Ceramic tiles - are they worth the hassle ?

Degsy123

So we have decided to re-tile the hall, kitchen and dining room with 600mmx600mm glazed ceramic tiles - you know the shiny ones ?. I know they look good but before taking the plunge I wanted to see what people think ?. Are they "impossible to keep clean" ?. All advice welcome

Thanks

LaChatteGitane

What colour were you thinking of ??
We have white in kitchen and bathrooms, black in hallway. Not our choice, but previous owner's. They will come out as soon as possible.
Horrid things.
If you live in the city and never wear shoes in the house, don't have pets or kids and you never spill water or anything else on the kitchen floor - go for it if that's your thing.
With all rules and regulations concerning health and safety, you would think there would be one to prohibit people putting high gloss tiles on a kitchen or bathroom floor.
You see, I'm not a fan.

NIMAN

Got light biege 600x600 ones polished ones in the kitchen and they look fantastic (when clean).

Heard loads of scare stories about how dangerous and slippy they are, but have yet to experience this. I have a mat at back door on way in and this must take off any major water on soles of shoes, cos I have never slipped, or any of my children. Nor have they hurt themselves on them.

Also know a few people with them on the entire ground floor of their house, and again they look the part.

But be aware, drop anything on them and its going to break (not the tiles, but the item that falls).

Degsy123

LaChatteGitane, NIMAN

thanks for the replies. Looking at getting light beige in open-plan kitchen/dining area as well as in the hall. Opinions seem divided - those who love them and say "they aren't as bad to keep clean as they though" and those who hate them and say "they are a nightmare". Since my vote only counts for 10% in the decision process I guess we will be going ahead anyway, I was just interested in getting some other views. Any advice on cleaning would be appreciated !

Meath08

We replaced our kitchen tiles a couple of years ago with this type of tile in a cream colour. While I think they look lovely, they are a nightmare to keep clean. I have two young kids and the floor is dirty after every meal, even a few crumbs make the floor look messy as they are very unforgiving. However, they do clean up very easily with a quick hoover and a steam mop but really need cleaning every day (sometimes twice a day) to keep them looking their best.

We are moving house shortly and the new house needs new kitchen tiles. There is absolutely no way I will consider these tiles again in a kitchen or dining area. They are just too unforgiving. I've learnt my lesson and will have a matt tile this time. Our new hall has these tiles and I'm happy to have them in a different area.

I think you either have to be willing/have the time to clean the tiles every day or have a high tolerance for crumbs!

con.e

I put glazed as opposed to polished porcelain tiles in my kitchen. It's a really big and bright space so they look great. I felt that the polished porcelain would be too hard to keep/slippery death trap! Love the glazed ones. They are reflective, yet don't show every little smudge and are so easy to keep clean. They aren't slippery. Would recommend.

bombadil

Have to agree we have polished porcelain in kitchen and they are very hard to keep.. need sweeping twice a day.. but hey at least you know the floor is really clean! On the other hand we got a karcher steam mop and that seems to have taken a lot of the chore out of cleaning them.. 15 mins and the whole lot is shining agian!

chunkyboy

con.e can I ask where you got your glazed tiles and any chance you could post a pic??
I am in the beginnings of an extension and the kitchen/dining area will be 53sq meters.... if the glazed are reflective like the porcelain, I might have a look at these instead.... lot of floor to keep clean otherwise :-/

con.e

chunkyboy wrote: »

con.e can I ask where you got your glazed tiles and any chance you could post a pic??
I am in the beginnings of an extension and the kitchen/dining area will be 53sq meters.... if the glazed are reflective like the porcelain, I might have a look at these instead.... lot of floor to keep clean otherwise :-/

Hi
We also built a kitchen extension it's quite a large space also and we find the tiles work really well. I'm not sure where you are but we bought ours in Watkins in leixlip. Did a good bit of shopping around and found him to be the best value. We also did a skirting in tiles. Came out really well.