Breezygirl, this does help since one of the reasons my kitchen was going to cost so much was because I wanted to remove the empty soffit and install 36" cabinets with crown molding. Most stores wanted to then remove all the popcorn first in all rooms downstairs telling me they could not patch it up. My most recent quote was in January 2014 and the contractor was going to put a beam to separate the rooms which I did not like as he said he had to remove the popcorn. I prefer no beam and to have just a straight line with the other room having popcorn if it costs too much to remove. I will try to take a picture of my kitchen. I love my tiles and it is helping to see that BM Simply White looks best with my tiles. I am going to put the recessed lights in my living room which is my home office and leave the fixture in the dining room part of the home office. I will then see if that room becomes a mess (has no lights in the ceiling now) before seeing who can patch up my ceilings. I will revisit my kitchen cabinets after the lighting is done downstairs, my wood floors are installed in the other three rooms to close out my insurance claim and my windows and doors downstairs are replaced as the vinyl has cracked and it is cold in the winter time. I really want kitchen cabinets and a counter like Breezygirl. I needed tiles due to little dogs going in and out the sliding door in the kitchen and having a KitchenAid dishwasher that will be 5 years old at the end of October with now poor reviews of a failing pump. I can't afford another insurance claim for my wood floors. I am only using the dishwasher if I am home. I paid a lot for this dishwasher.

Sorry this is happening to you. Here's what I recommend. Hire a certified tile professional to come and do an inspection and give you a written report detailing everything that was done wrong and what it will cost to fix it. If you have “in-progress” pictures, show them to the tile pro. And post them here. Here are 2 organizations with search tools on their websites. www.tile-assn.com Click on “find a contractor” and enter your zip code. Let the miles radius be fairly large, like 50 miles or so. The excellent tile pro that built all my bathrooms was on that site in my area, but about 40 miles away bc he was near downtown and I’m in a suburb. www.ceramictilefoundation.org This site has lots of good information on it. I didn’t find my contractor on this site, but a lot of people have told me that they had luck with it. Here’s where you click to find a contractor: www.ceramictilefoundation.org/find-certified-tile-installers Also, if you are a nerd like me and you like to read, you could download a digital version of the TCNA handbook. It’s less than $40. It’s over 600 pages, but you don’t have to read the whole thing. Read the introduction (about 50 pages) and then read the tub/shower chapters. You can skip all the other chapters such as swimming pools, etc. Reading this helped me to learn about the process and industry standards for water proofing and tile installation; it helped me to ask more informed questions, and helped a lot in my meeting with the contractor who messed up my shower. www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications.html After the pro you hire for the inspection gives you his written report of all the things done wrong, have a business meeting with the contractor at the worksite and discuss all the problems. If it needs to be completely redone, ask them to do that, at their expense. They will either agree, in which case you give them a chance to redo it, or they will refuse, in which case they are effectively quitting. Confirm with them that if they don’t attempt to redo it, they are basically quitting; get them to acknowledge that fact. Don’t pay any remaining balance. After the meeting follow up with an email documenting that conversation, and asking for acknowledgement, so that in the future they can’t claim that you illegally fired them. In that email, say something like “We were so disappointed that you decided to quit the project rather than fix the [ list of problems ]. Because we have to have the shower rebuilt, we are requesting a refund in the amount of [$$$] in order for us to hire a new contractor and for the purchase of replacement materials.” They will probably respond to that email to refuse you the refund, but at least then you have an electronic paper trail that shows that you did not fire them illegally, that they quit instead. You can then go to small claims or district court to sue them if you want, but that’s a real PITA. In the scenario where they agree to redo it, give them a chance. Take pictures of the demo process so you can see the layers under the tile. Also take pictures twice a day (at lunch break, and in the evening) of every step of the rebuild, including all the supplies and tools. Post them here. When/if they mess it up again (and maybe have the inspector come out a second time), then you can legally fire them in most states. That’s how it is in TX where I am. If you want to know for sure you can look up your state’s statues online and read the construction laws. If you aren't sure and you don't want to read the laws, just assume that you have to give them a chance to fix first before firing them. After you fire them, ask for a refund and hire a real pro to start over. Consider hiring the person you hired to inspect. Sorry this is happening to you. It happened to me. It's far too common.

The tile looks fine. The Schluter trim...well, does it ever look good? I'd expect the joins in the trim to be filled with something that matches the trim, not the grout. Would it look passable if that were the case? Sometimes a Sharpie is the answer. (Especially if they won't fix it properly.) I don't mind the appearance of the overhang but I agree the trim is a bit askew. I'd ask to have the overhang corrected because it's a little bit dangerous and maybe just maybe the trim would be installed correctly. Sharp spiky points in bathrooms are often frowned upon.

Done by someone with very poor tile layout knowledge. Look at the shower niche area, the tiles above and below the stripe are stacked, but the rest are 1/3 offset. Slivers at the end are also a poor choice. The mosaic stripe around the tub looks like the sheets were not mixed and/or flipped to give the correct pattern. What did they charge you $10K for? Just the tile installation labor?