I went to pretty much every tile place in town looking for a filled, honed, medium shade travertine and couldn't find the right thing. I happened to be at my local Lowes and, low and behold, there it was. I needed 16x16 and they were 18x18, but since it was for a smallish bathroom floor, my contractor just cut them down. I knew it was a risk, but they didn't have any trouble cutting them down (no fill coming out, chipping, etc.). I don't think that the price was half the other places, but it was what I was looking for and have been very happy with it the past 2 months it has been installed.

I'll significantly disagree with terriks on that statement above. It's not just a quality discount, much like fabric from Joanne's. The tiles are first run, which means that the color is harder to match in the future (so buy extra, quite a bit) and often run on lesser quality materials which can mean that a finish will wear earlier or that the tiles can break easier. When it comes to stones, you get badly if at all gauged tiles as well. Personally, given that the cost of tiles is normally not as bad as the effort and cost of install, I'd buy one, then go compare it apples to apples at a quality tile shop. You'll see the difference likely. If the difference does not matter to you...no biggie, but if it does, than you should up that portion of your budget. I purchased subways from HD for the last house and then went to a local tile store. Theirs were obviously better quality when held side by side.

Home Depot carries Dal Tile (where I believe Lowes carries American Olean). Perhaps your hex mosaic is from Dal Tiles keystones line? If you call a floor or tile store who carries Dal tile, they may be able to point you to the hex mosaic blend that you got at HD. If the sheet of the blend has been discontinued you might be able to buy sheets of the single colors you need. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Daltile Keystones colors

If you buy exactly the same tile (manufacturer, model, color, etc.) from HD or from any other supplier, and it is not identified as a "second", it will be an identical product. The suggestion that manufacturers make a different quality product (with the identical model name/number) for the big box stores is basically an old wives tale. You will hear the same suggestion from plumbers who tell you that the only place to buy plumbing fixtures is from a plumbing supplier. However, what you may find is that Daltile makes "subway tile" in different grades/quality levels, and the tile you find in HD may not be identical to the Daltile product available from another supplier. In some cases the model number is almost a complete match, but there are one or two characters that are used to distinguish the quality and price point. What you need to decide is whether the quality difference is something you can see, and whether its worth it to you to move to that cheaper product. Bruce