As exciting as a brand new kitchen, bathroom, hallway, or entryway is, the actual renovation process can bring up more mixed emotions. Yes, renovation means you don’t have to look at the faux-granite countertops or cheap wood-panel cabinets anymore, but it also means that you’ll be unable to use that room for awhile. And what if you don’t end up liking your new space as much as you thought you would? That’s a risk that might lead you to put off remodeling for a lot longer than you really need to.
The reason we bring up this common remodeling fear is to highlight the importance of understanding your own preferences and using high-quality materials. Many people get caught up in the moment when they renovate, bringing in flavor-of-the-month decor that completely falls out of style in a few short years. Others decide to compromise and choose something that might fit the budget a bit better, only to find that their space doesn’t quite match up with what they envisioned. To help you avoid these two pitfalls, we recommend using high-quality building materials, such as our white marble tile, which we make affordable and accessible to every designer at almost any budget.
White Marble Tile in the Kitchen
Between the opportunity for natural light and a need for functional decor, the kitchen is an excellent place for marble. Our meticulously polished marble tile is remarkably easy to clean, making it well-suited for the spills and splatters of the kitchen. On the visual side, white marble tile fits quite well into kitchens, which are typically well-lit enough to capture its subtle iridescence. Take this classic kitchen for example:
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Between the lighting fixtures and the window, this kitchen is sure to get the light needed for the marble countertop and the Casablanca Carrara marble tile in Pickett Mosaic to really shine. A brilliant example of the power of simplicity, this kitchen’s bright white cabinets and ceiling are offset by bronze and chrome accents and the off-white of marble. What’s really interesting about this space is seeing how the marble tile actually serves to contrast the slab countertops. The marble tile is just dark enough, with its grey streaks, to act as a counterbalance against the brighter countertops.
This kitchen is made elegant through the simplicity of marble, eschewing bold colors and accent pieces for something organic and classic. The beauty of marble is that it doesn't need much to stand out, it’s simply perfect on its own.
Bathrooms Revitalized by Marble Mosaic Tile
Marble has a way of bringing bathrooms and showers to life, lending a soft vibrance that brightens the space without making it feel uncomfortable. In a tile format, marble’s usefulness is extended, opening up new applications for the amazing material:
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This shower, which uses a winning combo of Casablanca Carrara marble subway tile in 6x12 and Diamond marble mosaic tile, is an outstanding example of how two different tiles play well together. The delicate Diamond mosaic is a perfect choice for the shower floor, offering enough texture to provide protection from slipping while retaining gorgeous visuals, while the large 6x12 subway tiles exhibit the stunning look of marble with prominence.
Why White Marble Tile?
Marble tile offers key benefits over similar tile varieties, and we believe that this tile completely overshadows them. Let’s compare white marble tile with another neutral and popular tile, ceramic subway tile. We’re not going to reveal anything new about the incredibly familiar ceramic subway tile; it’s fairly cheap, is a solid choice for bathrooms and kitchens due to its water-resistance, and offers a consistent if slightly uninspired look. All-in-all, ceramic gets the job done, but when you’re renovating part of your home, is “gets the job done” really the best you can hope for? We don’t think so!
Compared to ceramic tile, marble tile is significantly more durable and less likely to crack. That, coupled with more slip-resistance, is why it’s more commonly seen on shower floors than ceramic. Marble is also significantly more interesting in appearance. While marble has a general color uniformity, it offers so much more texture than plain ceramic, without ever veering into gaudy territory. In color and texture, marble is more complex than ceramic by a mile, all while being more durable.
If you’re already sold on marble, you might be wondering, “How do marble tiles compare with more traditional slabs?” After all, most marble you see in the home is in slab form, either as countertops or in showers. We love a marble countertop as much as the next designer, but we believe that marble tile has a few key advantages here that translate the beauty of marble into something slightly more practical without losing any of the benefits. Marble countertops are positively gorgeous, but what happens if something heavy falls onto the counter and leaves and chip in the slab? At this point your options are:
1. Live with the chip in the counter
2. Replace the countertop
With marble tiles, if you drop something on one and it chips, all you have to do is replace the individual tile. A lot simpler and less expensive than swapping out a whole counter!
On top of making for more resilient applications, marble tile offers a new perspective on marble’s traditional appearance. In a given order, all of the marble tiles are sourced from the same slab, ensuring that each application is uniform in appearance, but by splitting the slab up across multiple tiles, each tile acts like a snapshot of the greater pattern, creating a gorgeous collage of natural minerals. But these tiles don’t short-change on the traditional benefits of marble. They perfectly maintain the signature translucent glow that marble is well-known for, catching light in the peculiar way that only real marble can.
