Now I put the two sample tiles around the mushroom grout in the middle foyer with the light on and it really does not look bad. On the sample sheet the Toasted Almond, Mushroom grout look nice or maybe I should just go with a more white color. Let me see if I can take samples of the two tiles I have here that are definitely not white despite being called off-white.

Hi lynn - That is very exciting to know you have picked out tile for your kitchen floor! It will be interesting to see some pictures of the tile you have chosen when you get a chance to post.

We have 18" x 18" porcelain tile in our small kitchen floor area and I like it a lot. It's been 3 years and I can't remember what grout width we used...either 1/8 " or 1/16". Since your tile is rectified, it will be easier to do narrow grout joints compared to using unrectified tile. Ours is unrectified and took a lot of patience to work with. It worked out ok for us since our floor area is small.

We bought the tile and the grout from Lowes. The grout was Keracolor U Ivory#39. If I were to do it again, I would probably used a slightly darker color grout...like mushroom or light gray.

I sealed the grout, but did not seal the tile. I don't think they told us to seal the tile. The tile has been fantastic...no stains or discolorations and it cleans up so well.

Laurie

Laurie, I remember your beautiful floors that I have saved on another computer. I could not then believe that you used such a big tile since the tile size looked amazing in your small kitchen. I have a small kitchen also and now I see that is the size I want also. I remember you used a 1/16th inch grout width and it looked amazing with the grout matching the tile so well! I tried to get that tile then, and my local Lowe's did not have it. But the tile I am getting is similar and I know I will be very happy and I am so glad I am going wider. I am going to wait for the tiles to be here and take pictures and I am thinking either the Mushroom or the Toasted Almond. My neighbors did an off-white that looks great but I have learned too light is difficult to clean.

If I go with the Tech grout, I will need to seal it but it is easier to use. If I go with the Latricrete Spectra-Lock grout, I have learned that the installer should know how to use it to get the stain proof properties otherwise it will stain.

I wish I could do my two foyers over and went with the rectified tile and went with as big as possible and not cared about the diagonal look to fit two 12.4 X 12.4 tiles there since I am hating cleaning the light grout where I put the little doggies' puppy pads down.

Thank you again for always replying. I loved the red oak hard wood floors you used, the bigger baseboard trim and your wall color. I also loved your new kitchen cabinets, the granite counters and your backsplash. But I especially loved your tiles. I am buying these for $2.57/square foot which I feel is good for the 5 PEI rating, the 18" X 18" size, and the fact they are rectified. I am excited that I saw what I wanted and bought it without taking weeks and months like I usually do. My problem is I like the way lighter grout looks but know too light is difficult to clean so thank you for letting me know that you wish you went a little bit darker.

Now to see if an installer can do a 1/16th width or if not NO wider than a 1/8th width. You and your husband are both so handy and so nice!

I have decided that most likely I will be going with the Latricrete PermaGrout and sealing the floor and going with the Mushroom Color after seeing the sample grout in my house with the tiles that were delivered by my friend today in his SUV. There are 9 boxes. I love the tile. I am now wanting a 1/16th width since the store feels this tile can handle it but now I want to interview installers to see who can do it. I found a few pictures of work I liked by installers online and I will call and ask for estimates and references and ask how they plan to do the job and how they plan to transition between the cabinets since I am not moving them and transition between the 1/2" thick 5" wide Brazilian Cherry floors. I have learned a lot from my last tile installation where both installers were not that great and I also need to make sure my cement floor is level. I will try to take pictures soon. Thank you Laurie again for reminding me that you used 18 X 18 tile and a skinny grout width. Your husband and you sure are talented!

It will be so refreshing and beautiful when you see your new kitchen tile floor with your beautiful B Cherry wood flooring!

Our old kitchen sheet linoleum floor was about 28 years old before we tiled over it. The old linoleum was still glued down very well, but the surface was pitted, dirty, and just horrible. We used a stripping/cleaner product for no-wax floors prior to the tile install.

Laurie can you post pictures of your kitchen floors again or email me a picture. I loved them. I love my tiles but I prefer them in my foyer lighting or in the kitchen in the day light. At night that ugly fluorescent lighting is making them darker than I had wanted them to be. I really need to change that light out ASAP since it is so ugly, attracts bugs and makes colors distorted. I have three installers coming by for estimates tomorrow and to see if they can do a 1/16th grout width as well as checking if I need more tiles since I was just told by my friend that the store found some more boxes that I can buy if I need.

Sorry it took me so long to respond. Here are some pictures.

Thank you Laurie so much! I love your tiles! The size and coloring of your tiles and the 1/16th grout line looks so nice! Your tile has a little more of the light color in than mine but they are very similar.

The third installer ($100 more than the lowest installer but $640 less than the highest installer) came by for an estimate and told me to go out and get the whitest Fluorescent light before buying two more boxes that he says I need. He told me if they only have 8 boxes left and if I ever want to remove the cabinets and put the tile under new cabinets, I should buy all the left over tile. I went to Home Depot and bought 4 Day Light Fluorescent 40 watt 48" long bulbs and my friend installed the bulbs for me and we cleaned out the bugs in that light on the ceiling that I need to change soon. What an amazing difference! I now like my tiles again but like them better in the natural light of my bedroom with my sand white maple furniture (I brought up 5 tiles to my bedroom trying to see why in natural light with lighter surroundings, my tiles looked so much better).

I have to call tomorrow morning to see if they have two more boxes. I just like yours a little bit better due to the little bit of gold I see and a little more ivory in your tiles or light beige whichever that lighter color is. But my design on my tiles is very similar and my tile is rectified and is a PE 5 rating so maybe once it is installed it will look nice and look nicer when I have a chance to change the doors on my cabinets or paint them. My tiles are not smooth which is good for my little dogs so they do not fall when they are running to get to the sliding door for me to let them out to make potty.

I just can't believe the amazingly high quotes I am getting for installing tile in my small kitchen. You are so blessed for having a handy husband and being handy yourself and both of you having good taste in decorating. I also love your straight edged Lauzon hardwood floors, large size baseboard molding and wall color.

I will take some pictures in the afternoon tomorrow and maybe some tonight . I just hate my cabinets and wish I could change them and also get granite but that may be a project for next year unless a quote for new doors is not too much or a quote for painting is not too much. My problem is that my cabinets are that cheap builder grade stuff and the oak is veneered and the cabinet boxes are particle board. Ate least I am happy with all my stainless steel appliances and my stainless steel hood. I also love my kitchen table.

I went to the store today to buy two more boxes of the tile to be safe since I had no idea that I had to pull out the stove to put tile underneath it. They have more boxes left if I need more tile I was told today. This bothers me since this is not what they told me a week ago. I wish I was doing my whole kitchen right now and could remove the cabinets to put the tile underneath but I think I may be painting or refacing the cabinets and only changing out the counter top. I have not planned to go under the dishwasher so hopefully I do not need to. I will try to take pictures tomorrow morning. I have a very busy day today but I will take pictures with the new lighting and post them.

Thank you! Your pictures helped a lot.

Glad to hear you found better lighting and were able to buy 2 more boxes of tiles : )

I have many things I still need to get done, as well. Try to keep focused on one thing at a time...I have to force myself to this, too. I would LOVE to have a ss oven and a ss refrigerator...but, that will be way off into the future for me.

When we tiled the kitchen floor, I don't think we tiled ALL the way underneath the DW or the stove. I'll double check with dh sometime today. I think we went partially under these areas, but not all the way to the wall. I'll get back to you on this.

Laurie

Thank you Laurie! Yes, please let me know if you want under the dishwasher and/or stove. I know I have to go under the refrigerator since I should have bought the 36" wide but my friend kept telling me it would not fit. Well the 33" wide LG Refrigerator has more than enough room on the sides.

I took some more pictures. Changing the light bulbs helped but I really need better lighting in the kitchen since that ugly fixture only lights up the middle of the kitchen leaving the rest not light enough.

You are so right that I have to focus on one project at a time. I just wish I would meet a handy guy and fall in love and we can be a team fixing up my home which will become our home. I really love fixing up my home but it is so costly hiring labor and difficult to have no one to bounce ideas off of.

I have so much to do today so will try to post pictures before bed.

I found out...we tiled all the way to the wall under the refrigerator, only part way under the stove (not sure exact distance underneath...maybe 9" or less?) and no tile underneath the DW. The builder of the home (a new built home back in 1980) did not even install the linoleum under the DW.

BTW, we are on a concrete subfloor which is your case as well, I believe.

Here's a picture I found of our kitchen in mid-remodel. On the lower left (in the space where the DW would eventually go), you can sort of see where the tile ends and the rest is concrete.

Laurie, you are making me feel better since I do not want to remove my dishwasher and only want to tile where I should tile. I also found another picture of quarter rounds around your cabinets so maybe it is OK, that I am tiling now and not waiting to see if I am able to buy new cabinets next year. I can just tile around the cabinets it looks like? I am also on a concrete slab with no basement due to living in the wetlands (but my floors are all dry I have found out from testing when I was doing wood floors)so I heard that concrete is the best floor for tile.

I have so much I still want to do to my home including putting hardwood floors upstairs but I am trying to take one step at a time. But I am enjoying seeing pretty home improvements including finally getting two beautiful pictures I love so much for my downstairs. I love having the engineered hardwood floors downstairs. I really hated my always dirty and dusty around then 18 years old carpeting when I changed it in the year you changed yours. I loved the red oak floors you used but since I had little dogs dogs, I thought a harder floor would be better but I am learning that the coating on top of the floor that protects against scratches and not the hardness of the wood.

I still want to remove that tarnished sink in the kitchen, do something about the cabinets and counters but for now, I can not handle my discolored Linoleum floor anymore so I am doing something about it.

Thank you again Laurie for the pictures. You are the best!

By the way, what granite did you use on your counters? I wish now I got the over-range microwave and just kept a stool nearby since my big microwave takes up so much room on my counter. But I am so petite (4"10") that I did not want to spill hot soup or coffee on me if I got too lazy to get a stool.

Laurie, I took some more pictures of my tiles and grout choices but I need to still clean up my desk from so many classes, dog stuff, tile stuff, seminar listings, my bill files, etc. so I can get up to do invoices tomorrow and finish a tax return. I am just burnt out and want to fix up my kitchen. But I do have pictures but will have to download and then set up in the Photobucket program to share. If I can do it before bed, I will try otherwise it will be in the morning. I really appreciate all your help.

I'm not sure if the installer will be able to do the tile without removing the DW...that's a detail I am unsure of.
Dh tiled our floor after the cabs were installed. Then, quarter round was installed. Some of my old pics were taken before the quarter round was installed.

The granite we used for the counter tops is called Luna Pearl (aka: Bianco Sardo). It's 3cm thick.

Here's another picture where the tile ends at the DW opening (lower left corner of the picture)
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Below, is a picture of the newly installed cabs with the OLD linoleum. You can see where the linoleum ended and the remainder is bare concrete in the space where the stove is missing
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Laurie again thank you for your help! You are blessed to have a window in your kitchen. If you did not live so far from me (I live in NJ), I would ask your husband if I could hire and pay him to install my tile and help me out. He does an excellent job and is very detailed oriented and cares about doing a great job. His backsplash job is beautiful also in other pictures I have seen of your kitchen. I love Maple cabinets. My bedroom furniture is solid Maple that I bought in 2007 since my golden oak platform bed fell apart and I needed a new bedroom set. Thanks for letting me know what your pretty granite tile is. Again thanks for letting me know that there is no tile under the cabinets which makes me feel better since I was going to wait to change the floors when I did the rest of the kitchen but the tile was discontinued and on sale and I fell in love with my neighbor's kitchen. I also remembered your tile size was 18" X 18". My tile is similar but yours has a gold in it that I wish mine had but I still like my tiles so much better than the floor it is replacing.

I am going to have a few more installers come here for estimates since I want to hire an installer who knows what he is doing and gives me a fair price. So far the cheapest installer, I was not impressed with and the most expensive installer, I was not happy with either. So I have one installer I like that told me to change the fluorescent light bulb to help me make a decision on my tile and grout with better lighting. But what bothers me about him is that he is doing this part-time but after I talk with another installer, I will make up my mind. I wish my client who owes me money could do the floors which is how this flooring decision got started now but he had no clue on the real amount of tiles I needed and had no clue on how much grout or thin-set I need and after my bad experiences with the tile installers for my foyer floors, I want an experienced installer who will do a good job. I have other jobs I can give my client to do since I have been waiting 2 years for payment.

Pictures of my 18 X 18 ILVA Aida Tiles going to be installed in my kitchen:

Finally, I was able to post pictures of my new tiles that I will install in my kitchen. I know there are way too many but you can either view them in a slide show or click view all and click the pictures you wish to see. They are their "White Tile" out of the ILVA discontinued series of this rectified PEI 5 grading Porcelain Tile but they don't look white to me but have a faint white and beige in them. They have a mixture of colors and I got 40% off.

Please note, I did not realize their was a gray line going around the tiles which is now bothering me since I wanted to go with a light grout but C'est La Vie (that is life). :)

I also have Laticrete Mushroom grout in my foyer area that is slightly lighter and more beige with no yellow in it like the stick the store gave me. The Parchment grout stick I feel does not go with the tile. I hope a installer can help me better with the grout. I wanted the grout to blend with the tile but there is that gray line going around.

I did not realize my kitchen blinds need to be cleaned. My little 4 lb 6.5 year old dog is on special medicine for her heart and she keeps marking my blinds so I am glad they are easy to clean but I will clean them tomorrow.

I just cleaned my kitchen floors two days ago and they are so dirty looking already and have keep cuts in them from when the new appliances were moved into the kitchen and have a piece cut off near the sliding door showing the concrete floor underneath. They Linoleum is about 20 to 21 years of age and is not glued down well at all since it is unraveling on the sides.

I used three coats of Honey color Gel on the cabinets and it took away a lot of the worn spots but there are some areas it will not fix especially under the cabinets. I need to either paint the cabinets, reface them, or remove them but finances are tight due to slow paying clients.

From these pictures, I see the steam from my pots is getting onto my wall since I have no backsplash yet.

All my appliances are new with the Refrigerator bought at the end of 2006, the dishwasher bought near the end of October 2009 and the Range bought near the end of December 2009.

Again, just pick and choose what you want to see. I hope I made the right choice but the tiles installed in my neighbor's home (with their dark cherry cabinets, overhead halogen lighting and a window behind the sink that I do not have as well as the sliding door window) looked so nice that I hope when they are installed and I change make the other changes in the kitchen, I will be happy.

I also would like to change the counters next year.

Here is a link that might be useful: ILVA Rectified Tiles 18 X 18- Color is Aida (White) but do not look white

I love the look of clean light grout and used the SpectraLOCK stain resistant grout in my two foyer areas and it is getting pee on it that is difficult to remove from my little dogs using the puppy pads in the middle foyer. The front tiny foyer by the door seems to stay mostly nice but some of it in 2.75 years is a little dirty. I think I need a grout that I have to seal to keep it nice it seems or someone that knows how to install the SpectraLOCK grout properly.

The grayish taupe edge on the tiles seems to be a hue in between Latte (40) and Parchment (61)on the printout from the computer from Laticrete�s pdf color chart and similar to the Linen (122) from the Polyblend Home Depot color chart but a touch of gray mixed with it. It is a grayish taupe color That is going to show around the tile but I don�t remember seeing it with the off-white grout my neighbor�s used.

The Laticrete Mushroom (#39) seems to pick up the lightest color in the tile like I wanted from the pdf printout that is not as yellow as the plastic bar strip sample from the store. I wish it had a slight more gray mixed in the color but a similar lightness. I was going to use the Toasted Almond (#52) until the store told me it dries with an orange cast and the stick has a lot of orange in it but the printout from the computer picks up one of the darker colors in the tile and it is slightly less dark than the Parchment. The store recommended that I go with the Latricrete PermaColor grout in Mushroom.

The pictures are date stamped since the pictures of the kitchen was when I was sharing the new hardwood floors and my new appliances. My kitchen was much uglier before I changed the horizontal metal broken bone blinds on the sliding door window and the almond appliances and the family room used to have an old beige carpet before in September 2009 I changed the floors to BR-111 5" wide Brazilian Cherry Floors.

It is funny when I moved into my home almost 14 years ago when my home was a little more than 7 years old (so the floors must be a little more than 21 years old), I found the almond appliances, the counters and floors to be so pretty! It wasn't until I was looking for a new refrigerator at the end of 2006 and found the Kitchen Forum, that I began to hate my kitchen. But I did hate my floors after moving into my home since it was too difficult to keep clean despite then liking the way it looked. It is amazing how our tastes change when we see real beauty.

Kitchen Pictures BEFORE New Appliances & Before New Blinds & the Paint on the Wall (changed from Behr Linen White with no contrast with the baseboards to BM Bone White with White Baseboard Trim) I have in the link below to remember how bad this kitchen looked. When I changed the blinds, I matched it to the BM Bone White walls and made sure it looked nice with the almond appliances and laminate counters. I never realized I would grow to hate them and eventually have all stainless steel appliances as each one stopped working being so old.

So you see from this pictures (you can look at them via a slideshow), the kitchen has been improving and now with new tiles, painting my cabinets an off-white I plan to do in the kitchen (I also love cherry), new counters, maybe covering the soffit with crown molding, and other changes, I feel the kitchen will make me happy like my other rooms downstairs now do.

I just need to decide on the grout and if I want the tiles installed in a square pattern or a staggered pattern. Then I will slowly make the other changes. I am liking a color called BONE in the Polyblend grout color by Home Depot but I am not sure if the grout is any good. It is similar to Mushroom but slightly darker and more of a light taupe color that goes better with the edge borders on the tile.

Thank you for looking and being there for me. Any suggestions are always welcome.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Pics Before New Appliances, Blinds & Paint

Lynn - I think you have done a great job of home improvements. I really like your tile choice and it will look beautiful with your cabinets, wall color, and bc wood flooring.

I LOVE the small table and two chairs near your sliding door. What a perfect size for that area. I could use one like that in my house! It's neat how you can change the table from round to rectangular by lowering those two sides down.

Laurie

Laurie, sorry for so many pictures but I downloaded the pictures from the camera and just had it download all to Photobucket and I was too tired to delete pictures. Next time I share, I will send in less so people will want to view. But I appreciate your nice comments.

That is why I sent the way before picture to show that my kitchen is a big improvement from when I bought my home and the mini blinds broke from raising and lowering them. The wall color was also too white for the appliances back then.

Since the wall color looks nice in the foyers with my other tile called Akoya Bone that is a little darker, I feel once the tiles are down, it will look nice also. I am not sure how the blinds go yet but I will worry about that next. But I really am liking the tiles and feel they will enhance my kitchen with that outdated in bad shape Linoleum floor gone.

I also love that little table. I was dating a guy when I moved into my home and we were looking for a small kitchen table for my kitchen and he kept trying to push me to go with cheap tables at stores that I hated. He finally told me that the deal for the table that was too big for the kitchen was a great deal and he will take me to Ethan Allen to show me what expensive prices are like so I will see that the table and chairs he is showing me were a good deal. The minute I saw this table and chairs, I fell in love and despite how expensive the set was even with the great sale this store was having at the time. I bought all four chairs and the insert to enlarge the table. I am able to add two more chairs from other rooms if I have 6 people at the table with the insert in the middle of the table and it fits in the middle of the kitchen. But I am glad I can then make the table small again for room to walk and cook. The table is so well made and is solid wood with even the side rails for lowering the sides made of solid wood. I went back the next day to bring one of my drawers to see how it matched and bought it. I have always been happy with my decision.

I always wished my cabinets were made out of the wood that the table is made out of. Not sure what it(forgot since I did not know much about wood almost 14 years ago but remember it being a nice wood and it was solid wood and not oak so I was happy it went with my cabinets despite not being the same wood). I love the Wheatback chairs so much.

I am so glad I did not try to save money and get the table that did not match my cabinets and was too big for the kitchen. Some things are worth investing in. Like you invested in the cabinets and put other purchases on hold. I feel that was a wide decision. I also love your tile floors backsplash, wood floors and baseboard trim in the other room.

Again, thank you for being there for me and making me not feel alone during my home renovations. I can't wait to post new pictures when the tile floor is down and then to work on other parts of my kitchen project.

My kitchen fixture kept flickering so I took off the cover and my friend had not turned two of the bulbs on! Now the light is twice as bright and the tiles are even prettier with more of the cream showing and the detail on each tile clearer. I just have to find the right installer as I am also in a middle of a deadline.

I am hoping to get paid by more of my clients so I can continue the kitchen updating that will make me so happy. I guess I need to try out samples of the grout since I want my grout to blend with my tile and I will be sure to seal the grout well.