DIY Backsplash with Aspect Peel and Stick Tiles

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We remodeled our 1990’s kitchen with oak cabinets and tumbled marble backsplash and transformed the kitchen into a white and bright kitchen that is beautiful.

We choose Aspect Peel and Stick Glass Tiles in the color Frost for the backsplash, and I could not be any happier with the results. You can see our entire remodel.

The glass tiles look stunning in our new kitchen, and I want to show you how easy they were to install.  We have installed tile before using cement and grout and the peel and stick tile is very simple to use. We like to keep our remodeling cost as low as we are able to and the great thing about peel and stick is that you save on labor and you do not have to use grout. 

I was concerned about the peel and stick tile backing being strong enough to hold the tiles up. I knew a couple of DIY bloggers who had used this product so I asked them if I should use glue also. They told me that I did not have to use glue or adhesive because they are so strong, they adhere as soon as you place them on the wall. 

The person who installed the tumbled marble years ago, added the marble onto the Formica that was original to the home.  

We popped the tiles off using a hammer and a chisel. There was cement left on the cabinet side and old backsplash.

I used a palm sander with 60-grit sandpaper to smooth out all the cement. I worked hard on this because I wanted the walls as smooth as possible to that the tiles would adhere evenly.

We ordered the tiles in the color “Frost” because this color is the closest to white but the tile has enough gray in it to add some contrast with all the white in the new kitchen.

Seriously, all you do is peel and stick!

We both worked in different areas of the kitchen, and the job goes fairly fast until you have to slow down and make cuts.

 

We researched how to cut and install the tiles before we started the project. We viewed this video from Aspect Tiles on YouTube.  We had a wet saw from previous projects so that is what we decided to use on the straight cuts. We thought that this way would be faster, and we would help get our money’s worth from this wet saw that we purchased at an estate sale. The video explains that you do not have to use a wet saw.

When we came to areas where we had to cut around an outlet, we used a hand tile nipper, and it worked well also.

We measured and cut the tiles in straight lines to place around the outlets.

We kept the old desk in the kitchen because my daughter uses a wheelchair, and it is the perfect height for her to prepare meals on. We worked from left to right so that we came straight across the bottom row with our tiles. We had a tiny gap under the tiles that we fixed using caulk(over the desk).

We applied caulk in places that needed it like around the sink and where the tiles meet the countertops. We repainted and placed the trim back up. 

Kitchen remodels are not cheap but we saved so much money by doing all the work on each project ourselves. We always say that it is a great feeling to know that you did it yourselves! 

You can read the entire remodel here.