Kitchen Tiling Cost Calculator
Kitchen tiling is priced per square metre fitted, but a splashback is mostly cutting — around sockets, behind the hob, up to the underside of the wall units. That is why a 3 m² splashback rarely costs a third of a 9 m² floor.
Open the calculator →Price your kitchen tiling in 30 seconds
4 steps. What you are tiling, tile type, prep and region.
How this calculator works
Tiling is sold by the square metre, which makes a splashback look cheap until the quote arrives. Three square metres between a worktop and the wall units involves cutting around every socket, a run of edge trim and a set-up — so most tilers apply a minimum charge of roughly half a day.
A floor is the opposite: a large open run where the per-metre rate genuinely applies. Doing both in one visit is cheaper than two, because the set-up and the minimum only happen once.
The surface matters more than the tile: behind a hob you may need a heat-resistant backer, and tile over timber joists needs ply or an uncoupling membrane. A quote with no prep line on a suspended floor is a quote to do the job twice.
Kitchen tiling cost per m² fitted (2026)
| Tile / work | Typical 2026 cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ceramic, standard size | £45/m² fitted | Easiest to cut and fix |
| Porcelain | £60/m² fitted | Harder; better blades needed |
| Large-format porcelain | £85/m² fitted | Two-person handling, levelling system |
| Mosaic or natural stone | £110/m² fitted | Slow per metre; stone needs sealing |
| Herringbone / chevron layout | +£22/m² | Heavy cutting and waste |
| Strip old tiles first | +£14/m² | Strip, make good and dispose |
| Backer board or ply overlay | +£26/m² | Behind a hob, or tile over timber |
Rates match our bathroom tiling calculator — same trade and same rates; what changes in a kitchen is the shape of the job.
What changes a kitchen tiling quote the most
Area and location set the base: a splashback between worktop and wall units is a small, quick job, while tiling a floor or a full run of walls is a different order of work. Floors also carry more preparation, because they must be flat, sound and often decoupled before a single tile goes down.
Tile format and pattern then swing the labour. Large-format porcelain looks seamless but is heavy and unforgiving — it needs a dead-flat substrate and careful setting — while a herringbone or diagonal layout adds cutting, waste and time compared with a straight grid. The tile itself ranges from a few pounds a square metre to premium porcelain, so the same wall can be priced very differently.
Substrate prep is the line people forget: overboarding, tanking a wet zone, or levelling a poor floor all add cost before tiling even starts. For the wider job, the kitchen tiling cost guide breaks the rates down by area.
Kitchen tiling calculator FAQs
Because it is mostly cutting and set-up, not area. Three square metres behind a worktop means cuts around every socket, edge trim and a half-day minimum. The per-metre rate only really starts to apply once you are tiling a wall or a floor.
Either works. Supplying them yourself gives you the choice and the trade discount is rarely passed on anyway — but order 10–15% extra for cuts and breakages, and order it all at once so the batch matches.
Sometimes, if they are sound, flat and well stuck — but it pushes the surface forward, which matters behind a worktop and around sockets. Stripping is £14/m² and usually the better job.
Often, yes. Plasterboard behind a hob may need a heat-resistant backer, and the tile itself needs to be rated for it. Ask what the quote assumes rather than finding out afterwards.
Related cost guides
- Kitchen tiling costs — splashback, wall and floor
- Kitchen flooring — LVT, wood and porcelain
- Kitchen renovation costs — every spec priced
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