Gravity! It finally dawned on me that I needed to start at the bottom and work up, with a level shelf to set starting tiles on. Michael put a piece of trim on the wall, leveled it, and I was back to work!
A FEW cuts later (!!!) we were able to finish the tile and install the pot filler.
Finished product...
