I paid the additional amount to get a tile color that would work in a guest bath. I thought they had shipped an ivory tub and had it exchanged twice before we realized Kohler cast iron white tubs are not bright white.

I guess I'll have to consider not having a chair rail in order to get the right color.

What floor did you do? I wanted to do hexagon tile but Daltile doesn't offer that in K101.

The "cull rate" for Daltile sold at Home Depot is supposedly higher (15%) than the cull rate that is standard for Daltile sold through other places (5%).* So a higher percentage of tiles will (may) be "wonky" I guess through Home Depot, so I would order extra if going through Home Depot and check all of the tiles and make sure that you're only using the "good" ones.

Honestly, I found it wasn't much more $ to order Daltile (rittenhouse square) through an actual tile store vs. Home Depot so that's the route I went with the small amount of tile I needed for the basement bathroom. We also have a Daltile store near us in the Chicagoland area that GCs can order from which is where I'm getting Daltile's Modern Dimensions. I'm pairing arctic white Daltile with a Kohler Bellwether tub and am not concerned about the color difference. I figure the sink (icera) and toilet (toto) are going to be a white similar to the tile and a bit different than the tub anyway so no matter what, something's not going to perfectly match. (As an aside, I found that Cambria White Cliff is a very close match to Daltile's arctic white and will be having my niche shelves and vanity counter made using a remnant of that.)

*See Sophie Wheeler's post here: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/daltile-from-home-depot-dsvw-vd~4835377

ETA: I think the price difference back in 2014 between Home Depot Daltile subways vs. Daltile rittenhouse square subways from a tile store was maybe $1-2 more per sq ft?

We just had Daltile Restore Bright White 3x12 from HD installed in a shower surround and I don’t think we had a single broken tile in any of the boxes. They seem like perfectly good quality in comparison to more expensive tile we looked at. The color of all the tile was consistent And I don’t recall seeing any wonky tiles. I did make sure to buy the boxes from the same “flat” from HD in hopes to keep the consistency...not that they would have been inconsistent had I not, but I was being super safe. We also used the natural built in lugs as spacers (rather than actual spacers) which made the space between tiles about 1/16th. We used the bull nose Restore bright white tiles in 2x6 to edge the shower which matched perfectly. I would post a photo, but at the moment the tile is covered in brown paper so we can paint. I am very happy with the results!

Our tub is a Kohler acrylic deep soaking tub. It seems to be a bit more creamy white than the tile, but It doesn’t bother me. The tub is on a different plane of light (horizontal vs the vertical walls) so even if the color were a true match, it might read differently anyway.

adawn5 - the price difference between HD Daltile subways and the Daltile from the tile store for me is about $5 a square foot. The big difference is the 6" chair rail which is $1.50 at HD but $9 at the tile store. Considering we need 30 feet of it, the difference adds up very quickly (about $90 vs. $540). I will need to use my contractor to buy it for me since Daltile won't sell to the public, which adds 15% on top of everything.

That's a lot of chair rail. I can see your dilemma. The Home Depot Restore may be just fine. As Xty G points out, "The tub is on a different plane of light (horizontal vs the vertical walls) so even if the color were a true match, it might read differently anyway." But, then again, a $500 price difference in an overall budget of $20,000+ isn't that large percentage-wise (of course your overall costs in materials/labor may be lower than $20,000 so $500 may make up a bigger percentage).

FWIW, the contractor we're currently using passes along his discount at all the tile/plumbing stores, which is probably not the norm, but is nice.

adawn5. The percentage-wise thing is kind of my Achilles heel right now. It doesn't seem like much but when applied to everything it is really adding up. The faucet that I fell in love with cost $300 more which then means my showerhead cost $300 more and the accessories cost more now too because I need it to match of course, and then the tub because I want it to be somewhat deep soaking is $500 more and oh, that requires a special $80 drain and my budget it ballooning when we're already spending a lot more on the renovations than initially had thought.

Carol M, I feel for you. If we had stuck to our fairly reasonable allowances, our little 5.5 x 9' hall bath remodel would have cost us about 18,500. But we've been to this rodeo once before (for the little master bath) and we always seem to go a bit over most of the allowances (which adds up at the end of the day) so we started out this time knowing there was no way it would be done for under 20K and just hoped to get it done for well under 25K, which we have managed to accomplish.

Some of the blame goes to the extra half foot in bathroom width which necessitated a 66" tub to replace the current pink cast iron tub which I painted white in the past. A new cast iron 66" tub added a lot in cost (although a nice acrylic 66" tub with the look I wanted was surprisingly expensive too), and then the contractor charged a few hundred more to install cast iron vs. acrylic and the list goes on. We also picked out a slightly more expensive faucet than expected. And we wanted two ganged medicine cabinets vs. a long mirror over the vanity because we love and appreciate medicine cabinet storage. I tried to go as basic as possible on the toilet (Toto Drake II) but even that was over our allowance. Did I mention the $40 robe hooks? (I admit, I could have gone cheaper on the robe hooks.) At least the Daltile Modern Dimensions line was within our allowance for the shower walls and backsplash.

I helped my mom pick everything out (it's her house), and she can afford to go a little over budget at this stage in her life (by that I mean she can afford to spend a few thousand more on the bathroom than expected because it still doesn't put her over what is financially sound for her to spend annually).

Growing up when she and my father were working and putting money away for retirement and our educations, it was a whole other story. Both worked but we usually lived on one income and the other salary they put away for retirement and one family vacation a year. When they put an addition onto our little ranch house in the mid-80s, it was builder basic everything and we never did any remodeling or improvements except when things broke and had to be replaced or regular maintenance like a new roof. We didn't switch out our laminate counters for granite until the mid-2000s and even that felt pretty extravagant at the time. (And we're still living with the same 1980s cabinetry in the kitchen by the way with no plans to remodel the kitchen since it all functions.)

But now my mom has her nest egg all built up so no more putting away retirement money every month. There still is a budget (no pricey houzz photo-worthy bathroom remodels here) and she can't afford to do everything to the house she'd like to (and it doesn't even make sense to since she's only planning to live here another 10-15 years), but the hall bath was in sad shape and really could only serve as a powder room even though it's the only bathroom serving 2 bedrooms (the basement has a shower that I (and company) use and her master bath has a shower). The hall bath just had a tub, but no plumbing for a shower. Just a tub, peeling from the cheap paint job I gave it years ago. And the vanity was from the 60s or 70s so not in the best shape, along with some other issues. Sorry if TMI. But yeah, bathrooms remodels are expensive even just for a modest-sized bathroom. But no matter what the size, it has all that plumbing, the fixtures, the waterproofing, tile and tilework...it gets expensive.

I finished painting this weekend. Here is what the shower surround looks like now. We still need to caulk the shower and grout the floor. the penny tile in the niches was is also from HD. Not a perfect match to the subway tile in terms of color, but very close, and now that it is in, it looks like it matches.

if you are worried about your budget, it seems like something simple like subway tile is a good place to save your money so you can spend more on the more visual finishes like a faucet and shower trim. Utilmatly, the subway tile will recede into the background of all your other finishes.

again, we are very happy with the HD tile.

I have the bellwether tub and bright white tile surround. The tile is definately whiter than the tub. It bothered me when bath was getting remodeled but as all the parts came together I have adjusted. But I do wish I had understood the tub is more of white when I was planning so commenting here in case helps others.

You are ignorant if you think matching whites doesn't matter. If you see it, it will make you crazy if you install it because you will see it every time you go into that room. Matching whites is an art and should be considered very carefully. Don't listen to arch13.

See you next Tuesday, Rebecca!

What did you use to finish the edges of the tile?

Anyone find a PAINT COLOR that matches the HD Daltile Bright white tile? My BM White Dove is too yellow next to it. Thinking maybe BM Simply White?

Here is HD Daltile Bright White Restore subway 3x6 … trying to match paint color on wall.

Have you tried BM Chantilly Lace or BM Super White?

I will look, thanks!

@adawn5 any chance you can post pics of your space w the Belweather tub and Daltile Arctic White? Thank you!

I have some in progress and completed pics (in various lights). I tried to pick a couple that highlight the difference close-up but honestly if you look at the overall photos, there's not that much of a difference.

BTW, Cambria White Cliff is a perfect match for Daltile Artic White and is what we used for the vanity counter if anyone's looking for a white quartz to match whites (I looked at a lot of "white" counter samples). Wall/ceiling color is BM Chantilly Lace.

Also, I'm aware the space between the vanity and the tub is quite narrow. That's just how our hall bathroom has always been (we've been here since 1976) and we opted not to change it since it's never physically felt that cramped to be honest (and some of us are larger people).

@adawn5 the bathroom is gorgeous!!! You made absolutely fabulous choices! I went with the Belweather myself and am going to mirror the subway tile and grout color that you used! Is there any way you can provide names for both? The sink also matches perfectly too and that is definitely not an easy feat. Thank you for posting the pics, I feel like I have researched this stuff for months now.

@susander Thanks for the compliments. I'm still in love with our Bellwether, though I've only showered in it occasionally (and I still haven't taken a bath in it because I'm not much into taking baths).

I went with 4x8 Daltile subway tiles, arctic white of course (from Daltile's Modern Dimensions line). Our contractor bought straight from the Daltile showroom relatively near us. I think they've since discontinued the Modern Dimensions product line. I remember at the time (mid-2019), we last minute had to get a corner bullnose piece and the Daltile showroom said they were starting to discontinue the corner bullnose and other specialty pieces in the line. I wanted an oversized look for various reasons.

I have 3x6's in part of the basement bathroom. Daltile's Rittenhouse Square 3x6's are ubiquitous it seems.

In the hall bath with the 4x8's the contractor just used Home Depot's Custom Polyblend grout in "Bright White" (believe it was the whitest white I could choose). IIRC, some people on the forums were proponents of using an extremely light grey grout vs. a white because they felt white grout tends to kind of yellow over time? (I don't know but I think I remember reading this when I was doing my own many months of research). But I wanted a sea of white (other than a couple of art prints I hung later).

In the basement bathroom we used Mapei's "Avalanche" which I believe is Mapei's whitest white for grout. Both white grouts seem about the same with the arctic white tile.

If you have any other questions about the bathroom, let me know. I don't remember most of this stuff off the top of my head, but I keep a fairly detailed spreadsheet every time we do a remodel so that's what I turn to to find the answers. I even know the names of the vanity pulls and knobs (that took a surprising amount of time to pick out--so many choices!).

This is amazing info! I so appreciate all of your help. I also saw the yellowing remarks and I think am still going with white anyway - will most likely use one of your suggestions. I will surely bother you with more questions - the choices truly don’t end. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about stainless steel kitchen sinks too would you??? 😂😂😂

@susander Since you mention kitchens...we (fortunately or unfortunately) are not planning on renovating our kitchen, which was built as part of an addition in 1984. We did upgrade some of the appliances over the years and switched from laminate to granite about 15+ years ago but the dated cabinets, etc. are here to stay. We figure we'll let the people who buy the house from us in 10 years or so decide how they want to remodel it since it's totally functional/practical as is for us. It's just dated looking and a few of the cabinet doors are faded.

When we switched to granite we switched to an undermount stainless steel sink vs. the stainless steel sink with a lip around the edge we had before. The old sink and new sink are basically the same size rectangle but the new sink is deeper (but not too deep--I've done dishes in other people's sinks and for me if a sink gets too deep, at a certain point it gets uncomfortable standing for long periods at the sink rinsing out pots or whatever).

Also, the old sink was divided with a more narrow garbage disposable side and a wider side with regular center drain. Only ONE person in the family liked the divided sink. As a concession to this person, when we got the new (undivided) sink, we got a sink where the drain is offset and located in the far right corner of the sink bottom. This was a compromise because the rest of us hated having a divided sink, but the one person mainly just liked to have easy access to the garbage disposal.

As it turns out, what was a concession became a feature everyone in the family grew to love. You can put large serving pieces and pots and all sorts of (non-dishwasher safe) things to soak in the sink and the garbage disposal/drain remains unobstructed and usable in its corner. Also, our sink has a more rounded corner look (no hard angles in the bottom). Easy to clean. It's an Elkay sink, not too cheap feeling/sounding, and that's about all I know about it. Must have been 15 years ago at least when we got it and it was THE ONLY sink we could find that everyone could agree on.

We also bought an expensive grate made by Elkay just for this particular sink (with a cutout in the corner for the garbage disposal) that was a good investment based on how we use the sink. Gives us an extra cleaning task though because we have to clean the film that develops underneath the grate from time to time. But enough about our kitchen sink. It works for us but might not work for someone else.

Also, we did no research when we got the sink. IIRC, we just walked into a showroom and didn't quite like anything on display so that's when the sales lady listened to our needs and got out her big book, flipped to a page, and pointed to a listing with just a little drawing of a rectangular sink that would fit our cabinet that also had an offset drain.

@adawn5 you touched on 2 huge decisions for us - basin number and drain orientation! Such good insight, stuff I never would have thought about. As always, thank you!!!

@adawn5 hello! me again! If you can believe it, just getting around to tiling this bathroom. everything has taken forever. question on the right side of your tub there, where I see the bullnose tile. Did you have 4x4 bullnose tiles? my tiler has noted that cutting 3x6 bullnose for the look you have will not work because of the unfinished edge. He mentioned schluter but i am particular to the bullnose look and didnt know what other options I had. I dont believe daltiel has 3x3 so I am stuck in that regard. Thank you!

@susander, we used the same size 4x8 subway tiles in the same subway pattern, only they had bullnose on the short (4") end for the right side of the tub. I think that is the question you are asking?

@adawn5 oh i see! so your 4x8 w a bullnose edge were just cut in half? I currently have 3x6 bullnose tiles as well but my tiler indicated that since the layout is stacked, the unfinished edge of the cut bullnose tiles will not look the same as if it was a clean finished edge. Do you know if your tiler sanded them down at all to make that edge look any cleaner?

@susander, mine were not cut in half (except to keep the running bond pattern). They are complete tiles with bullnose on the short end.

@adawn5 i attached a pic since I think its easier to understand than my bad description lol For the tiles with an x, were those 4x8s bullnose cut to remove the left side of the tile? Or were those 4x4 bullnose tiles? My tiler has indicated that the highlighted edges will not look good if the 3x6s are cut as it will be an unfinished edge as opposed to a factory edge. If yours were 4x8s cut though, I do not see any issue with them and never would have noticed. Thanks again!

@susander, those were 4x8's cut to remove the left side of the tile. The tile guy used by my contractor did it. I don't think it requires any special skill other than being a tile setter?

For example, I had another tile guy redo an unusual basement bathroom for me. There were numerous places he had to cut 3x6's because that's just what happens?

See the sides of the niche in this photo where the running bond abuts the marble sides of the niche (I mean, there is grout between the cut edge and the marble side but it's not a jagged edge or anything):

In the hall bathroom (with the white subway tiles), the tile guy had to cut all of the cove base tops to a lower height and they all line up just fine in a row. The cove base pieces below the blue line I drew below all are trimmed on the horizontal top side to remove at least an inch or two in height.

Unfortunately the tile guy or the contractor did end up screwing up the actual floor install though so 2 years later they are finally coming back to redo the entire floor...kind of sucks since they have to remove the toilet, semi-custom vanity, etc. and try not to screw up the cove base in the process since I can't get anymore and only have a few spare pieces left. But that's a whole other story.

@adawn5 thank you so much for the info, somehow I did not get the notification that you responded. I am going to speak with my tiler about cutting the 3x6s - he mentioned Schluter and I just do not want that look. I am so sorry to hear about your floor, it never is a small fix, always has to be everything has to come out to fix it, etc. Hopefully they will take great care not to damage anything further since they are redoing their mess up.... in the process of this small bathroom reno, I have found how hard it is to find good work

@adawn5 I came here researching 3x6 white subway tile to match Kohler white cast iron tub and your information and pictures in this thread have been EXTREMELY helpful!! Thank you so much!! Now deciding between bright white grout and very light grey grout due to what I've also heard about white grout yellowing over time- have you been happy with your white grout decision?

@Laura Milstead, I guess maybe the wall tile grout seems slightly less bright white than it was when it originally went in but I don't read it as having yellowed (yet). I've been happy with my decision but I'd be interested to see (especially in person) what a white subway tiled wall looks like with light gray grout and how faint or distinct the grout appears. I was too chicken to try a light gray grout because I was worried it would be noticeable and break up my sea of whiteness in the wall tile.

For example, prior to the hall bathroom, we used Mapei's Frost (light gray grout) on a shower floor in the basement with porcelain carrara-look tile (so white/gray marble-look tile) and I like it there but it definitely is not white and I was afraid even a light gray like Frost would highlight the running bond pattern in my "sea of whiteness" in the hall bathroom. That said, I'm not an expert who's done tons of bathrooms so maybe I just don't know any better.

Glad my posts & photos were helpful for you!

As an aside, we're still waiting for the original contractor to come back and redo the floor (the blue hex tile). The grout failure in the floor tile is somewhat fortuitous in a way because I thought I could get away with a somewhat glossy tile on the floor since it's mainly used as a powder room and the tile showroom person said it was fine to use. Well, it turns out the floor is beautiful but turns into a very expensive slip & slide if an water gets on it. So even cleaning the bathroom is tricky, let alone getting out of the shower. Lesson learned. Luckily, there seem to be a lot more medium-size blueish hex tiles available now so we've purchased (matte) Anatolia Form hex tiles in the color Tide as the floor redo tile.

I have pics for anyone interested in what the Anatolia Form hex tiles look like grouted with bright white (just like the Walker Zanger hex, the tile looks a bit more blue once it's grouted, which I like) and a comparison between a Walker Zanger 6th Ave hex tile and an Anatolia hex tile. No one (the contractor or the tile guy he uses) could explain exactly why the ceramic Walker Zanger tiles did not adhere to the floor, which is apparently what was leading to the grout crumbling and the floor never feeling 100% solid. Many of the Walker Zanger tiles came out (this is 2 years later) and their backs were completely clean as if they had never been laid in the first place. The contractor showed me but said it looked like it was NOT the tile guy's fault. Really strange. It's an older tile guy and I watched him lay the original tiles myself since I was home during the original remodel so it's not like they brought some random person in that day.

In any case, we're not out any money other than the original $700-800 outlay for the Walker Zanger tile since it was way over our allowance. We also paid for the replacement Anatolia tile but that was cheap. So the contractor (and helper) removed the toilet and vanity, removed the Walker Zanger tile & underlying cement board, redid the cement board on the floor, and the tile guy came over the course of two days and redid the floor with the newer (cheaper and more practical) Anatolia tile. Then the contractor came back and put everything back like he was never even there. I was worried because there was a discontinued Daltile cove base that the new tile had to fit under, but thankfully no cove base was damaged during all of this and the new tile was just about the same thickness as the old so fit right under the cove base. We had to wait many, many months to get on the schedule but our contractor made it right in the end.

And FWIW, even though the Walker Zanger website (and the tile store people who sold it to us originally) claim it's okay to use this tile on bathroom floors, I definitely do not recommend it due to being slippery when wet or if one is wearing socks.

@adawn5 how do you find the slip factor of the anatolia tile is now that it is installed? i see it has a R9 rating, which says be sure to use a bath mat if used in a bathroom. I loved your pictures of that tile so i went searching for it, though i misread and initially thought it was the Ice color (light gray). I then saw the Tide, which i really like, but my husband is leaning towards the Ice.

If the floor isn’t slippery, then we are full speed ahead. i also like the contrast of a white floor grout (but cringing thinking about cleaning it). might i ask what thickness your grout width is?

@Sabrina Henneman, sorry, was on a vacation, just seeing your question now. Grout lines are 1/8" (I just measured). I don't really use the tub/shower in there except to clean or shave my legs sitting on the edge of the tub so have found no need for bathmats yet except for after I shave my legs. I would also use a bathmat if I was showering because I wouldn't want to drip water all over the floor when I got out of the shower (thought everyone used some kind of mat/towel when they got out of a shower no matter what type of tile?). I personally find the tile to be plenty "grippy"/rough-ish. I definitely don't feel like I'm on an ice skating rink anymore when I wash my face in the sink and water gets on the floor (I'm messy when I wash my face). Also, when I'm rinsing down the tub and there's overspray onto the floor tiles by the tub and when I wash the floor, I don't have to worry about slipping and sliding. To me, it's the perfect amount of roughness for a bathroom floor that can get wet.

Cleaning has not been an issue for me so far but the bathroom is used primarily by me (in bare, relatively clean feet) as a powder room. I use a vacuum hose attachment to suck up stray cat fur, dust bunnies, and human hairs every week or two and then maybe once every few weeks I wipe the tiles down with a VERY water-diluted solution of a neutral cleanser like this version of Odoban or Fabuloso. I prefer the Odoban though and just use a few drops in a bucket of water. It's such a small bathroom that I wash/wipe the floor by hand vs. mopping. FWIW, this is my favorite mop and the bucket that goes with it that I use in other parts of the house. My mom has beige grout and totally different tile on her bathroom floor. I remember I had some success in the past cleaning up her darkened grout putting a paste of oxiclean powder & water on the grout lines, scrubbing, let sit and then wiping off. Was kind of tedious though. Luckily her tiles were pretty big though so not many grout lines to clean.

Did you end up picking a tile and color?

Stumbled upon these posts while obsessing over shades of white Daltile / grout / countertops… you are my people, thank you for taking the time to educate us with your research.

I have just discovered that Dal tile K101 has been discontinued. This post is several years old. I’m wondering if anyone has recently discovered a white subway tile to match Kohler acrylic tubs? Thanks in advance for any useful information!!