If you are building a new kitchen or bathroom, or you want to remodel an old one, you have plenty of ceramic, granite, marble, travertine, slate, natural stone, glass tile and many more to choose from. You will be amazed at the wide selection of colors, sizes, shapes and new textures that are now available. If you want to create a unique kitchen design that is all your own, you will look for kitchen wall tiles that are durable, economical and look timeless. Your kitchen countertop is where you do most of your food preparation so you want to make sure you have the best surfacing material, which can withstand for everyday cleaning. When looking for kitchen floor tiles, you want tiles that are strong and durable enough for heavy foot traffic and frequent drops and spills. Your kitchen floor tile should not only look great but be easy for you to cean and maintain. Your kitchen design should be not only lovely to look at, but lovely to work in as well. Your bathroom is where you spend most of your relaxing moments at home so it should be a retreat of cleanliness and freshness. To incorporate the look and design you want into your bathroom, you should choose tile that are durable, long lasting, easy to clean, functional and work well with your bathroom décor.
Shopping for Kitchen or Bathroom tile can be overwhelming. With so many variations of sizes, styles, textures to choose from you can have the kitchen or bathroom design the way you want. The tile sizes vary from 1" X 1" to 24" X 24". The most commonly used sizes are the 12” to 18” squares. Choosing the appropriate size tile for your application may seem difficult at first, but it is just a matter of what type of look you desire. Using larger tiles gives any area a larger, less-busy look. When it comes to styles, you should think about the look you want to achieve. If you look for something affordable, functional and practical for your wall and floor tile you should choose ceramic tile, because are durable, simple, easy to clean and maintain. For warmer, rustic appearance you should focus on searching for natural stone tile such as granite, marble, slate, limestone and many more; they are the most popular tile and you have a variety to choose from to meet your design needs. Granite tile, the hardest, durable and long lasting tile, will give your kitchen or bathroom an elegant and sophisticate look. If you look for a beautiful, formal, stylish appearance you should go with marble tile for its luxurious and classy look. Marble tile will add a touch of elegance to any room décor. The naturally neutral color of travertine tile will give a casual or elegant décor to any kitchen or bathroom. To accent the finished look you can choose contrasting borders, or decorative tile like glass, glass mosaic to transform your walls and floors into a work of art. There are a variety of textures you can choose from, but you have to keep in mind where you want to install your new tile, how do you want to look and how do you want to feel. You will see tile from dull to semi-gloss to high-gloss finish, and you will feel tile from rough to rustic to smooth finish. High-gloss surfaces can become extremely slippery when wet and tend to show dirt more readily than a less glossy or textured surface. If you have active children, anyone disabled, or elderly family members, high-gloss surfaces can present a problem. The polished finish (or shine) may last a long time or may be unstable depending on the type of tile, also requires high maintenance to preserve the shine. This category includes granite, limestone and marble tile. The honed finish (or satin) looks very “soft”, shows few scratches, and requires low maintenance. This category includes marble, limestone and slate tile. The acid-washed finish looks shiny and much more rustic in appearance than a honed finish, shows fewer scratches. The most common are marble and limestone, also granite because acid-washing is the way to soften the shine on granite. The glazed finish - a liquid glass is applied to the body of the tile and fired at high temperatures, the glazing becomes hard and non-porous resulting in a floor stain and scratch resistant, easy to clean, which doesn’t fade from sun light. This category includes ceramic tile. The unglazed finish - no glaze or any coating is applied to it, the color is the same on the face of the tile as it is on the back. Very durable tile and better slip resistance, never shows wear (even in the heavy traffic). This category includes ceramic tile. With so many sizes, styles and textures from ceramic tile to granite to marble, you can turn your kitchen or bathroom into your own personal work of art.