Painting Kitchen Wall Instead Of Tiling

[hobbes11 0]

whatever you want to do over the existing wall tiles most importantly you have to make sure there is no single piece of hollow tiles otherwise instead of saving more $ you will eventually spend more $ and trouble.

[FifiGal 0]

whatever you want to do over the existing wall tiles most importantly you have to make sure there is no single piece of hollow tiles otherwise instead of saving more $ you will eventually spend more $ and trouble.

Ermm...how to check ah? Go knock every tile and see if it sounds hollow? Have to climb up to ceiling height & even squeeze behind fridge if i wanna do a real thorough job

So far my old kitchen has been holding up for many years ( original HDB tiles) and no trouble - no popping out, no cracking, except look ugly ..heehee

[hobbes11 0]

Ermm...how to check ah? Go knock every tile and see if it sounds hollow? Have to climb up to ceiling height & even squeeze behind fridge if i wanna do a real thorough job

So far my old kitchen has been holding up for many years ( original HDB tiles) and no trouble - no popping out, no cracking, except look ugly ..heehee

ya thats how i did it during the inspection of my new hse; but in the end i hacked away everything cos the workmanship is simply cannot make it

[minfaith 0]

Hi guys,

I had my kitchen walls plastered. Initially was quite resistant to plastering as tiles will be gone and thought would be more difficult to maintain. But got no other alternatives since 1 side of kitchen walls was hacked & ID could not get the original HDB tiles..so...go ahead with plastering..

Plastering done now..effect is good ..kitchen looks neat & better than with the ugly original HDB tiles.

[oonik grl 0]

hehe ! mine also same same. had to plaster over the tiles fr the inside of the kitchen entrance and just painted it normal white.

fr my service balcony entrance, also gt cracked tiles. my ID also say no more matching tiles liao so no choice have to use white. then i tink tink some parts white, some parts gt the HDB tiles a bit funny. at last I decided to put the whole border of the svc balcony entrance to white tiles.

gt my fren ask me, why ur tiles that part is white. i just answer "oh! this is part of the design" kekeke !

[FifiGal 0]

Thanks for all replies and sharing of your experience!

Certainly if anyone now ask me if its worth saving some $$ to retain HDB tiles for a new flat, I will advise to re-consider. Else end up like me now...more trouble to redo old kitchen.

But last time I was young, naive and no money. Now, I am older, wiser...but still no money!

[sshawn88 0]

though it hav been few mths o this tread, i hope to give some of my experience & thinking.

try to use at least wall tile or mosiac at all cabinets area, if $ is still too tight, at least do at the stove area.

rest of the wall for the fridge can use paint. kitchen sink also use tile or glass or stainless steel.

when i do thingsi use to leave some options if i need to add something to my kitchen(power point, brackets or new items for hanging whatsoever) hence, i do stainless steel cos stainless can steel drill hole on it after installed. tempered glass cannot drill anymore hole. i seen some coupe do glass but they leave a about 5 inch area using wood with laminates just in case next time they need to drill holes. then the rest is glass.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

The rule of thumb in deciding whether to tile a section of the kitchen wall, is whether there will be water, condensation, oil, fumes, etc.

You will need to tile when you want an area that is easy to clean.

For example, I initially thought I didn't have to tile the wall behind my 2 fridges. And actually told my contractor that. Then I consulted my mother and got a scolding. She said that over time, the dust accumulation at the back of the fridge (I am not someone who will keep pulling the fridges out to clean) will darken plastered walls. And the heat from the back of the fridges will 'seal' the dust in. Whereas with tiles, it's easy to just use a scouring cream to scurb off. To me, this makes absolute sense.

To save money, I do not get my contractor to tile entire walls. I make very clear indications on the walls where cabinets will be, for example wall hung cabinets, and so he will only tile the part of the wall that is exposed. Approximately 850 mm up from the floor (counter top height is usually 865mm), and then he only needs to tile 600mm of wall up, and the rest if just plastered walls.

The waste of money is when contractors just any old how tile the whole wall and charge you for it.

[FifiGal 0]

The rule of thumb in deciding whether to tile a section of the kitchen wall, is whether there will be water, condensation, oil, fumes, etc.

You will need to tile when you want an area that is easy to clean.

For example, I initially thought I didn't have to tile the wall behind my 2 fridges. And actually told my contractor that. Then I consulted my mother and got a scolding. She said that over time, the dust accumulation at the back of the fridge (I am not someone who will keep pulling the fridges out to clean) will darken plastered walls. And the heat from the back of the fridges will 'seal' the dust in. Whereas with tiles, it's easy to just use a scouring cream to scurb off. To me, this makes absolute sense.

To save money, I do not get my contractor to tile entire walls. I make very clear indications on the walls where cabinets will be, for example wall hung cabinets, and so he will only tile the part of the wall that is exposed. Approximately 850 mm up from the floor (counter top height is usually 865mm), and then he only needs to tile 600mm of wall up, and the rest if just plastered walls.

The waste of money is when contractors just any old how tile the whole wall and charge you for it.

Actually in my case, its an old kitchen with existing wall tiles from HDB. So its a matter of deciding whether or not to plaster over them and paint to give my kitchen a new look.

Lets see...if i should leave the tiles or use some kind of backing between cabinets, backsplash, sink area, behind fridge...area left to plaster & paint is...... practically nothing left!

I showed one contractor those dirty ugly old tiles, with evidence of sloppy work done by my first contractor long ago ( can see lots of excess plaster marks around the service balconey door & window frame), and asked his advice what to do if not plastering or hack/re-tile, he told me to close one eye and dun keep looking up so often when cooking lor. LOL! But i buay tahan them anymore - wonder if there is some way to at least scrub or use some special cleaning agent to clean those tiles...

There were quite a few pple who shared that they did do plastering/painting for the kitchen ...can share how long ago and so far how are the painted walls holding up?

[myle 0]

I moved in last october, so is more than a year ago. I don't cook everyday, at most cook every alternate day. And mind you my whole kitchen is filled with smoke when I do stir-frying as I turn the fire to the max. So far my kitchen wall seems as good as new. No worry if u decide not doing tiling on kitchen wall just go ahead. At most just repaint the kitchen wall every year or two.