Victorian Kitchen Tiles

Victorian kitchens were working rooms, and the tiling reflected exactly that: hardwearing floors built to take spills and traffic, and wipeable walls positioned behind the range and the sink. It's still exactly what a kitchen needs today, which is why the style has endured so well in this room.

On the floor, geometric patterns and quarry tiles both belong here. A bordered geometric kitchen floor tile suits a kitchen opening off a hallway, carrying the same pattern through from one space to the other, while plain, unglazed, gently textured quarry tiles bring a humbler, more agricultural character suited to a scullery or a back kitchen.

On the walls, our brick tiles laid behind the range and along the worktop wipe clean, cope with heat and steam, and give a plain wall a rhythm that painted plaster can't match. A run of decorative or border tiles along the top of a splashback is a considered way to add character to what would otherwise be a plain surface.