Brighten Up Your Kitchen & Bathroom with the Right Floor & Wall Tile

Your bathroom and kitchen are frequently exposed to water and moisture, so ceramic and porcelain tile are the go-to wall and flooring choice for most homeowners. Regular ceramic tile is made from semi-coarse clay, which makes it lighter and easier to work with for vertical wall tile applications such as kitchen wall tiles and backsplash subway tiles. DIY installation is also easier because all you need is a manual tile cutter. From a design standpoint, ceramic tile comes in a wider variety of colours, textures, and finishes than porcelain tile. However, the glaze on ceramic tile is usually a different colour than the clay underneath so any chips or cracks will be more visible. Combined with lower water resistance this makes ceramic tile less suitable for use as floor tiles.

Porcelain tile is made from finer clay and fired at a higher temperature than ceramic tile. This makes for a much harder material well-suited for use as kitchen floor tiles, entryway tiles, and in other high-traffic areas of your home. The denser composition also provides better water resistance, so porcelain is ideal for bathroom floor tiles, bathroom wall tiles, bathtub surrounds, and shower wall tiles. However, this does make working with porcelain a bit more difficult. Cutting tile requires a wet tile saw with a water-cooled, diamond-tipped blade that may be easier done by a professional installer.