Install backsplash before upgrading countertops

I spend a lot of time in France and in the midwest US.

Customary in France if you put up a backsplash is to extend it before putting up cabinets. There is no caulking usually between the backsplash and the cabinets.

Also the cabinets would be floating on the bottom most of the time. And the bottom cabinets are on legs - where in America they are almost always enclosed. Maybe this allows any leakage from backsplash to hit the floor easy.

It is just a different way of doing things because people are accustomed to taking their cabinets and everything with them when they move. I have seen this trend slowly change over the past 10-15 years though in that you will walk into some apartments or houses now with the kitchens already done but this is not the norm.

And obviously you do the backsplash last in the US because we like everything permanent looking. You use less tile and it is just easier to do that. Also - and just my opinion - but homes in the US are built... lets say faster. So you don't always have right angles, your floors are slanted a little, the walls wave a little... Meaning that it looks better to have shimmed cabinets. I have installed IKEA cabinets in kitchens in the US and people look at me like I need to fix their walls when the cabinets don't sit flush.

Personally I think it would be good to do a little of both. First it is kind of dumb to take your kitchen with you - which may not work in your next space and then you sell off pieces for a fraction of what you paid. But I am also a huge huge fan of keeping lowers on legs and having more mobility in your cabinets.

I installed subway tile with an accent strip around the top in a bathroom, and the drywall was severely damaged from removing the previous tile. I ended up doing a skim coat of drywall mud (there was not any thin set mortar left, just chunks and gouges out of the drywall from taking off the old tile with paper torn off everywhere) then painting it to seal the mud and finally sanding it a little to give the thinset a dull surface to adhere to instead of a glossy surface.

If you do try to scrape off the thin set, a bent angle painters' scraper that is used to remove wallpaper works great. If you are going to try a skim coat with mortar, you probably will have to bring the outlets out a little to compensate for the added thickness. Originally I was going to use glass tiles for the accent pieces on my wall, but the contractor I hired to set the tub told me that they are terrible to cut and they show wall imperfections behind them, so I don’t have any experience with working with those.