Good question! I was very worried about that, too, and told my tile guy that I wanted to see as much of the irregular edges as possible. He was very talented (he studied in Italy) and assured me that I'd see those edges and I do. But, unfortunately, I was at the grocery store when he did it and can't give you any details. Sorry! Mine is the crema marfil tumbled marble 4x4" field tiles with some 1x1" framing travertine tiles. Here's a closeup of how the tiles look after it was grouted:
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LOL live_wire_oak! I hear you and you are right of course  I just love those imperfections and was worried.

Lynn  Thanks for the picture  always a HUGE help. I do notice that the grout is below the level of the tile. I have no idea how that is done, but perhaps it is always that way which helps a lot (if this makes any sense).

Lynn  do you know what grout/color was used with yours? I "think" we have the same stoneÂ

Jeri, I don't remember what it was, I'm sorry. I can tell you that it was one of the lightest creams, but I wanted it just a tad darker than the tiles so that they would stand out better . . . just not too dark, so they showed like a grill, though ;^)
Have you decided on a sealer yet for your tile? We used the sealer that wouldn't enhance the tile, as I was concerned about it yellowing them too much. I had my heart set on the creamiest of white tiles and mine were so pretty. Our non-enhancing sealant kept the color just as it was. But, when we first applied it, the wet brought out even more of the gorgeous veining in the marble, that we kind of wished we'd gone with the enhancer sealant instead. Just one more thing for you to consider.

My BIL did the travertine in my master bath. He used a bag to grout the seams & not get it in the holes, which was my request. We also decided to leave the grout seams lower than the top of the tile.

Oh Dear! Conflicting info! I guess I'll just let DH do what he wanted and hope for the best. :-)

Lynn - what sealer did you use?

I have tumbled marble on my backsplash and the holes, cracks, chips were not specifically filled in. Some inadvertantly got filled in as the tile was grouted, but most of the imperfections remain, I simply sprayed on 511 impregnator/sealer and Viola! Nothing penetrates and I still have the beauty of the mediterranean style tiles. Filling the tiles in with grout is definitely not a necessity. I have plenty of tomato sauce and oil splatters, but, they wipe right off of the sealed tiles.

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Thanks again everyone! This forum Rocks! :-)

IÂm going to suggest that DH do his best to not cover all the holes  but not to stress over it. And, IÂm going to suggest he pick up Miracle 511 Impregnator Sealer.

Jeri

Geez!! I feel so unneeded. :-)