Kitchen splashback panels: what are your options?

If you are unfamiliar with kitchen splashback panels, they are the easy clean wall panels that you often see along kitchen work surfaces. Kitchen splashbacks protect kitchen walls from unwanted food splashes – it is much easier to wipe Bolognese sauce off a kitchen splashback than it is to clean it off a painted wall.

There are many kinds of kitchen splashback available and it can often be difficult to know which options are best for your installation. We’ve looked at the most common kitchen splashback panels to help you understand which work where.

Glass splashbacks

There is a wide variety of glass kitchen splashback panels on the market; not only will find every colour of the rainbow, you can also have bespoke designs made. Whether it be a photograph, or a quote, you can make a glass kitchen splashback panel truly fit your design. So, you can pretty much guarantee you’ll have the look you want, plus glass splash backs will cope with the heat from a hob, so can be used as a hob splash back. Just be careful you don’t knock a pan against them, as they could shatter. There has to be one down side though, right? With all that variety also comes a price tag, you’ll be looking at £100 plus, per m².

Metal kitchen splashbacks

Hardwearing, easy to clean, hygienic; metal kitchen splashback panels are usually made from stainless steel and are especially popular in commercial kitchens. That being said, there is no reason you cannot use them at home. As you can imagine, stainless steel splashback panels are pretty robust – they can take a lot of different cleaning chemicals without showing any signs of wear, they are non pours so food splashes won’t stain, plus they are fire resistant so ideal for use behind cookers and hobs. It is worth noting that if hot pots and pans cause the panels to over heat (they’d have to be extremely hot, and in very close contact), they will begin to discolour. This discolouration is purely aesthetic and will not make the panels any less fit for purpose, but it might not be a look you were after in your kitchen. As with glass panels, you’d be looking at around £100 per m² for stainless steel kitchen splashback panels.

PVC kitchen splashback panels

PVC panels are increasing in popularity as kitchen splashback panels. They are available in a whole host of designs which makes it easy for you to find a PVC panel that fits the look of your kitchen. Made from 100% PVC, these panels are waterproof and thus they are ideal for sink areas, plus they are easy to wipe clean if splashes occur.

One important consideration when looking to use PVC splashback panels in your kitchen is that they are not suitable for use behind a hob. The high heat that builds up in this area would damage them considerably. A common approach in many kitchens is to opt for a glass or stainless steel splashback behind the hob area to ensure fire safety, while opting for PVC panels in all other kitchen areas to maintain the overall design. Plus mixing the two allows you to benefit from the fire resistance of the glass or stainless steel splashback, as well as the low cost of a PVC panel. You could be looking at as low as £13 per m² for PVC splashback panels.

Browse our range of PVC kitchen splashback panels

Plain Gloss

7 Products

Brick

4 Products

Tile

2 Products

Marble

9 Products

Sparkle

6 Products

Stone

6 Products

Wood

2 Products

Metallic

1 Product

Browse all wall panels.

Hygienic sheets as kitchen splashback panels

Hygienic sheets, much like stainless steel splashbacks, are popular in commercial kitchens but there is no reason not to use them in your home. They are different to standard PVC panels as they have been specifically designed to comply with food preparation regulations. As with standard PVC panels, it is not recommended that you use hygienic sheets behind hobs or in areas of high heat. Hygienic sheets sit just above standard PVC panels in price at around £18 per m².