How to Install Kitchen Tile Backsplash & Floating Shelves

Now it’s really starting to look like a kitchen! This is the fourth post in a series on the kitchen remodel of the Main House Fixer Upper here at One Hundred Acres Home. The countertop and appliance post is here. Check out all the details on the IKEA Lerhyttan kitchen cabinets here. The old kitchen and my remodel planning sketches are here. This post will show you how to install a white subway tile kitchen backsplash, and how to install kitchen floating shelves.

So were remember where we left off, here are the installed white quartz countertops and the stainless steel appliances. See the two blue tape strips on the far wall? I’ve finally decided to go with two shelves instead of three on each side of the window. Those tape marks show where the shelves will be. Three was a bit too crowded. Two leaves enough space for a coffee area underneath.

Install Kitchen Subway Tile Backsplash:

We’re keeping it simple and classy with a white subway tile backsplash. This will match the full-height wall subway tile in the bathroom and on the wall behind the modern wood stove tile surround for design consistency in this whole house remodel.

If your walls are flat and your countertops are level, a subway tile kitchen backsplash is a pretty easy tiling job. Here is my start of the subway tile. You can see I offset the rows with a 1/3 stagger instead of the typical 1/2 subway tile offset. It’s a very minor difference, but it looks more like brickwork to me. I spaced the tiles with 1/16 inch tile spacers and used 1/8 inch spacers to keep the tiles off the countertop.

Each tile was back-buttered with thin set and placed on the wall. I could have thin set the wall and placed tile, but in the corner here it just seemed cleaner to thin set the tile instead. Here I am with a fresh back-buttered tile that is ready to place.

This is the thin set I used on all the subway tile in the remodel along with the 1/4 inch notched trowel for the subway tiles. This ProLite thinset is rated for large tiles but has a high bond strength for wall application and works just fine for smaller subway tiles.

Here is a progress shot on the sink wall backsplash. I could have done one more row and stopped below the first floating shelf. But I think taking the tile to the ceiling will elevate the look. Plus it matches my other full height tile areas. You can see the tile wraps around the quartz window sill nicely. Also notice that I unscrewed the outlets and installed the tile really close around the opening so there won’t be gaps once the cover plate is installed.

Use a wet tile saw for clean lines around the window sill and outlet openings.

Like I said, the tile install is pretty easy. Just keep going until it’s done. Check your lines OFTEN for level, but if you start out level and use spacers, you should be good. I’ll show you the grout after we get the floating shelf brackets in place.

Install Kitchen Floating Shelf Brackets:

There are 1000 different ways to support and install floating shelves. I want solid wood shelves, not built-up, so these kitchen floating shelves will consist of solid wood boards and heavy duty floating shelf brackets that have hidden drilled peg supports into the boards. Let me show you what I mean.

But first, there are two ways to install brackets for floating shelves in a tiled wall. One: install the brackets to the wall and tile around them. OR Two: install the tile and then install the brackets over the tile by drilling through the tile.

I opted for option one as I did not want to drill holes through the tile. Here are the heavy duty floating shelf brackets installed to the wall. You can see my pencil marks to help place them exactly where I want. These must be level so use a level and consider using a laser level to get this on right.

Now that the brackets are in place, I can finish the subway tile backsplash up the the ceiling. I use a wet tile saw for the tricky cuts around the brackets. I want to get as close to the brackets as I can with the tile so I wont see any gaps once the shelves are in place.

Here is the installed tile. I still need to grout it, but more on that later.

To finish the free end of the kitchen backsplash, I used a Schlueter tile edge piece you can see in the photo below. It is placed just inside the edge of the countertop, but with the cabinet finish piece above, this placement looked the cleanest.

Wood Boards for Floating Shelves:

I really want the shelves in the kitchen to be solid wood, not built-up plywood or anything. But I had a the toughest time trying to find kiln-dried solid wood! Green wood boards from a lumber yard could warp over time. I don’t want that. There were also a lot of issues with the general supply chain going on.

Eventually I found this birch wood butcher block table top from IKEA that I decided was good enough. Here is a photo of the underside of the table. It comes unfinished and with those support rods on the underside, but the free space was just enough that I could cut the sections I needed for the shelves.

I cut the sizes I needed on a table saw. Here is a fest layout of the boards over the floating brackets. From here, I’ll mark where I need holes for the brackets.

Here is the right side of the window. Also, I still need to grout the tile.

The holes for the brackets are tricky because you’ll be drilling into the thin side of the board. So I used a DrillBlock to keep the drill straight and an extra long 1/2 inch drill bit. Even with the DrillBlock, it is still tricky to get these holes straight. I think fact that I got all holes straight enough involved a lot of luck. But this is how I did it. I also went very slow and started the hole with a smaller drill to keep the large one from wanting to walk.

These are some scrap pieces I used to test drilling holes and different stains.

Here is my work station in the Living Room where I drilled, sanded, and stained the shelf boards. It would have been great to have a proper workshop, but hey, this works!

These are the stained and polyurethane finished boards. I used a walnut colored stain and love the variations in the wood and the butcher block look.

Finishing Kitchen Tile and Floating Shelves:

White grout on white subway tile helps hide any imperfections. Plus I want to add some light to the dark cabinets, so this is the bright white grout I used on the white subway tile kitchen backsplash. The pre-mixed grout is more expensive, but man, it was so much easier! The backsplash needed 3 or 4 of these quart mixes.

Once the grout was dry, I sealed it with this grout sealer to help keep it white and free of cooking stains.

With the sealer fully dry, I was finally ready to slip the kitchen floating shelves into their support brackets. They fit and they look amazing! Here is the grouted backsplash and the floating shelves. I love how the shelves add some warmth to the kitchen.

Now we just need to clean this space up, add some finishing touches. and this kitchen remodel will be done!