Shop Porcelain Tile by Room

Porcelain, Room by Room

Porcelain is the one tile material that can go almost anywhere in a house, but the requirements change from surface to surface. A bathroom floor needs grip when wet. A kitchen floor needs to survive a dropped pan. A patio needs to survive a frost. The tile that satisfies all three exists, but you will pay for capability you do not need if you do not narrow it down first.

Two numbers do most of the work. PEI rates surface wear from 1 (wall only) to 5 (commercial floor); most residential floors want PEI 3 or above. DCOF rates slip resistance; 0.42 or higher is the accepted threshold for a wet interior floor.

Wet Areas

Bathroom

Porcelain bathroom tile is really two separate decisions. Walls can be anything, including polished tile, because nobody walks on them. Floors need a DCOF of 0.42 or better, which in practice means a matte or textured surface, or a small format where the grout joints supply the grip.

Shower

Porcelain shower tile has the strictest brief in the house. The floor falls towards the drain in at least two directions, so a mosaic sheet — hexagon, penny round or pebble — conforms where a large tile has to be cut into the slope. Shower walls have no such constraint, so it is common to run a large-format tile on the walls and a matching mosaic on the floor.

Kitchen

Kitchen Floors

Porcelain kitchen tile on the floor wants PEI 4 and a matte finish, because a kitchen floor spends its life wet, greasy and walked on. Mid-tones hide crumbs and footprints better than either extreme.

Backsplash

Porcelain backsplash tile is wall tile, so slip rating is irrelevant and you can choose purely on looks and on how easily it wipes down. A glossy or polished surface behind a hob cleans faster than a heavily textured one, and a tight grout joint in a stain-resistant grout will stay looking new far longer than a wide one.

Outside

Outdoor and Patio

Outdoor porcelain pavers have one requirement above all others: they must be frost-proof, which means a water absorption at or below 0.5% so there is no moisture inside the body to freeze and split it. Porcelain meets this by definition; most other tile materials do not. Outside also demands a much higher slip rating than inside, so look for a structured or grip finish. Thicker pavers can be laid dry on gravel, sand or pedestals as well as bonded to a slab, which is what makes them practical for a terrace or a path.

Quick Reference

• Bathroom floor — PEI 3+, DCOF 0.42+, matte or small format.
• Shower floor — mosaic sheet, hexagon or penny round, so it follows the fall.
• Shower wall — any porcelain, including polished.
• Kitchen floor — PEI 4, matte, mid-tone.
• Kitchen backsplash — any porcelain wall tile; easy-wipe finishes win behind a hob.
• Outdoor and patio — frost-proof pavers with a structured finish.

Every tile is sold by the box with a per-square-foot calculator, so you can order the exact coverage each room needs plus a cutting allowance.