Imitation Calcatta Gold Porcelain Tile

12 years ago

Note: I posted this same discussion on Houzz, so my apologies for anyone who is stumbling upon it twice.

Looking to do my bathroom in imitation Calacutta Gold porcelain tile (I don't want the upkeep of marble), 12 x 24 on the wall, 12 x 12 on the floor. Someone said on Houzz and/or Gardenweb that the matte looks more realistic than the polished. However, where I live (LI) I'm seeing either very realistic-looking polished porcelain OR matte whose texture is so dull and flat that it's so unlike marble. (NOTE: My contractor doesn't want me to have tile shipped in from out of the area. In case there's breakage during shipping or construction, he wants to procure the tiles locally.)

I found one tile store that has very nice 12 x 24 polished porcelain Calacatta Gold, shown below (tile is made in Italy; don't know the brand). Though polished, it's not as glossy as some of the others I've seen. The print is very realistic and there are not that many repetitions in a box. I might go with that for the walls. Unfortunately, this doesn't come in a matte finish. The salesperson had a 12 x 12 matte finish in Carerra for the floor, so I'll probably go with that. I have a tub, so I don't have to worry about a shower floor. But nonetheless, I'm worried on slipping on a polished surface, especially getting out of the deep soaking tub. The matte Carerra print has the same color background color, so it does go with the Calacatta print walls. Because of the tub, I have a very small floor area (guessing about 15 square feet). NOW here's the "but." The matte Carerra is so matte as to appear/feel FLAT (both in texture and look).

I guess what I'm asking is this:
Ã¯Â¿Â½ Is there such a thing as a matte porcelain Gold Calacatta tile that resembles the look of HONED marble?
Ã¯Â¿Â½ Has anyone used polished Gold Calacatta (or Carerra) porcelain tile on both their walls and floor? What's been your experience?

Thanks!

This post was edited by Lauralena on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 10:20

Featured Answer

Pipdog

12 years ago

I have polished Calacatta on our floors and walls. It's held up pretty well, although my daughter spilled some sand in there and wiping it up caused some very small scratches. Overall, I'm glad I used the real thing. We do always squeegee my shower after use and we are careful about products, although two kids use this bathroom so it does get a fair amount of abuse. Here it is about a year and a half after it was installed:

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Comments (10)

elphaba_gw
12 years ago
I love our bathroom with matte Calacutta Gold. Maybe it's a matter of taste. I've never liked polished glitzy finishes. Our floor almost looks like driftwood and blends very nicely with the matte carera porcelain. I think the designers call this look "wabi sabi" - if you do a google for that, (which basically means beauty in things that are imperfect and aged...), you will see a lot of gray and dull finishes.

I think it's a matter of preferences and I think you shouldn't worry about what someone else says about matte. (I think that was me, LOL...)

But...I would strongly recommend not putting polished porcelain on the bathroom floor. There is a cof number for all tile. Should be at least above 60 by a few digits to avoid slipping. Ask your tile guy or a tile salesman. It may even be regulated by "code". Be careful and take care - beauty doesn't take precedence over safety, IMO.
jacqueline5
12 years ago
My first post seems to have disappeared into cyberspace.

I feel your pain! We just went through this and I could not for the life of me find a mat calacatta look-alike that didn't look obviously orange-peely fake. Before this remodel, we had polished crema marfil 12x12s on the floor with no problems. I always have a mat outside the shower and a rug runner. We have decided to use 18x18 with a cof of 60, borderline I know, but with the rugs, we'll be fine. The inspiration photo from the mfgr website shows it on the floor and other GWers have used it in their floors as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Porcelain calacatta
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Lauralena
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you, elphalba and jacqueline5!

I actually found a nice Calacatta matte porcelain tile made by Mission Stone & Tile in Chattanooga (see link below). If I think it's worth the hassle to have it delivered (it's only about 15 square feet), I will--"though my contractor and boyfriend are having a cow over this! As it's good enough for Gwyneth Paltrow... Well, we'll see! I'll report back.

Otherwise, my search will continue for a matte porcelain Calacatta floor. I'm considering using the mosaic of the polished porcelain Calacatta, which isn't bad. But I'm worried it may be too busy. BTW, I had my heart set on a porcelain Calacatta mosaic with a honed finish. But from what I'm reading, honed on the floor can be just as slippery as polished.

Anyway, thanks again. Will keep you posted. My renovation won't start till end of the year, most likely, so I still have some time to drive everyone around me crazy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mission Stone & Tile Calacatta Porcelain
a1an
12 years ago
I drove 2 hrs and found IMO the best looking marble look-alike. It's made by Gazzini.

At the end of the day.....I still hated the *look* of porcelin stone and felt it was too *fake*. So it was either real stone (which was out of the question) due to the room it was going into - so I went back to my tried and true love, custom ceramics.

If you have you heart set on it, I would try to get a look at the Gazzini. I can't recall if Porcelnosa makes matte,but I did like their lineup as well
Lauralena
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks, chefwong!

I'll try to find Gazzini.
Lauralena
Original Author
12 years ago
That's beautiful! If you don't mind me asking: What do you have on the shower floor?
enduring
12 years ago
Hey Pipdog, what do you have a counter material? I am thinking of switching my planned carrara with a thassos type marble because it is all white.

Edited to include for the OP: I have a calacatta tile that is Atlas Concorde. It is beautiful I think. It is an Italian tile that I was able to order locally in Iowa. It got shipped over and didn't take too long. I think less than 3 weeks.

here is a sample that is a larger format than I got but it was the only sample they had for me to take home and check out. Lillo wanted to know how white the tile was. We had a freak May snow storm so I put a bowl of snow next to the tile for her.

The smaller tiles are other products.

Here is a link that might be useful: Atlas Concorde tile

This post was edited by enduring on Wed, Nov 13, 13 at 18:42
Pipdog
12 years ago
Hi enduring, the counter material is Caesarstone. I think it's Pure White but I'm not 100% sure. It's held up really well and I'm glad we chose that as opposed to marble for the counters.

lauralena, the shower floor is the smaller format Calacatta marble hex, made by AKDO.
enduring
12 years ago
thanks Pipdog, unfortunately I have already put a deposit on a piece of remnant marble otherwise with my evolving plans I would have considered the Caesarstone. I want white. I will find out tomorrow whether or not I can switch off my marble selection.