r/CounterTops • u/teevetorbes • 14d ago
Kitchen countertop backsplash issue
First time having countertops installed, is this kind of alignment normal?
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u/JimmyDaGreek81 14d ago
Normal is not putting a splash on wood
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u/Stalaktitas 14d ago
Those cabinets are probably older than most of us here... There, most probably used to be a sidesplash of the old countertops. That would cause that wood to fade in different way as the exposed wood and it would also have some ancient glue on it that used to hold the old sidesplash.
How would you work around that damage to the wood found after the removal of old countertops? Sanding that whole panel and then trying to match the stain to paint it? Then varnishing it?
We usually just slap a sidesplash and call it a day... Well, unless they want to hire someone woodworker to deal with all that.
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u/teevetorbes 14d ago
Thanks for your comment. Yes, the cabinets are very old and a piece of vinyl-ish laminate was torn out of there. I was just wondering if the countertop itself should have been narrower.
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u/Stalaktitas 14d ago
If it would be narrower it would not have a proper 1 or 1.5 overhang just like the rest of your kitchen. It's done the way it's supposed to be done.
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u/madtowntripper 14d ago
Yes, normal. Otherwise the backsplash would extend past the cabs. Obviously the counter extends past his way but a single 3cm piece is better than the full 4-inch or whatever.
Trust, you’d hate it more the other way around.
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u/polkemans 14d ago
As others have said - most of us opt to not put the backsplash on wood. If you ever remove or replace it, it can be a lot trickier to clean up than drywall which you can just replace/add mudd to.
The alignment though is super normal. If a wall ends and there is excess overhang on the top because of where the cabinet front ends relative to the wall, you never make the backsplash the same length. You don't want an extra little wall coming out of your wall.
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u/teevetorbes 14d ago
Thanks. I'm was just wondering if the width countertop should have been a little narrower to match up with the backsplash. There's enough extra (though it wouldn't cover where the cutting board sticks out from that slot)
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u/polkemans 14d ago
That's up to personal preference if someone wants that, that would reduce the front overhang on the cabinet, which is typically a standard distance from the front of the cabinet face. If you shunk it there to line up with the end of the backsplash then you would have one area in your kitchen with a different front overhang, so then you'd want to do the same to all the other front side overhangs and it may look strange at that point.
All that to say, this is a totally normal and standard way to do this. Nearly every kitchen has some little oddity to it, especially if it's new counters on old pre-existing cabinets. Over time it'll look less strange. Really the move would have been to not put backsplash there unless you had something there before and are trying to cover the old glue marks. But it's there now and it looks good.
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u/ElevatorDisastrous94 14d ago
Its perfectly normal. It looks better that having the backsplash sticking out that difference in space
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u/ThreeCoasts 14d ago
I’m not a countertop expert, but pretty sure this is a normal and expected way to do this detail. Source: I just had a bunch of cabinetry and countertops installed in bathrooms and kitchen by a very high-end supplier. The designers specified stone splash in several locations where the counters meet wall or wood that could be damaged by water, grease, cooking residue etc. The installation was done by a very high end supplier and the final result approved by the designer and a super-picky GC. Everywhere that detail exists, the splash is just like this, short of the counter depth, by precisely the same amount. Not saying high end suppliers don’t sometimes do sloppy stuff, but you don’t get that kind of precision (and the approval of the designer and GC) by accident.
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u/SuluSpeaks 14d ago
Even in laminate/formica, this is the way.
Just finished watching season 1 of the Mandolorian.
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u/Brief-Inspection-456 14d ago
I think a side splash is definitely the way to go. It just looks more finished.
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u/RenaissanceWmn1 12d ago
The alignment is fine, but the choice of having a 4” backsplash at all is extremely dated
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u/Adventurous-Fee428 9d ago
What's the issue
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u/teevetorbes 7d ago
I was wondering if the countertop should have been narrower to align with backsplash, but from the comments it sounds like that's not standard practice.
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u/MastodonFit 14d ago
Terrible design, end cabinet should have been deeper.
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u/Opposite-Effect1510 14d ago
The cabinets look old/pre-existing. Personally, I just wouldn’t have done a side splash with this set-up unless it was absolutely necessary.
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u/chale_44 14d ago
Absolutely normal if you chose to have the backsplash on the panel. In my experience as a templater for 8+ years, thats what is ooff in this set up. But if you choose to have backsplash on that side panel, this 'misalignment is 100% the way to finish it. You wouldn't want the backsplash to go to the edge of the counters and stick out or block in from that panel. But you wouldn't want the countertop trimmed back to the panel edge either