How much backsplash tile do I need for a kitchen?

The average residential kitchen has between 30 to 45 square feet of backsplash area between countertops and upper cabinets.

Should flooring go under the kitchen cabinets?

Run hard flooring under the full footprint of appliances and under the toe-kick line at minimum. Full-coverage is the safer choice: it lets appliances slide out for service, avoids a height step if you ever change the layout, and costs relatively little extra. The common exception is expensive engineered board under permanent full-height cabinetry, where stopping at the carcass line is defensible.

How much backsplash tile do I need?

Measure the run length of worktop against a wall and multiply by the height to the underside of the wall units, typically 18 to 24 inches. Deduct window openings but not sockets. Add 10% for a straight lay and 15% for a brick or herringbone pattern — mosaic sheets need less because they cut cleanly between tesserae.

Can I keep my existing cabinets and just reface them?

If the carcasses are square, solid and the layout still works, replacing doors, drawer fronts and handles gives most of the visual change for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the disruption. It is not worth doing over chipboard carcasses that have swollen from water damage, or where the layout itself is the problem.

Guided Multi-Calculator Workflow

Kitchen Renovation Material & Cost Estimator

Accurately plan your kitchen renovation. Enter your kitchen dimensions to compute flooring box requirements, backsplash tile quantities, primer, washable wall paint, and hardware.

Step 1: Enter Project Dimensions

Shared across all tools

Length (ft)

Width (ft)

Height (ft)

Step 2: Select Material Finish Grade

Calculators Flowing Into This Project:

Flooring Cost CalculatorOpen →Tile Installation Cost & Material CalculatorOpen →House Painting & Paint Cost CalculatorOpen →Cabinet Hardware & Drawer Pull Spacing CalculatorOpen →Baseboard & Trim CalculatorOpen →

Consolidated Bill of Materials

Estimated Total Material Cost (STANDARD)

$1,133 – $50,000,000,002,677

Covers 192 sq ft (17.8 m²) project footprint

Flooring

Waterproof Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP)

192 sq ft with 10% waste

11 boxes$614 – $1440

Backsplash

Glazed Ceramic Backsplash Tile

~50 sq ft with 15% cut waste

58 sq ft$300 – $900

Walls & Ceiling

Scuff-Resistant Kitchen Paint

Washable satin or semi-gloss

2.47 gallons$123.50000000000001 – $197.60000000000002

Cabinetry

Drawer Pulls & Knobs

Standard 24-piece kitchen cabinet set

24 pieces$96 – $336

Material estimates only — does not include demolition, permits, contractor labor, or specialty tools. Local building code and freight delivery charges vary.

Planning a kitchen remodel: what to know before you buy

Kitchen budgets are dominated by two lines that have nothing to do with floor area: cabinetry and worktop. Together they routinely account for half to two-thirds of the total. Everything the calculator below estimates — flooring, backsplash tile, paint, hardware — competes for the remaining third.

That matters for how you plan. Adding a few square feet to a kitchen adds relatively little; upgrading from flat-pack carcasses to bespoke joinery, or from laminate to stone worktop, can move the total by a factor of two in a room of identical size. Decide the cabinetry and worktop specification first, then size the rest of the budget around what is left.

The estimator covers materials you buy by area and count. It does not price cabinetry, appliances or worktop, all of which are specification-led and best quoted directly.

What actually drives the cost

Cabinetry specification

Flat-pack, rigid-built stock, semi-custom and bespoke sit at roughly 1x, 1.5x, 2.5x and 4x the same linear metre. Door and drawer count matters more than run length — drawers cost considerably more than doors.

Worktop material

Laminate, solid surface, engineered quartz and natural stone span an order of magnitude. Quartz and stone also require template and professional fit, which is a separate visit after cabinets are installed.

Whether services move

Keeping the sink and hob in place avoids new waste runs, gas work and extract routing. Islands are expensive precisely because they usually require all three brought to the middle of the room.

Electrical capacity

Older properties frequently need additional circuits for modern appliance loads. This is usually discovered mid-job and is rarely in the original budget.

Correct order of work

1. Design and measureFinal layout locked before anything is ordered. Cabinet lead times run six to twelve weeks and a layout change after ordering is expensive.
2. Strip outOld units, worktop and flooring removed. Services capped, not left live.
3. First fixPlumbing, gas, electrical and extract routed to their final positions while walls are open.
4. Walls, ceiling and flooringPlastering and decoration of ceilings and upper walls done before cabinets go in. Hard flooring usually runs under the units so appliances can be pulled out later.
5. Cabinet installationCarcasses levelled and fixed, then templated for worktop. Expect a gap of one to two weeks here waiting on a stone worktop.
6. Worktop, splashback, second fixWorktop fitted, sink and hob cut in, backsplash tiled to the finished worktop, then appliances, handles and final decoration.

Mistakes that cost the most to undo

Tiling the splashback before the worktop is in

The backsplash must sit on the finished worktop surface. Tiling to a pencil line and hoping the worktop lands on it produces a gap that silicone cannot rescue.

Ignoring appliance clearances

Integrated appliance doors, dishwasher hoses and fridge hinge swings all need specific clearances. A cabinet run that fits the wall but not the door swing is a rebuild.

Flooring only where you can see it

Stopping the floor at the cabinet line saves a small amount of material and creates a permanent trap: no appliance can be pulled out for service without catching on the lip.

Underestimating lead times

Cabinets, stone worktop and some appliances all have multi-week leads that do not overlap. Sequencing these badly leaves a household without a kitchen far longer than the work itself requires.

Kitchen Remodel Remodel FAQs

Minor DIY kitchen updates average $8,000 to $15,000. Full kitchen renovations with new cabinets, quartz countertops, and appliances range from $25,000 to $65,000+.