Laying patterns for large-format tiles

[glitch]

I am currently looking at tiling options for my new kitchen and a recent trip to a bathroom store found me gazing longingly at this tile:

It is a large-format, porcelain tile which is almost exactly the colour and finish I want. It is close to perfection... but I still have others to look at.

Anyway, my initial thought was to run those in portrait, from the worktops to the ceiling. This is a render of what things should look like, layout-wise:

I was wondering if laying the tiles horizontally, in a stretcher-bond design, would work. Like massive bricks. Thought was to try and bring some of the detail from the exposed brickwork in the dining room into the kitchen...

Technically, will it work? My brain tells me it's now harder to lay as there are multiple edges which need to be level, but surely that's not out of the realms of possibility for a quality fitter... right?

 

[HungryHippos]

I think for a kitchen I prefer smaller tiles if adding any at all. For me personally larger ones work well for floors, and walls in bathrooms. If going quartz/granite worktop I think it can also look good to have the upstands made out of the same quartz/granite material.

For a kitchen I'd probably only tile to the underside of the units, paint the rest. Better yet add more wall units.

Metro tiles seem to be the in thing at the moment but I am not sure it will be a lasting fashion, I think they can look good though and fit a modern design quite well.

 

[glitch]

The kitchen is being tiled floor-to-ceiling, no question. Original plan was to have all the walls done in polished concrete, but that did not pan out. And no granite worktop, 20mm laminate is what I will be having.

Design is done and dusted, the whole point of the look is to have that end wall with the extractor hood as this huge feature - I've got a chunky, industrial-looking hood to go on that wall and nothing else. I am well-catered for, storage wise.

I would heartily agree that Metro tiles look good and to be fair, are a decent fallback option, but something about large-format tiles just seems to work in my head. Especially if I can get the polished concrete look as part of that.

One more versions of that back wall, just because I worked out how to easily rotate the tiles!

EDIT: I think there's a weird optical effect going on when the tiles are flipped... pretty sure they are aligned perfectly!

 

[RoyMi6]

Woah woah woah, that image is just an example - each of the tiles will have a slightly different look to them. Just tiling the image of a single title isn't going to give you how it will look on the floor/wall.

Because it's not a natural tile you'll likely find the pack contains between 5 and 8 different looking prints and part of the process of laying tiles like this is trying to avoid having two identical tiles next to one another to make it look more natural.

Also, with large format tiles I personally think that straight lines (rather than brickwork) look better. Like the example image on the website shows.

ALSO also... you can see how different the tiles look on the example image on the website but at the same time I think I spot some duplicates. These two look the same, just one is upside down.

 

[HungryHippos]

Yeah I'd agree you don't really want a repeating pattern anyway. Looks more interesting if the pattern differs subtly as you go.

Can you get a sample to put in the room to see how it looks with your decor?

 

[glitch]

Woah woah woah, that image is just an example - each of the tiles will have a slightly different look to them. Just tiling the image of a single title isn't going to give you how it will look on the floor/wall.

I know

Was just using the sample as a way of visualising what stretcher-bond might look like, I totally understand there will be ‘natural’ variance between tiles.

Because it's not a natural tile you'll likely find the pack contains between 5 and 8 different looking prints and part of the process of laying tiles like this is trying to avoid having two identical tiles next to one another to make it look more natural.

Also, with large format tiles I personally think that straight lines (rather than brickwork) look better. Like the example image on the website shows.

I am not averse to that. As the tiles are rectified and can have minimal grout between them, straight lines could look rather slab-like, which might be a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[glitch]

Can you get a sample to put in the room to see how it looks with your decor?

I will try and wrest the sample out of the hands of the place I looked at it, but assuming I manage that, transporting the damn thing is going to be very tricky!

 

[HungryHippos]

I will try and wrest the sample out of the hands of the place I looked at it, but assuming I manage that, transporting the damn thing is going to be very tricky!

Most tile places will do a sample that is more manageable in size, they simply cut the tiles down for you normally. I had a bunch of samples from various tile places when I was getting my outdoor porcelain ones, Tile Mountain sent me some for free even.

 

[the_r_sole]

that looks like a sweet tile, if only they were just a tiny bit longer you could do from worktop to ceiling in one tile!
I think with a tile that size I wouldn't bother with stretcher bond, just get colour matched grout and do as fine a grout line as you can and it'll look sweet (you are going to end up with a lot of wastage to do the infill piece at the top (you'll have about 300 deep pieces so you'll get two out of a tile...)

 

[glitch]

Most tile places will do a sample that is more manageable in size, they simply cut the tiles down for you normally. I had a bunch of samples from various tile places when I was getting my outdoor porcelain ones, Tile Mountain sent me some for free even.

You need to see the full thing to get the effect, there is a fair amount of variance in colour across it. I'll borrow the full thing, when time permits.

that looks like a sweet tile, if only they were just a tiny bit longer you could do from worktop to ceiling in one tile!
I think with a tile that size I wouldn't bother with stretcher bond, just get colour matched grout and do as fine a grout line as you can and it'll look sweet (you are going to end up with a lot of wastage to do the infill piece at the top (you'll have about 300 deep pieces so you'll get two out of a tile...)

I had started looking at tiling worktop-to-ceiling, but could only find one range that would accommodate. Which got me thinking about laying horizontally and then I stumbled across this tile in a bathroom showroom

Taking the back (extractor hood) wall as a guide, we're talking approximately 2700mm x 1470mm high. So, with the tiles being 1200mm x 600mm, there are a few options with where cuts could go.

600 / 435 / 435 (three whole tiles)

600 / 600 / 270 (two and a half, but centre tile would not be middle of middle)

500 / 500 / 500 (two of those would be slightly less and then it looks very even, but wall units are
500mm off worktop so there could be a problem with where the tile ends.

 

[glitch]

Found a couple more options on my travels today; Azteca Studio 120.

White:

Which looks like this:

Grey:

Which looks like this:

Can't find anywhere in the UK that actually stocks it - found it in a tile shop, but even their website doesn't mention the range.

 

[glitch]

And here's the Manhattan Grey, in slightly tinted light:

 

[HungryHippos]

I must confess I am a fan of a simpler pattern/colour, a little variance is OK, but for me I prefer that to be quite subtle. I guess what I'm saying is a distinct pattern can look good in isolation, but extend it out over a larger area and it becomes harder to imagine it looking as good to me (again, a more personal thing perhaps).

My patio is being done in porcelain at the moment, these are 600 x 600 tiles I decided to get laid in an offset layout, instead of just laying them in a big old grid. Think it looks good so far (not finished yet I am having it go around a square of artificial grass and go off more to the right as well).

Could this look decent on a kitchen wall? I don't think I'd do it personally as the tiles are more suited to a larger area.

Spoiler

 

[glitch]

Unless I bottle it (or finances get the better of me) and I go for a matte white metro tile with grey grout (predictable, but effective) I'd want absolutely minimal grouting lines, regardless of layout.

What I am finding hard to visualise is that back wall, with the hob and extractor. Do I want the middle of the middle to be a whole tile:

Or a middle line, like this:

Something else that crossed my mind was fitting order. Would it be sensible to have tiles on first, then lay the worktop against them (and have the wall units sit on top - they are half-depth, before anyone asks) or have the tiles fitted around the units and worktop?

 

[glitch]

One more to add to the list - Fancy Grey, which wins on name alone.

 

[HungryHippos]

Unsure on what would look best it's hard to see, maybe sketch it out in something that is accurate for dimensions and see which you like the look of best.

Funnily enough I actually used Excel to see how my layout would work on the patio I am getting done, even managed to roughly place where they were going and how many I would need. Each square I have scaled to equal 30CM. Each tile is 60CM x 60CM so I've got the half and quarter cuts nailed down:

https://i.imgur.com/dKDYSebh.png

I used the merge and center button to create tile placements, thick borders etc to draw out the rough pattern design. You can resize the cells by left clicking the arrow at the top left of the grid to select them all, then using shift key and the dividers to resize them all at the same time to a specific size.

Some advice from someone knowledgeable on the matter would be prudent on what order to do things in. At a total blind guess I'd say you want worktop first as a minimum, I then assume units, lastly tiles to the wall. I am not 100% on that though.