Lighting your glass splash backs creates a cool effect in your kitchen, and it increases the light for cooking, reading recipes and other kitchen tasks. If you want to add lights to your glass splashbacks, there are a few decisions you need to make during the shopping process. Here's what to consider:

1. Overmounted or inside the glass?

One of the first decisions you need to make about lighting your glass splashback is where you want the lights mounted. You can purchase glass splashbacks with LED lights built into them or mount a strip of lights over a regular splashback.

The advantage of built-in lights is that you don't have to clean them, and you get a cool glowing effect from your splashback. The disadvantage is that if the lights go out, you have to take down the glass splashback to replace the bulbs or wiring. Before selecting this option, talk with your sales rep about how long the bulbs are meant to last.

Alternatively, you may mount a strip of LED lights over the glass splashback. These don't look as stylish as built-in lights, but if anything goes wrong, the lights are accessible and easy to repair or replace.

2. Colourful or white lights?

Whether you opt for lights in the splash back or mounted above it, you have a range of colours from which you can choose. Select a plain white LED bulb for a traditional effect or play with colours. If you're feeling adventurous, you can select LED bulbs that change colour, shifting from red to green to blue to yellow or whatever combination you select.

3. Colourful glass?

When choosing the colour of your bulbs, take into account how that colour will play with the colour of your splashback. You can pair a colourful splashback with a white light, or you can let coloured lights shine through grey, white, or other light-coloured splashbacks.

If you mix coloured lights with a coloured splashback, remember that the colours will mix. For example, a red light shining behind blue glass makes the splashback look purple.

4.  Textured or flat glass?

In addition to the colours playing together, you have to think about how the light is going to interact with the texture of the glass. If you have to install your LED lights over the splashback, you may want to opt for textured glass as the bumps will cause the light to reflect in interesting ways, helping to disperse it over the splashback. A smooth splash back works well with built-in lights that are designed to disperse their light evenly through the glass.

5. Matte or glossy surfaces?

Finally, think about how the light from the splashback may illuminate other items in your kitchen. If you don't want a lot of extra reflections, you may want the rest of your surfaces (cabinets, countertops, stovetops, etc) to be slightly matte. On the other hand, if you want lots of shiny effects, you may want glossy surfaces near your lit splashback.