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.

Everyone is asking for a porcelain slab fabricator close to where they live. What I did was search on Houzz to find local contractors with porcelain slab installations. Then viewing work that they did a few years ago for any cracking particularly around the sink faucets. I did not have good experiences asking the material vendor for contractors for other projects I have done.

Do you mean outlet covers? I used porcelain outlet and switch covers a lot in my old (100 yr old) house. I liked them, but they stick out really far. They often wouldn't lie flush against the surface (if the surface was uneven plaster, or grout lines in tile). So, they tend to "announce themselves" albeit in a cute way. (But mine were from Home Depot. I haven't seen the ones at RH. Maybe they are flatter.) In my current (young--80 yrs old) house, I'm probably using a combo of plates from Classic Accents or Rejunvenation. My plan for the backsplash was to use polished nickel (and maybe apply an aging solution to it so it matches my vintage cabinet hardware better). But if the nickel stands out too much, I might get the version (from Classic Accents) that can be painted. I'm striving for an original look to my kitchen, and for me, painted covers might actually look more authentic (in all their charming sloppiness!) Note: if you are interested in nickel plates, the ones from Classic Accents are laquered, while the ones from Rejuvenation are not (better--in my opinion). Jgarner (assuming you've seen her kitchen) did nickel covers on the walls, and white covers on her subway tile. How about plugmold? :-) Francy

My daughter used the IKEA Bodarp green kitchen units for her new open plan kitchen extension and sourced some wooden terrazzo worktops, ply handles and oak slats panels to go round the peninsular. Looked amazing when completed. Here are some photos taken during the completion of it.