Choosing the right kind of tiles for your home or office project is cumbersome when there are so many options available. If everything goes fine, you will have a larger space, while the wrong option can disrupt the look and ambiance. With countless alternatives in patterns, colors, designs, materials, styles, and finishes, let us assume you are choosing porcelain tiles for your home or office interiors.
Porcelain tiles also contain a variety of patterns and colors to suit your needs. In addition, there are three major different types of porcelain tiles. Looking at their finishing technique, Glossy, Matt, and Textured porcelain tiles are widely popular. Most architects, homeowners, and builders choose these tiles for construction projects. So what makes them different from each other and which one is better to choose from?
Let us understand each of them in this blog and help you make a decision.
What are Glossy Finish Tiles?
Tiles with an extra glaze layer of liquid glass are known as glossy finish tiles. The glaze keeps the porcelain tiles shiny and bright, giving a super-smooth texture. This method also embodies a luxurious look of your space combined with distinctive patterns and colors available in tiles. You can amplify the ambiance of your home decor by providing a trendy, classy, and stylish look.
Pros of Glossy Finish Porcelain Tiles
Creates Optical Illusion of Larger Spaces
Glossy tiles reflect the light by bouncing around the room, elevating the entire look of the space into a larger one. With smaller spaces opening up, these tiles do tricks with your eye, making smaller spaces look larger and wider. So glossy tiles are the best choice for bathrooms, tight areas, bedrooms, etc.
Dark Rooms Shine Bright
Similarly, glossy tiles can also make your space seem brighter even though it has darker shades or dim lights. Especially, with white tiling, glossy tiles can be your perfect and ideal choice to brighten up shadowy rooms.
Easy to Clean
Since glossy tiles have a slippery nature, they can be easily cleaned. They are ideal for bathroom walls and kitchen splashbacks.
The most practical location for glossy tiles is around fireplaces as the soot and grime of fire can be easily removed from glossy surfaces.
Cons of Glossy Finish Porcelain Tiles
Shows out Imperfections
Shinier surfaces will easily draw attention to the dirt stains like fingerprints, soap smears, footprints, or wet patches. Hence, gloss tiles are easy to clean but also will require regular and frequent cleaning as compared to Matt tiles. To keep them spotless you must take care of it more than other tiles.
Slippery Surface
Smooth surfaces often tend to be more slippery especially when wet. So, based on any kind of situation, using a glossy tile for flooring may be a bad idea. Especially not for bathrooms and high-traffic areas.
Distracting Shine Characteristics
Reflective bright glossy tiles may irritate some people and some rooms may not need such tiles. To provide a soothing and subtle ambiance for rooms like a study room or a small office in your home, glossy tiles are a perfect fit. Otherwise, the bright gloss can turn out to be distracting.
What are Matt Finish Porcelain Tiles?
When a special layer is added to the top of the tile to give a non-shiny look, they are called Matt finish porcelain tiles. To give a natural and sheer look to your space, Matt-finish porcelain tiles are the best choice.
They can enhance the room ambiance and elevate the aesthetics, highlighting the corners of room surfaces and making it space-rich. Nowadays, Matt tiles are in the trend and the younger generation mostly opt for Matt finish porcelain tiles.
Pros of Matt Finish Porcelain Tiles
Gives a Better Grip and Anti-slippery
Matt surfaces have a firmer grip than gloss. They can become the best choice for flooring, especially in bathrooms and wet rooms. Even entryways are the best location for installing Matt porcelain tiles as they can conceal dirt and grime that is laid down by ongoing traffic. These slip-resistant tiles can lower the chances of accidents also.
Lesser Maintenance Issues
Since Matt finish can conceal smudges, stains, and dried water droplets, they are the best choice for different rooms like children’s rooms, kitchen, and bathrooms. They do not need frequent cleaning and don’t need much care for removing smears or soap marks. Hence, for busy bathrooms and holiday homes, these tiles are the obvious choice.
Natural Rustic Look
To give a natural and rustic look to your living space, Matt tiles are the way forward. You will have a huge variety of cement-effect, wood-effect, state-effect, and travertine-effect Matt porcelain tiles. They reflect great warmth and feel homely. Due to their subtle and natural appearance, they are the go-to choice for any type of space.
Ideal for a Calm Atmosphere
The Matt porcelain tiles hues come in a variety of shades and colors bringing calmness and serenity to your home. They can become a perfect choice for creating a tranquil and soothing space in your home.
Cons of Matt Tiles:
Stubborn Stains
Since Matt tiles do not easily remove stains and smudges, you may not need frequent cleaning. However, Matt tiles when cleaned may seem difficult as it’s harder to remove those stains and marks that you were hiding apparently.
Smaller Rooms look more Smaller
Matt tiles do not reflect light in the mirror. They cannot make your rooms look more spacious. So Matt tiles are the best option for larger rooms and those that need super lighting.
What are Textured Porcelain Tiles?
Textured porcelain tiles have uneven surface finishing. It gives a rustic look to your living space. The biggest feature of textured tiles is their slip-resistance and firm grip. Hence, they are a good choice for wet areas like bathrooms, laundry, and kitchens. Textured tiles are the best option for hiding those smudges and marks. On the other hand, just like Matt finish tiles, they are hard to clean.
Textured tiles are made by doing a flamed finish wherein a high-temperature flame is applied to the surface of the stone, resulting in slight melting of some crystals. These tiles are a popular choice for commercial buildings due to their non-slip properties and resistance to environmental conditions.
The top benefit of textured porcelain tiles is their durability. They are manufactured by integrating protective features that can withstand different types of wear and tear like stains, scratches, dents, cuts, or scrapes. In addition, textured porcelain tiles are anti-slippery and offer enhanced traction.
The biggest disadvantage of textured porcelain tiles is they are extremely hard to cut through and need special tools. To get clean cuts and perfect installation, you may need to hire professionals who know the tricks to install them safely.
Which Tiles Will You Choose – Glossy, Matt, or Textured?
It depends on your choices and preferences in choosing the best type of porcelain tiles. As a homeowner or an architect, make sure you know the advantages and disadvantages of each of the above types of porcelain tiles. However, there are no strict laws on choosing tiles. You can also create your dream home by combining any of these tiles and crafting a unique art for your living space. For instance, you can use Matt tiles for children’s rooms, study room, and bathrooms and glossy tiles for office spaces and studio apartments.
If you are looking for a trusted partner who can provide you with a complete range of different types of porcelain tiles for your project, choose Freedom Ceramic. We are a well-known porcelain tiles manufacturer in Morbi and India. With us, you can harness the benefits of using contemporary designs and techniques to make your home or office project into a stunning reality.