Unacceptable, IMHO. The tilesetter(?) should have checked the wall for flat, before anything else... and corrected it!

Many of the smaller tiles are cut from larger one's and I find this seldom to be a problem. Factories often do this.

Would you accept this amount of lippage on a floor? Safety hazard at best. On a wall, it simply looks like amateur hour.

Absolutely not acceptable, you need to make him come back and complete the job to perfection which is the only standard for tiles. It looks terrible. Any amateur would know this is done wrong. It's not that big a job, he only has to do the top row. I'd have him on the phone in a heartbeat and tell him he needs to come back and rectify his mistakes. His mistakes, not yours.

That is a sad looking tile job..

On a scale of 1 to 10, that sucks.

In your tiler's defense there does seem to exist the possibility that he has had a lobotomy at some time in his life. Maybe even two.

If the wall was uneven, he should have evened it out prior to setting the tile. Or used a thicker setting bed.

Cut versus factory edges; the difference might show at the grout line as being eased versus sharp...but not lippage. Even if the tiles were pillowed and then cut that's no excuse.

I vote lobotomy.

I can't add any more to what's been said. This guy should be ashamed of that kind of "workmanship", or lack thereof. As for the tiles being cut from 13" tiles, I don't care for working with them, either. but there's no excuse for that kind of workmanship. The only problem he should have as a result of that would be sizing. Tiles sticking out have nothing to do with what he's complaining about. he needs to get back and fix this, at HIS cost.

PLEASE tell me you haven't paid him yet.

The same thing has happened in my kitchen - slightly noticeable during the day but yells-out at night with under-counter or subdued lighting. This is actually the second tile job for a new construction - original tile was put up but not grouted and was the wrong tile - now we have this unevenness but with the correct tile - can it be taken down and corrected without totally destroying wall? I think contractor did not even out wall after removing first job.

If your undercabinet lighting is, as with most, right at the top of the backsplash, you're running into a condition called "washed lighting". The light washes over the surface of the tile, causing shadows. On a small area like a backsplash, though, it's expected with some tiles, and not with others. Could you take a couple of pics of your backsplash and post them?

I'd be upset too... but I just want to say that your accent tile is stunning! So pretty and unusual. Hope you can get things fixed to your satisfaction.

Beeps-- the pictures at the top are a year old. :-)

:*) So they are Bill! Hate when that happens. :)

HI Bill,

Thanks for the reply - I will take some pics tomorrow evening when it is dark and post them. I'll be honest - it is pretty rough.

An old post for sure, but for future reference for anyone that cares:

A low-angle, "raking" light like that is what I use when inspecting walls after the drywall is up. It shows all flaws so things can be repaired as needed prior to paint.

Not a solution to the tile problem, but a bandaid to minimize the shadowing...

That looks like a surface-mounted florescent light. the light is installed where the backsplash meets the ceiling. If the light was moved "forward" so it's at the intersection of the ceiling and the back side of the arched transom, it'll do two things; minimize the shadowing caused by the tile lippage, and it'll take away the "glare" of the light being directly in the line-of-sight of the viewer's eye, like it is in the small inset photo.

If there is tile on the wall behind the light, moving the light could be fairly simple. If the light can't be moved for whatever reason, another one could still be added on the back side of the arched transom.