Guide
Choose the wall path before you choose the colour
A splashback sample is a colour. The installed pane is an 8.4.6 decision about backing, adhesion and, near gas, another standard.
At a glance
The useful facts before the deep dive
This guide is the long version of the splashback hub. It exists so a guest post or a kitchen meeting can cite one URL. The order of decisions is wall, heat, then colour.
The wall
8.4.6 allows monolithic annealed glass for splash-backs only when the pane is fully backed by and continuously adhered to a solid wall material or a fixed cabinet or bench that meets the 760 / 300 / full-width tests and sits in front of the pane. A shadow line over a void is not that path. Spotted adhesive is not continuous. If you are not on that path, treat the pane as kitchen glazing: framed Grade A to Table 8.4.2, or exposed-edge toughened to Table 8.4.6 at a minimum 6 mm.
The cooktop
The explanatory note under 8.4.6 sends glass splashbacks near gas appliances to AS/NZS 5601. Ask for that path by name. Induction does not erase backing and adhesion. Cut-outs for GPOs are a fabrication limit. Toughened glass is shaped before tempering.
The colour
Ordinary float is green at the edge. Low-iron reduces that. Pale colours show it; dark colours hide it. Paint quality is a separate sentence. Low-iron is a cost factor, not a certificate.
Returns, joints and windows
A return around a window is extra edges and extra heat. A joint is a cleaning line. None of it skips 8.4. Bring the cooktop model, a photo of the wall, and a question about adhesion. Leave the sample book for after those three things.
Common mix-ups on kitchen splashback glass choices
- Picking colour first.
- Ignoring the gas pointer.
- Calling spotted silicone continuous adhesion.
None of those mix-ups are solved by a nicer render. They are solved by naming a clause.
Questions to put on the drawing
- Which 8.4.6 path.
- Cooktop type.
- Low-iron yes or no, after the wall is settled.
If the practitioner cannot answer those in writing, you do not yet have a specification for kitchen splashback glass choices. You have a conversation.
Sources this page is allowed to lean on
Public pages only: Housing Provisions 8.4, Housing Provisions 11.3 when a fall is involved, Volume One B1D4 when the assembly type is in dispute, AS 1288:2021 as described by Standards Australia, and the NCC referenced documents for the AS/NZS 1170 series. We do not invent a thickness for a “normal” house.
The hub stays short. This guide is the meeting note.
This URL is on purpose. The archive already taught people to look here. The sentences are new. The footer disclaimer still applies: general information, not professional advice, and other people’s marks stay other people’s marks.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (1)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (2)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (3)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (4)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (5)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (6)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (7)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Reading order for Kitchen splashback glass choices (8)
Read the matching hub first if you arrived here cold. Then read this page for the noun in the URL. Then open safety standards and keep it beside the drawing. Then write the clause on the request for quote. Then let a licensed practitioner correct you. That loop is the method of this rebuild, and it is the only way Kitchen splashback glass choices stays honest.
If you are writing a trades or home guest post, cite the ABCB or Standards Australia URL, not a memory of this paragraph. If you are a homeowner, do not treat this extra section as a certificate. It exists so the heritage path is a real guide rather than a stub. The facts still live in 8.4, 11.3 and B1D4.
Questions homeowners ask
What visitors always ask
Each answer starts with the point, then the useful detail.
Can a kitchen splashback be annealed glass?
Yes, but only on the 8.4.6 path: fully backed by and continuously adhered to a solid wall or a qualifying bench at least 760 mm high, 300 mm deep and the full width of the splash-back, located in front of it.
Does low-iron glass make a splashback safer?
No. Low-iron changes tint. Safety is the 8.4.6 path and, if it is safety glass, the 8.4.8 mark.
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