Actually there is a lot of bad information on this site... Which is understandable as there are only about 10 billion flooring options on the market. AO and Daltile's subway tile is made at the same mill. I even had to call the mill checking on AO subway tile for a customer once and the person answered the phone "Daltile". Both AO and Daltile are part of the Mohawk name brand and I have been told by my distributor that AO and Daltile subway tile are actually the same exact product. After looking at samples of both, I would have to say they do look the same. Lowes and Home Depot sale SOME of the same tile that you will find at your local dealers. While manufacturers do make some extremely low quality tile for HD and Lowes, HD and Lowes also like to rename things. So sometimes if you find it at Lowes or HD you can find the same product elsewhere at your local tile store under a different name. Buying tile online - the truth. There are companies online that sell flooring products. Depending on the size of your order, and the company with which you are looking at, it may not be cost effective. While there are not many good online companies, there are some out there that will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars off of your local prices. I buy from only one online dealer and I save a good bit even though I buy direct from the manufacturer. I then sell that material to my customer for profit even though they could have bought online for the same price I did. But then again, if I didn't buy from the online guy I would be out of business. I have never heard of an online company requiring you to have a fork lift before... I've had several dropped off to my customers' curbside no problem. The particular company I buy from online actually has told me they sell tile to HD and Lowes a lot. People go into HD or Lowes, place an order for their tile, HD or Lowes then goes and buys it from this online company, and then resales it to the customer. Kind of funny how that works sometimes, but then if I am getting better pricing from them than my local guy I guess HD and Lowes is in the same boat. The best bet is to CALL the online company and talk to them. Read their reviews... Check their BBB rating. Make sure they are selling first grade material AND that warranties are offered with their products. A LOT of online companies don't get warranties with their products, I know of only ONE which does and that is the one I buy from. If they don't have 3rd party reviews, a good rating with the BBB, or they are not willing to answer your call or return it, then I would suggest not doing business with them. I'm not giving away where I shop as I don't want my customers knowing where I buy my material, but I promise you there are good companies out there.

Although it's not really an inferior product in that it performs any worse than AO or Dal, I have a little sore spot with USCT (which also used to be known as Romany Spartan). Back about 12 years ago, in a cost cutting effort they decided to cut down the thickness of the tile, so it's about 2/3 the thickness of the other two, when all three used to be pretty much the same size. It used to be Romany was my favorite tile to use, until they "cheaped out". I was afraid if they did something like that that could be seen, what did they do that couldn't?

We used the same tile for our kitchen backsplash. Please use the spacers (check to see what is recommended grout line and get spacers that size). if you want a uniform look, then choose a grout color that best blends with the tiles. Our contractor does alot of tile work and as good as he is, he said that even the slightest variance in a linear placement can affect the straight line. He always uses them, even with 30 years experience of doing tile work.

Has anyone used this tile in a kitchen, or another large scale application? The Bath forum has a fair amount on this tile, but I'm considering its use (18X18) throughout a new house in South Florida. I'd love to see photos if they exist, or just information on whether the tile have a sufficient number of patterns so as not to look silly when used in a large application.