Nary a home renovation magazine exists that doesn’t place the kitchen at the center of any publication. After all, it is the gathering space for most families, the location that guests and friends convene to catch up on the latest gossip over a glass of wine or a hot cup of tea. There is a warmth to the kitchen – a vibrancy, an electric energy that draws people in. It’s one of my favorite places to design and to be in, despite the reality that I am rarely there to cook for myself. It is made all the more special to me, because when I am there, I am preparing meals for friends.

I love tile. Manufacturers are always developing new twists on something that could seem, same old, same old. The colors, textures, gloss and matte, metallic, honed and glazed bring a never ending array of twists and trends from which to select, but it’s an ode to the industrial that’s captured my attention of late.

When I worked in a kitchen it was not at all unusual for the back splash to be a simple stainless steel sheet, cut to the appropriate proportions, scarred by the fast working, abrasive steel wool cleaning pads, but at turns both tough and beautiful. A few years ago I spied in a magazine an amazing little kitchen with a rolled brass back splash and I knew instantly that one of my projects would include the same. Having seen Jean-Louis Deniot, a brilliant French Interior Designer – I’m not just saying that because he loves the color grey and I feel we’re kindred spirits because of it, but because he so cleverly uses materials – particularly metals – to make his point – having seen his little Parisian kitchen designed with hammered metal cabinets. It was those cabinets that elevated him to the realm of brilliance in my mind, and reminded me that it’s the unexpected that draws in the eye.

Using a mirrored back splash does quite the same thing, but so much more. Its reflective properties expand the proportions of space, a decidedly enormous benefit when you are dealing with tiny galley kitchens, little corner nooks, spaces that demand their size not relegate them to an afterthought.

As we launch off into the vast unknown of this new decade, I plan to make a commitment to the unexpected. Why ever would anyone want to be predictable?