Say Goodbye To Subway Tile Backsplashes: Joanna Gaines' Stunning Alternative

If you're about to put in a new backsplash, you have an opportunity on your hands to alter the aesthetic of your entire kitchen. You might not want to waste this chance to change things up by installing generic-looking subway tiles. Though they're affordable and clean, they're not exactly inspiring in terms of their design, especially in their default horizontal orientation. You can give your kitchen more personality, visual variance, and color with a timeless patterned tile instead. It's an idea that interior design and HGTV star Joanna Gaines employs to great effect in Season 5, Episode 7 of her and her husband's "Fixer Upper" series. When restoring a client's home for the show, she chose a beautiful white and blue floral design for the backsplash that highlighted the traditional elements of the kitchen she was renovating, giving it more character.

In a follow-up post about this episode on her Magnolia blog, Gaines says: "If you're wanting to try a patterned backsplash, but you're a little nervous to venture outside of the traditional-style tile look, my advice is to use a subtle color palette and go with a timeless pattern." Neutral hues, like the white and blue she used in the show, are great choices because they come with a built-in level of aesthetic flexibility. The pattern Gaines selected isn't overly bold, either. It catches the eye and adds depth to the space, but it isn't really competing to be the center of attention. In fact, it does a great job of steering clear of the modern kitchen trends everyone secretly hates in 2026.

There are a couple of other factors, beyond the subtle pattern and neutral color palette, that make Joanna Gaines' choice of tile in this episode of "Fixer Upper" so stunning. One that's easy to overlook is the large size of the tile — and another is its square shape. Both of these characteristics steer the backsplash away from the rectangular laid-brick appearance of subway tile, and help it create an aesthetic that's a bit more one-of-a-kind. What you should be going for in selecting your patterned tiles, then, is a similarly curated look. The geometric shape of your backsplash tile can be just as much a factor in its uniqueness as its color and texture. Older, antique tiles may work well here — they're especially suitable for spaces following a trending kitchen design style with lots of character.

The tile that Gaines works with is also stunning because it matches up neatly against the other elements of the kitchen it's in, such as the concrete countertops and open shelving. Make sure you're considering the colors and textures of such elements when selecting your patterned tiles. Finally, there's a difficulty that comes with patterned tile backsplashes that isn't really mentioned by Gaines, and that's how tough the material can be to work with in corners. There needs to be some continuity in the pattern from wall to wall — it needs to either continue through the corner, or mirror itself in the corner. Where the cuts in the material will be is one of the most important things to consider when choosing a backsplash tile.