You never no, they could be a Chinese import, seconds, a closeout lot, a return to mfr. Or they could be perfect quality and the exact same item. And that could be true for two different items right next to each other on the shelf. Absolutely no way of being 100% sure, but generally if they are the same manufacturer and the exact same model and sku number generally they should be he same quality item.

Thank you, millworkman. We're looking at natural stone so it's very hard because unless it's offered through a major tile company such as DalTile, American Olean, etc. there's no way to know who sourced it.

What we did notice that there is some product labeled as coming from a country which has quarries, for example Turkey, other items - particularly the smaller mesh-mounted natural stones - are labeled as coming from China. We suspect that the quarried material is shipped to China for cutting and mounting.

My major concern is consistent thicknesses and quality of cut edges. But, not being an expert, it's so hard to know. The tiles we brought home look uniform enough though.

Thanks.

The discounters may be buying leftovers from manufacturers, second quality from picky manufacturers, or a line made by a major manufacturer for anyone who wants to sell it.

For a backsplash, color and consistent size are the most important
things. It's not a high-stress area for tile like floors and shower
stalls.

I bought super-cheap backsplash tile (less than $0.50 /sq ft) because it was the right color for the kitchen. I had ONE broken tile in the three boxes and the color consistency was extremely close. I could have paid 10 to 50 times as much and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

For a backsplash tile so long as it is even thickness and if using a meshed one, placed evenly on the mesh and not varying sizes of spacing (within reason), then go for it. For a floor, I might do a little more research. We have a discount place here too and we got gorgeous porcelain tile for our small bathroom walls and shower for less than it would cost at a regular flooring place. It came from Italy. I think a lot of them sell the remains after other stores move on into a different tile, as there is so much turnover and so many to choose from. Or they buy clear-out stock from businesses going out of business. Even for a floor, the boxes should say where it came from and you can see how thick the glazed surface is before deciding.

Realistically almost all your stone now come from China. I talked with one of the largest importers in the US and they told me that 90% of stones are quarried all over the world then shipped to China for cutting and finishing then shipped to the final distributors.

Thanks for the replies. I did go to a tile company's showroom today and asked the sales person about it. She said that this particular discounter gets overstock/discontinued stock, etc. and that there shouldn't be any real concern about buying it for my purposes. I mentioned that, when I laid out the tiles, they were not uniform thickness. She said it was probably that they were mixing lots. The interesting part is that all of the packaging appears to be consistent, suggesting that they buy their inventory and then repackage it.

Appreciate your thoughts.

I would have no problem using tile from a big box store for a backsplash. We just couldn't find any that were right for our project (not a big enough selection) We bought some rather expensive glass border tiles at a tile store, without first checking at their overstock/discontinued warehouse. After the job was finished we found a very similar tile at their warehouse for less than 1/2 the price. If you have a tile overstock place nearby, it pays to check it out.

We used polished subway marble tile in 2x6 from floor and decor. We love them! No problems at all. Here is a pic.

gw · More Info

Thanks for the info. Mayflowers, going to get a bucket.

Aktillery9, looks wonderful! What was the marble color?

Used tile from Floor & Decor (for one BR), tile store (for other BR), and DalTile (for kitchen). No serious problems with any. Major difference - level & quality of customer service.