Finishing materials for walls in the kitchen - choosing the best option

The main thing during the renovation is the decoration of the walls in the kitchen. It is necessary to choose decorative materials that are practical and beautiful, and this is not easy: not all of them meet the requirements.

Requirements for finishing materials for the kitchen

The kitchen belongs to rooms with difficult conditions: there is often high humidity, evaporation, splashes of fat. Therefore, materials for decorating the walls of the kitchen should wash well, should not react to high humidity.

In addition to cooking, most families use the kitchen as a dining room. And if so, then the finish should also be beautiful. Naturally, it must be safe for health and, preferably, durable.

Wall decoration in the kitchen requires careful selection of material

Not many materials satisfy all the conditions. Only a wide variety of textures and colors helps out, and new items that have appeared recently. So, wall decoration in the kitchen is carried out using:

• ceramic tiles and mosaics;
• washable wallpaper;
• waterproof paint;
• panels from MDF, plastic;
• decorative plaster.

Due to the fact that different functions are combined in one room, even a small kitchen is divided into two zones - a working and a dining area. And emphasizes the separation of the use of different finishing materials, including for walls. So most often you have to choose two types of wall finishes for the kitchen - something very practical, easy to clean in the work area, and in the dining room in the same style and color, but more comfortable.

Ceramic tiles and mosaics

Ceramic wall tiles for kitchen walls are a great option in terms of durability and ease of maintenance. But if the entire room is tiled, it will be uncomfortable in it, like in an operating room. Another drawback is the high costs for the material itself and for its installation: lay tiles on walls not very simple, because they often hire craftsmen, and their work is not cheap.

Therefore, in modern renovation, mostly ceramics are used to decorate the working area - the wall space between floor and hanging cabinets. This piece is also called kitchen apron... Previously, it was made only from tiles, today this material has worthy competitors - glass-ceramic and plastic panels, MDF panels, decorative and natural stone.

You can decorate the working wall in the kitchen with ceramic tiles.

All new materials are easy to install - fastened with several bolts, do not require a perfectly flat wall surface. It is even easier to care for them, since there are very few seams - at the junction of the panels - and they can be sealed with a sealant to exclude the ingress of moisture and dirt. In general, ceramic tiles are a good option for decorating a working area in a kitchen, but not the only one and not the best.

Ceramic tile finishes

But, despite the availability of new materials, tiles are still the most popular option for finishing a working wall in a kitchen. Significant differences appeared only in the design style. The previously commonly used medium-sized square tiles 15 * 15 cm or 18 * 18 cm are no longer popular. Large formats are in favor - long rectangular or square, but with a side of at least 35 cm, or even 50-70 cm. So it turns out that one or two rows of tiles are required for a kitchen apron.

Which tile to choose specifically - smooth, textured, with or without drawings - it's up to you. Textured, of course, looks very interesting. But in practicality, it is inferior to a smooth surface: dirt and soot are clogged into the recesses. It takes a lot of effort to bring it back to normal.

Mosaic wall decoration

Mosaic wall decoration in the kitchen looks good. These are very small ceramic, glass-ceramic or glass tiles glued to the grid - for faster installation. Small squares can be of the same color, or they can be of different shades in the same range, there is a mosaic lined with patterns and even paintings. This type of finishing material is even more expensive than ceramic tiles, but its appearance is also non-standard.

You can decorate with mosaics in the kitchen not only a working wall. The same panel is made over the dining table. This harmonizes the interior. In addition, another frequently stained area gets an easy-to-clean coating.

Washable and paintable wallpapers and images

This type of finishing material is mostly used on the walls in the kitchen dining area. In the work area, even super-washable and super-durable wallpaper won't last long. Especially in the area of ​​the car wash.

According to the technology, decorating the walls in the kitchen with wallpaper means first wall alignment, wallpaper is glued onto a flat surface. The best choice is vinyl coated. Vinyl forms a dense film that can be wiped clean with a cloth. There are technologies that allow you to get such a durable coating that these wallpapers can be washed with a brush using liquid (non-abrasive) detergents.

Vinyl wallpaper is paper-based and non-woven. Non-woven on a flat surface are glued very easily. If the walls were not leveled in the kitchen, it is better to take vinyl wallpaper on a paper basis, and choose a dense paper and a textured surface of the roll. This will help hide bumps.

A separate category is to highlight wallpaper for painting. They should also be glued to flat surfaces. They are made more often on the basis of fiberglass. They are painted with water-based paint, without any problems they can be repainted from 3 to 20 times (depending on the type of wallpaper, the more you can repaint, the more expensive the wallpaper). Let's talk about the choice of paint in the next section.

Another separate type of wallpaper is photo wallpaper. Bright or pastoral landscapes, city shots, kitchen "still lifes" - whatever your heart desires. It is usually glued on a wall with a table or on a free wall. By the way, there is a way to blur the boundaries in a rectangular kitchen - to stick a large-format image with an approach to the next wall. The visual perception of the room changes immediately.

Painting the walls

The choice of paint for the walls in the kitchen is not so great - water emulsion is most suitable, but you need to take them washable. This type of paint can be repainted without any problems, but it is easier to wash. Therefore, we choose just such.

According to the technology, finishing the walls in the kitchen with paint - on a flat, pre-primed wall. The type of primer is selected depending on the type of paint (with acrylates, alkyd and silicate). After the primer has dried, paint is applied in several layers. Since the base is water-based, there is practically no smell, after drying, a film of varying degrees of strength forms (for more details about paints for finishing, read here).

Decorating the walls of the kitchen with painting can be background, dim, or, on the contrary, draw attention to itself. Background paints are chosen if kitchen furniture set bright colors, and the walls are made bright if the facades are neutral.

Decorative plaster

I also call decorative plaster "liquid wallpaper". These compositions are textured and smooth. Smooth - Venetian plaster based on marble dust with various additives. The surface is silky to the touch, has a muted shine very similar to silk. There are two types of textured plasters. In the first, the relief is obtained due to the presence in the composition of some large inclusions (usually quartz sand of different grain size), in the second, the relief is obtained due to the application of special rollers with brushes, spatulas.

Wall decoration in the kitchen with smooth decorative plaster occurs after careful alignment of the walls. The composition is very expensive and it is extremely unprofitable to spend it on leveling defects. In addition, the slightest irregularities spoil the overall impression. Structural decorative plasters can be used to finish imperfect walls - the surface will still be uneven, so perfect smoothness is not required. What is a must in any case is a preliminary primer for better adhesion to the surface.

Decorative plaster for wall decoration in the kitchen is a good choice - it is washable, retains its appearance for a long time, many pigments do not fade and do not fade. The disadvantage is the high price of the material and the complex application technique, which not all "masters" can handle. In addition to the ability to plaster, an artistic taste is required here, and not everyone has it.

Natural and decorative stone

Non-standard wall decoration in the kitchen is done using natural or artificial decorative stone. Natural - sawn into thin plates of different sizes and shapes. Artificial - made on the basis of gypsum or cement, with the addition of crumbs of natural minerals. Natural stone is heavier and more expensive, and more difficult to lay. Artificial is lighter in weight, much cheaper, easier to install, one side of it is like a tile, the other imitates the surface of the stone in color and shape.

Decorating the walls in the kitchen with decorative stone - natural or artificial - requires a certain skill. It is also necessary to pre-level the surface before starting finishing work. Placed on tile adhesive, first covered with a primer. After laying the stone, the seams are embroidered (with mortar or grout), after which the wall is varnished - to make it easier to care for.

Wall decoration in the kitchen with plastic panels

If you are looking for an inexpensive and quick option for finishing your kitchen, consider plastic wall panels. They are mounted on a crate, fastened with screws or staples from a stapler. It is absolutely not necessary to level the walls - the crate will hide all the flaws. Decorating the walls in the kitchen with PVC panels is probably the fastest way to renovate a room. Moreover, the cheapest. There are a lot of color options - from monochromatic matte or glossy to imitation of tiles, wood and other surfaces and materials.

Naturally, there are downsides - unnatural raw materials and fragility. The raw materials are unnatural, but under normal operating conditions (do not exceed the temperature) harmless. With fragility. nothing can be done - plastic panels have jumpers between two layers of polymer. On impact, they crumple. There are, however, thin PVC wall panels, but they are glued to flat walls. Anyway, if you're looking for a quick and inexpensive way to update your kitchen wall cladding, consider plastic panels.

MDF panels

Another simple and quick way to make repairs is to decorate the walls in the kitchen with MDF panels. They are also mounted on the crate, but they are much more expensive than plastic ones. One way to finish a backsplash without tiles is to use MDF boards. In addition, other walls can be decorated with this material. It is made from wood waste crushed into flour, which is molded under high pressure. The resulting boards are then laminated with foil. MDF can have a lot of colors, but the most popular are imitation of wood of different species and shades.

There are different color solutions for decorating walls in the kitchen with MDF panels:

• Choose the same color as on the countertop.
• Make the apron match the facade and the walls of a different color.
• All walls and an apron in the kitchen are made in the same color, but it does not match the color of the furniture (contrasting or in the same range).

The disadvantage of this method of decorating kitchen walls is that MDF reacts to high humidity (slightly, but expands). To reduce the effect, during installation, open sections are treated with a sealant.