Kitchen tile dilemma

[Tomw84]

I've been working on my kitchen and after taking some tiles off the wall discovered a second layer underneath. These seem to be fixed to the wall with several tons of that indestructible Roman concrete - chisel does nothing to it, hammer drill bounces off - so removing them is going to be very tricky. I did manage to prise a couple away with a wrecking bar, but they took a big chunk of the wall away with them.

Having cleaned the tiles up I actually don't mind them and would be happy to keep them, but the previous owner has wrecked a big section, which would need to be tidied - see the attached photo. Would it be realistic to remove the top row of white tiles and replace them with green ones from elsewhere in the kitchen (there are some behind the sink which I can use) so they match the rest, and if so how would I do it? If it's going to be a complete nightmare of a job I'll just tile over them, but if it's relatively straightforward I'd rather save the money to use somewhere else in the refurb.

 

[tell80]

FWIW: when kitchen fitting its best to remove all fixtures from the kitchen - including lampshades, loose cables, frames, W/T's and appliances.
Work in a void.
Work to a measured plan.

Hire a small Kango and it will eat thro any S&C render back to bare brickwork.
It will easy strip quarry tile flooring if needed.

Where the render has been removed from the upper half of the wall you appear to have exposed a very dark, damp looking surface - is that an outside wall? Do you have any damp issues?

Tile over tile can be problematic so can moving and re-using tile.

Go back to basics & in the long run save money, time and arguments.

When I was jobbing Kitchens and bathrooms lots of calls were from angry wives for someone to come & finally finish what their husbands had tried to save money on - just saying.

 

[Tomw84]

Thanks for the tips. I'll hire the kango and see how it gets on with the tiles that'll be hidden once units are in place, then make a call on whether I can make it look good.

Where the render has been removed from the upper half of the wall you appear to have exposed a very dark, damp looking surface - is that an outside wall? Do you have any damp issues?

The picture makes it look darker than it is for some reason. It's an internal wall - it looks damp because I'd been stripping paint off it and gave it a rinse just before I took the photo!