Should I have an upstand or a splashback in my kitchen?

People treat this as one decision and it is two. Closing the gap behind the worktop is a construction problem that every kitchen has. Protecting the wall from splash is a use problem that only exists behind the hob and the sink. Answering them separately usually gives a better and cheaper kitchen than answering them together.

Step by step

1. Separate the two questions.One: what closes the gap between worktop and wall along the whole run? Two: what protects the wall where water and fat actually land? A kitchen can answer them with the same material or with two different ones.
2. Identify the real splash zones.Behind the hob, where fat spatters and heat rises. Behind the sink, where water lands. Behind a kettle. Everywhere else on a kitchen wall gets very little, and a painted wall with an upstand below it copes indefinitely.
3. Choose an upstand for the general run.Matching worktop material, usually around 100mm high and the same thickness as the worktop, bedded on silicone. It closes an uneven gap without scribing, it reads as part of the worktop, and it is cheap.
4. Choose a splashback where the wall needs protecting.Full height from worktop to wall units. Glass, acrylic, tiles, stainless or a matching slab of the worktop material. Behind a hob it also has to handle heat, and that narrows the field.
5. Check heat requirements behind a hob.Toughened glass and stainless are made for it. Acrylic is not — most acrylic splashbacks specify a minimum distance from a hob or forbid it entirely, and that specification is not decorative advice.
6. Think about cleaning.A single sheet of glass or acrylic with two silicone lines is the easiest surface in the kitchen to clean. Tiles have grout lines behind a hob, which is the worst place in the kitchen for grout. Stainless shows every mark but wipes instantly.
7. Think about what happens later.A tiled splashback is fixed to the wall permanently and comes off with the plaster. Glass and acrylic panels are silicone-fixed and come off cleanly. If you expect to change the kitchen's look in ten years, that matters.
8. Decide before the worktop goes in if you can.A glass splashback is measured to the finished worktop and to the finished wall, so it is ordered after fitting — but the electrics, sockets and extractor position all have to be settled before it is measured, because holes in glass are cut at the factory.

Tips

• An upstand of around 100mm is high enough to close the gap and to catch normal wipe-down water. Taller than that and it starts to look like a half-hearted splashback.
• If you already have a tiled splashback and are changing the worktop, measure before ordering: an upstand may not fit under existing tiles, and a new worktop of different thickness will leave the old tile line in the wrong place.
• For a glass splashback behind a hob, socket and extractor positions must be final before measuring. Holes are cut and the glass toughened afterwards, so nothing can be altered later.
• A tiled splashback taken down onto the worktop still needs a silicone joint at the bottom, because the worktop and the wall move independently. Grouting that joint is what cracks.

Alternatives

• Matching worktop upstand: A 100mm strip of the same material as the worktop. Closes the gap, matches perfectly, hides a wavy wall, and is the standard answer along the general run. Does not protect the wall above it.
• Toughened glass splashback: A single sheet, made to measure with holes cut at the factory for sockets and an extractor. Seamless, easy to clean, handles hob heat, available in any colour. Cannot be altered on site at all, so the measurements have to be right.
• Acrylic splashback: Cheaper and lighter than glass, can be cut on site, and comes in the same colour range. Scratches more easily and has a heat limit that usually rules it out directly behind a hob — check the maker's figure.
• Tiled splashback: Cheapest per square metre, endlessly variable, and repairable one tile at a time. Grout behind a hob is the drawback: it stains with fat and needs sealing and cleaning. Permanent — it comes off with the plaster.
• Stainless steel splashback: The professional answer behind a hob. Impervious to heat, fat and water, wipes instantly, and shows every fingerprint and water mark. Cut to measure, and it dents if it is knocked hard.
• Full-height slab of the worktop material: Quartz or granite run up the wall behind a hob or a sink. Expensive, and it looks superb because the material and the vein pattern continue. Fabricated with the worktop.

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