Kitchens – Removing fake self stick backsplash

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.

Look on the right side of your picture. You can tell the granite and fake stucco finish is layered on the drywall.

First you will not get drywall or backboard to adhere permanently to granite so it has to go or you have to use it.

Personally I would keep the granite. Then I would scrape off all of the stucco. It might sound like a pain in the ass but its not a HUGE project - 3 or 4 hours. Then you might have to do some minor repairs to it. If anything I would just take this stuff off in chunks and skimcoat the area afterwards.

You don't need backerboard unless you want to put up a heavier stone. Drywall is fine. Just scratch it up good before hand. Throw down some tile that fits in with the granite. I would use thinset instead of mastic so that I can level out any wall issues as I go.

If you keep the stucco and put something over it you are going to have some really odd edges and it just won't look right.