Hi does anyone know if TIle countertops in the kitchen is a pain ? Id like to hear some peoples experiences with it if they have it.

There is the problem of keeping the grout clean of dirt and bacteria, unless you coat just the grout between the tiles with a plastic base, I don't see it working well.

If you drop anything breakable on it, the object will crack or break and you might even damage tiles (which will be hard to replace).

Had tile counters in our old house. They were OK. White grout looks dirty too fast so id suggest a darker color, and if you decide to do this, id use the biggest tile you can find that still looks within proportion for the build... less grout lines to clean.

As mentioned, breakables don't rebound well from a drop.

But... it can be an easy way to transform a kitchen that needs a simple makeover.

If you use a 2 part epoxy grout the grout lines will not be an issue at all. They stay clean, resist stains and will not mildew. Things can break on many counter surfaces such as granite, marble, quartz and nobody says this is a down side for them.

I know tile looks good. Just use a few good maple blocks for cutting up meat; cutting up poultry has to be really clean after and you can use clorox which is recommended to destroy e coli bacteria. I just see it, as others have said, to be a lot of work. There are many counter top materials that are very attractive, one that is cement that looks like marble, or granite, which is cost effective only for the total square footage you need of course. I mean if it is a small kitchen counter then maybe granite will work.

My husband and I tiled our countertops a few years ago, but have since replaced the entire kitchen. At the time, it was a cheap and easy way to update the countertops. There were things I liked and things I didn't...

We did two colors of tile; white and dark green. I liked how the white made the kitchen look "clean" and the green gave some interest. The tiles themselves were easy to clean and I could use anything as a cleaning product. I never cracked a tile or broke a dish, but perhaps I was lucky. We selected white grout, and that was a BIG mistake. We also used this pre-mixed grout/adhesive combo stuff that didn't require sealing. Another BIG mistake! The stuff was gummy, and it stained the second anything got on it. For instance, one time I spilled pickle juice... by the time I got a towel to wipe it up, I had a beautiful yellow-green stain! I was constantly using gel bleach to clean it out. I really think if we had selected proper grout and darker color grout we would have had a much better experience with the whole thing.

Ive ran into just about the same number of likes and dislikes about tile in the kitchen, if you use tile countertops I would say to go with a larger tile 8" perhaps, less grout lines to clean, as far as droping things on it, do you drop a lot of stuff on your counters now? Judging from the posts here its so common, we lose so many cups and plates each year... but for only a few cents a day you can save one of the these plates,. for real now, here are some pros and cons,
Pros. More durable than formica, a more custom look than formica,
Cons. Not as easy to replace as other countertops, once its down its down, if you don't seal it you'll need to stay on top of the cleaning of the grout,

As far as I'm concerned other the cleaning as being the only down side to tile, id say its more of a personal choice than whether it is functional or not.

Like before if you think you can pick a color and be happy with it for a long time then tile away, but if your like me... always looking for something better stay with something you can pull up and so again with less money, tile is more costly than formica.

We did put in some granite tiles on a countertops with small grout lines and it really looked good. Goodluck with what ever you choose, so to recap and just to answer your question, is tile a pain, take care of the grout joints with a sealer, and there's no pain

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Originally Posted by AMY SHARFMAN

Hi does anyone know if TIle countertops in the kitchen is a pain ? Id like to hear some peoples experiences with it if they have it.

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Depending on the layout of your kitchen, tiling was fairly easy for my wife and me. She cut the tiles and I placed them on the backerboard. It is time consuming due to having 2 kids, but worth it to save money. We did a darker gray grout with a tan tile and looked great! Sealing the grout would also be a plus.

If you must go with tile, make sure that it is installed on a cement back board and that you use a epoxy grout or seal the grout four days after installation.

Good Luck,
Willy
Marble and Granite, Tile and Grout, Leaky Shower

Bleach cleans grout and sanitizes. My only complaint with tiled countertops is that I had to buy a special, larger cutting board to roll out pie dough.

I tiled my kitchen countertops too. We were trying to save money since we were redoing the whole house. It turned out pretty good but I found out if the edges of the tiles aren't even when you slide a heavy pot on them the edges chip. I like it but I see myself getting regular countertops in the future.

I was always worried about the santizing and the grout problem. I never felt it was clean enough and then there was the chipping, too. I changed to granite.