When it’s time to complete your kitchen design, the backsplash makes an impressive and decorative statement. When completed, it’s art! Using glass tiles, the backsplash can also help increase natural light and color to the room, while also creating a focal point and adding detail to the area.
Glass tile comes in many different shapes, sizes, and colors, which can be used in a wide range of different patterns and designs, all of which are perfect for the backsplash area. These 19 glass tile backsplash design ideas can help you find the perfect look for your kitchen.
1. Glass and Stone Accent Wall
While the traditional backsplash area is usually seen between the upper cabinets and the counter, this isn’t the only place you can install backsplash tile. Create a bigger, more impressive statement by running your glass tile around windows and on other accent walls. This blend of glass and stone mosaic squares catches the light from the windows individually, calling even more attention to the area.
2. Change of Shape
Another way to create an eye-catching display is to use different shapes of glass within one area. This glass tile, known as Agate, comes in a unique shape called Martini. Paired with a more traditional running bond on the bottom four inches of the backsplash area, it creates a colorful and unique design that highlights the area. The glass pencil between the two areas helps to define them even more, adding some dimension that might otherwise be lacking.
3. Depth of Color
This backsplash uses the same unique Martini shape, but covers the entire area of the wall. The color has a lot of bold accents, such as turquoise, that you can pull from to accessorize your kitchen with. The unique shape combined with the mixture of soft and bold colors gives you a lot of options for mixing and matching in the rest of your kitchen design.
4. Contemporary Style
The Midnight Linear Blend in this backsplash utilizes a mixture of marble with glass tiles in a contemporary mosaic pattern. The long lines of the tiles draw the eye, making the walls appear longer than they are, while the blend of colors in the stone and glass complements the monochromatic pattern in the kitchen. The result is a backsplash that is bold, contemporary, and cutting edge in style.
5. Subtle Texture
The Silk Strands series in this backsplash creates a unique, and subtle texture over the wall by mixing several different sizes of glass all in a single color. The repeating pattern gradates the tiles from large to small in a way that creates architectural interest over the area. And while this type of pattern is frequently seen in stone, using glass helps bring a little more style and light play to the area, as well as a hint of the unusual, which can help set your kitchen apart.
6. Arctic Glimmer
The color of this Artic Glimmer glass backsplash perfectly matches the veins within the granite countertops, creating a cohesive and elegant look in this kitchen. The traditional subway tile shape of the glass is given a new look by installing it in a vertical running bond that draws the eye upward and elongates the height of the cabinets and the kitchen. The simple act of turning a traditional tile shape in a new direction is often enough to help make a slightly more contemporary statement in a room, perfect for today’s more transitional designs.
7. Monochromatic Beauty
These smaller mosaic bar tiles in Dusk are also installed in a vertical running bond. With their subtle color variation, the smaller size of the tiles helps to add more shimmer and light-catching surface area to the backsplash, giving the kitchen more depth as well as pattern and interest. Vertical installations like this are particularly useful in shorter backsplashes, as the shape of the tile gives the illusion of height, as well as interest and design.
8. Waterjet Creation
Waterjet technology uses computer-guided patterns to create intricate, interlocking designs. This glass backsplash is used as a focal point behind the cooktop by showing off an elegant scroll pattern. Set into a lighter-colored field, the waterjet accent stands out and calls attention in the room. A field tile in a very light color surrounds the accent and fills in the area along the marble to ensure that the waterjet pattern gets the attention and focus that it deserves.
9. Playful Design
Glass mosaics have the ability to be formed into countless shapes and patterns. This fun design is called Fez, and it utilizes two different shades of glass that complement one another perfectly. The pinwheels across the wall, blend elegance and play in one, beautiful pattern. Use this design as a focal point behind the cook top, framed out in translucent glass moldings, or fill in your entire backsplash with it at once. Either way, it’s sure to help add just the right touch of whimsy to your home.
10. Bold Color and Depth
Not all glass is opalescent or solid in color. This bold red backsplash makes use of a transparent red mosaic that pulls the eye right into the color itself. Each 1-inch tile catches the light separately as well, emphasizing the variation in color and shade between the different tiles, and adding even more depth and richness to the design. A kitchen with a backsplash like this one will never be considered plain or ordinary, yet can still be considered timeless.
11. Lights and Darks
At first glance, these black and gold glass tiles are simply a smaller variation of a traditional running bond. Take a second look, however, and you’ll see that the glass tiles actually undulate slightly in a shape called Pendulum. This subtle rippling effect adds an element of movement to the backsplash, which changes depending on your position and how the light is hitting the glass at that moment. As you walk past the wall, expect to see the light ripple over the tiles as if it were water passing over a riverbed of stones.
12. Organic Design
Herringbone patterns have long been popular for backsplash installations, giving just a little more interest than more traditional straight set tiles. This pattern takes the traditional herringbone up a few notches, though, by changing the shape and angle of each one of the tiles. Each piece of glass angles into the next in a pattern reminiscent of the palm trees it’s named after. The bold blue color completes the beach-y appearance of the design, calling to mind cool, breezy days by the sea. Pair this tile with a crisp white cabinet or cool marble counter for a sophisticated color palette.
13. Opalescent Feathers
This unique glass pattern from the Luce collection is known as Feather. The graceful arching shape of the mosaics is the perfect complement to the white veining in the glass, letting your eye follow the tiles as they move across the wall. Use this pattern over the entirety of your backsplash to add some playful color and movement to the room, or isolate it behind the cook top to create a unique focal point.
14. All That Glitters
This kitchen has an understated and quiet color palette, so it needed a backsplash that would both complement the current color scheme, while adding a little something extra to spice things up. And that’s just what it does. The glittering mosaics of the backsplash catch the light and add sparkle to the room, creating a focal point that pulls you right in. But the color lets it blend with the rest of the space, without competing or creating too bold a statement that could overwhelm the room. The result is a beautiful, elegant, and eye-catching design that elevates the kitchen’s style into something special.
15. Crisp, Clean Design
This small space uses a Shaker style cabinet and a cool-toned color palette. These two features are prominent in a room that doesn’t have the space to introduce anything new. So, the glass running bond tile installation in a color that picks up a fleck out of the counter top is the perfect complement to the room. The shape of the tile mimics and emphasizes the shape of the cabinet doors, while the color adds some depth to the area, while still ensuring that the shade was already present in the room. This crisp, clean design helps make the small kitchen appear to be a little larger and more minimalistic than it really is.
16. Light Ripples
Hand poured and hand cut glass tiles have a unique texture to them that is slightly rippled, with uneven edges and the occasional missing corner. They also have a very unique depth that those ripples help to create by casting shadows through the glass to the thinset behind. These Baby Blue tiles in a 1×4 running bond have subtle variation and shade in both color and shape, which adds a lot of depth to the kitchen design. The light color of the tiles ensures that while offering lots of light and depth, it won’t overwhelm the space or stand out too much against the rest of the room’s details.
17. Novelty Design
This Novelty Glass makes the perfect statement in any backsplash or kitchen. The tiny herringbone pattern in an opalescent finish adds light and shimmer to the room, while the variation of depth and color from tile to tile – and even within one tile – ensures that you’ll have a lot of accent colors to choose from when selecting wall color or kitchen accessories. Use these fun tiles as a focal point behind the stove, or create an accent wall by framing out your cabinets or windows right to the ceiling. The tiles would also make a beautiful backdrop behind shelving in an open, modern kitchen design as well.
18. Gradient Design
Call attention to different parts of your backsplash design by using a gradient glass tile mosaic. This playful glass moves from dark to light as the mosaics march across the space. Install it moving from different directions toward a window or toward a cook top where you intend to place an accent or focal point. Or, switch its direction on an accent wall in the kitchen and have it move from dark to light as it moves toward the ceiling. The possibilities are endless, and the ombre effect that you can create can be a lot of fun in any kitchen design. The many light and dark shades also give you many options for pairing wall and accessory colors for the space, without getting too monochromatic in shade.
19. Hexagonal Design
Patterns like this one were once confined to the bathroom floor. Shown on the wall instead, they make a unique and fun statement that breaks the mold and challenges ideas of what tile can do. This hexagon pattern from the Tessera line is available in a wide range of different colors and blends, allowing you to choose colors that will complement your kitchen, or to give you a built-in color palette that you can build around for the rest of the design. Keep it light or go big and bold; the unique shape of the tile combined with glass’ light-reflecting attributes means that this backsplash will never go unnoticed.
Create Your Perfect Backsplash
Glass is ideal for kitchen backsplashes of all sizes and styles. It can lighten a dark kitchen, add color to a dull one, or increase the interest in the room. Whether you’re creating a focal point or looking for a subtle way to create an interesting field, consider glass tile for the space. Use these 19 ideas as a jumping off point toward creating a unique design of your own, and build the perfect backsplash for you.