When we think of a modern, stylish, German style kitchen, we tend to have a preconceived notion of what that might look like. Usually, it’s an image of Chrome (possibly stainless steel), with very little in the way of colour and vibrancy beyond the faint glow of the lights or screens on the appliances contained within. Not necessarily “drab”, but very much a look of efficiency over anything else. Of course, the truth of the matter is that modern kitchen design is not only incredibly diverse in scope, but oftentimes combines many different kinds of raw material to achieve aesthetic perfection. One niche that has slowly risen to prominence since the turn of the millennium is that of Glass Splashbacks.
Put simply, Glass Splashbacks are a form of Back Painted Glass- panes of glass that are painted on their back side, and are viewed from the front side (or “first surface side”). Back Painted Glass can be found in a number of settings, from it’s use as shower walls, glass marker boards or dry ease boards, even things like Marine Glass or Aero Space Glass. Of course, we here at Silke are primarily interested in it’s application as a decorative textile, particularly within a kitchen setting.
Glass Splashbacks are typically used in one of two ways; they are applied to small sections of a kitchen wall to add some colour and vibrancy (typically underneath a row of cabinets), or they can be used as the surface area of a worktop or table. The relatively recent innovation of Glass Splashbacks that use glass with a very low level of Iron can be thanked for not only making their use in the kitchen more versatile, but for also helping to improve their durability. Depending on the company, varying levels of thickness and available colour ranges will be available. As far as the former goes, most companies will offer 6mm thickness as a base point.
One company in particular we’d like to mention here is DecoGlaze, whom we recently did a short exposé on. The company was founded in 2000, and was one of the first to really take advantage of the niche for decorative Glass Splashbacks. As a result, they are currently the leading company in the field, with a wide range of traditional Glass Splashbacks (in a range of 48 beautiful colours and three levels of thickness), and a number of more luxurious Glass Splashback styles- these include splashbacks with metallic colouring, textured splashbacks, and splashbacks with 3D designs and backlight capability. They also offer a range of cost-reduced splashbacks in 12 of their most popular colours, for customers on a tighter budget. With a pedigree like that, you’d think they were a massive multi-national company, but you couldn’t be further from the truth; the company was founded by husband and wife Jeff and Holly Rhodes, and it remains a family-oriented business to this very day- much like Silke!
Speaking of, our primary reason for mentioning DecoGlaze is that they are our primary supplier of glass. Almost all the glass used throughout our showrooms was provided by them- indeed, the main Glass Splashback currently on display in our showroom is one from their DecoKiln range- the Stack variant, specifically.
When designing a kitchen with a decidedly modern touch, it can be easy to accidentally limit yourself by getting hung up on the stereotypes. It’s therefor good to remember that modern, as an aesthetic, is incredibly loose and open to interpretation. And, if anything, a fusion of styles, textiles, colours and textures is what being on the cutting edge of kitchen design is all about- something that we here at Silke take to heart.