our experience will peel and stick tile

I shared our to-do list for our home ‘glow-up’ a couple of weeks ago and one of the first items up was to add a backsplash to our kitchen (after we broke a cardinal rule and moved into our home 5 years ago without it complete!) We worked on this project during our fall break and are finally done!

We used DIP peel and stick subway tile sheets from Wayfair. I research several options at different price points and ultimately chose ours based on the quality and look. I will share the other options I researched (with links) below.

Let me first say this : for us, this is a temporary solution. It seems that much of my research reflects users who say the same thing. We eventually want to change our countertops (in the next 5-10 years) and felt like it would be a waste of time to tile now and have to re-do it in a few years. So, peel and stick it was for us! I can’t speak about the longevity, but most of what I read was from users who were looking for a temporary solution, or looking for a way to customize a rental property or a short-term home.

We used box cutters, a marker, straightedge, and a ruler for the project, and it took us a couple hours. The hardest part was getting started and figuring out our ‘system’. Once we got started, it moved fairly quickly. Cutting it proved to be a little tricky – making sure we cut smooth lines and making sure everything lined up. We allowed for a small margin of error on our sides because we do plan on caulking around it to make it look more realistic. We put our cut side at the top (under the cabinets) to hide some of the uneven cuts (and will add a line a caulk there).

we cut ours with box cutters with a new, sharp blade

The box recommended using a table saw, miter saw, large utility knife, or end nipper pliers. We had a good set of box cutters, so we went with that. Plus, we felt like it gave us better control with the cuts.

The back of the tiles is really sticky, so I will say that we were really careful placing them on the wall. Once we got them on, they were ON, so we made sure to get them in the right place.

We started on one end of the kitchen and just wrapped our way around to the other end.

this cuts were a little tricky based on the size of the area we needed to cover. you can see the uneven cut and gap under the top of the cabinet. you could fill this with caulk.

The most time intensive part of the process (other than getting started) was cutting around the outlets and making sure the pieces fit. This could have easily been a one person job, and depending on how many outlets and odd shapes in your kitchen, it could probably be done pretty quickly.

you can see the noticeable gap at the top where we miscalculated our cut. but its under the cabinet so not too noticeable with caulk.

Overall, we are really pleased! From a distance, I don’t think you would know that it’s peel and stick tile. The ‘grout’ grooves look real and you can see ‘individual tiles’ making it look more realistic. I wish I would have chosen a slightly different color because my cabinets are a creamy white, and the tile is bright white subway. I love that color tile, but not so much for my cabinet color. I’ll be curious to see how long they last – but the reviews and research I’ve read is promising.