You can get Chinese or Asian Marble also at Home Depot or Lowes. Check them out. I don't think anyone would notice the difference between the $12 vs $25.

We have had polished Italian Carrera on our master bath floor for the past 5 years without any slipping issues.

Funny, we just went through the Italian Carrera vs Asian Carrers dilemna for our walls in the master bath. Decided to go with 3x12 polished white tile with beautiful mosiac honed white carrera tile for our niche.

Two things to watch out for with cheap marble mounted mosaics. First, being that it's carrara, there's a chance the marble may contain iron spots that will, over time, show rust. Secondly, cheaper mosaics will use a cheaper mounting system that during shipping, where it can get into the hundreds of degrees in the shipping containers, the mesh will sometimes stretch or contract, causing the sheets to be all kinds of different sizes, and making the finished product look like crap. Atleast with Lowes or HD, if you open up several sheets and find a problem with them, you can bring them back. Of course, that doesn't address the rust problem from cheap carrara.

Bill, Thank you for solidifying what I learned during our search and why the mosiac we chose for our niche is from Italy besides the fact the Asian stuff has way to much beige or gold or whatever that color is.

Thanks to all of you for your help! We received a beautiful sample from Oracle Tile online, but the thought of the mesh backing possibly being irregular makes the deal not worth it to me! Also, I saw a picture of an Oracle customer's bathroom with the same tile installed, and you could see some sheets were darker than others. With the slightly more expensive tile, should you be able to pick out where each sheet starts and stops?

Bill - Thanks for responding. I never would have known that about the mesh backing. Is the iron rusting a problem in dry applications? Should I be concerned about the more expensive carrara rusting on the master bath floor?

Jerseygirl - Your choices sound beautiful. I hope you'll post some pictures! I did check out the tile at Lowe's. You're right about the yellowish colors to it! Not the look we're going for. Thanks for weighing in on the polished floor. I'm glad it's worked out well for you because I like the polished look.

Pnkone - You're right, you get what you pay for. I just don't want to pay anymore for it than we need to!!

It's not as much a problem in dry areas, because obviously, water's not going to get at the iron in the stone as much. As for the more expensive carrara rusting, it happens, but it's rare.

Thanks for the follow-up, Bill.

I wanted to throw this out there for anyone who might possibly be interested in this either now or in the future. Today I received a sample from Empire Natural Stone online. It is beautifully cut, laid out in a tight even pattern, and backed in a sturdy mesh. The marble is not nearly as nice as the Oracle marble - it has the slight beige-ish/gold cast to it that Jerseygirl was talking about. It makes me appreciate the beautifully clear gray and white of the Oracle stone. The Oracle sample makes me appreciate the workmanship of the Empire sample. The good news is I am better educated to go to my final tile meeting tomorrow. I'll be looking to make sure the tile they're selling me is made of a stone like the Oracle and laid out like the Empire! Either way, both samples are head and shoulders above the similarly priced Lowe's basketweave.

Also, I placed a polished sample on the floor and put water on it. As Jerseygirl said, it's fine. It is much less slippery than the 12x12 porcelain tile we have in our current bathroom.

Thanks!!!

Thrilledtobuild

Will do. We are starting a minor bathroom reno since moved in to our newly built townhouse 5 yrs ago with standard 4x4 tile. Masterbath isn't grand size but it's large for a townhouse

Purchased Chinese Marble today from a reputable tile store. I did not do my home work but it looked good to me? What is the difference of Carrara Chinese marble and Carrara Italian marble? The price was below $10 per ft.

Marble is a strong stone so why , "where is mined makes a difference?" Thanks

''Chinese Marble today from a reputable tile store''

That's an oxymoron. As is ''Chinese Cararra'' All Cararra comes from the town of Cararra, Italy. Anything else is fake, and fraudulent. You're going to need to triple that budget to start getting something real, and with quality.

Was it from The Tile Shop, by chance? All of their tile and stone is Chinese. The quality is hit and miss. You really need to lay out several pieces and see how they look in terms of size and thickness uniformity.

Also, marble is not a strong stone at all. Scratches very easily. If you want strong, opt for granite.

Hopefully you can return it....w/o restock fees. id agree "the Tile Shop" more MIss than HIT. the chinese dust they import is truly unhealthy.