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tresamores

White/off-white subway - grout color???

tresamores
16 years ago

Hello there,

We are in the process of installing our second backsplash (long story - hated the first one in tumbled marble with a horrible grout color chosen by the contractor -- I'll post the full story later).

Fast forward to 6 months later after trying to live with the "dirty-looking" backsplash and not being able to -- tomorrow we're installing our white crackled finish subway tile backsplash. It's not bright white and it goes nicely with our cream cabinets and tan brown granite tile.

For those of you with white/off-white subway tile:

What color of grout did you choose? Would you please post a picture?

Your help is greatly appreciated. I really don't want to make the same mistake again, and all because of the wrong grout color. I'm not very picky. Believe me, it really looked horrible the first time around :-(

TIA!

Marci

Comments (12)

  • bill_vincent
    16 years ago

    It depends. Do you want the tile to all bloend in together, or do you want to accent the tile pattern? If you want it to blend, then you want a grout that will match the tile. If you want to accent it, use a soft colored grout, either in a neutral color, or one to match other colors going into your kitchen. What's most often used is either a soft gray, or a light tan or bone color.

  • coleen3201118
    16 years ago

    We have creamy white subways - used mapei silver after so many here recommended it. I really like it.

    {{!gwi}}

  • jejvtr
    16 years ago

    I would agree w/Bill V (he's the expert, how can one not agree? ;) -
    That said bunglogirl brings a valid pt - I would not put white grout in a kitchen or a floor -

    this is Mapei siliver on white subways in master bath

    this is tumbled crema marfil w/a close matching grout in kit backsplash

    I would recommend, esp given your experience, to get a board apply some tiles w/different grout colors put it up in the kitchen & live w/it before you do the actual application

    good luck

  • tresamores
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thank you Bill and all who responded. I'll be going to the tile store in a few hours to choose the grout. I'll look at the gray, silver, and bone. Great idea about applying some grout colors to a board first.

    Does anyone have any more pictures?

    Thank you all!

    Marci

  • claybabe
    16 years ago

    I just put a bathroom floor (yeah, well, someone else did the work, I just did the pattern!) with 1" hex unglazed in white. When the guy helping me said "I can grout tomorrow" I ran to Home Depot to see what sort of gray grout I could get, and the choices were pretty limited. The recommended-by-Bill in that brand was Platinum, and it would have been a special order. I went with a slightly darker grout and it thankfully dried light. I'll snag a photo when I go up to the house later today and post it, even though it's hex and not subway, if you like. I love the way the soft gray accents the tile, and I would have assumed, prior to the Bill/Mongo/Bath and kitchen forum experience, that I should have done white.

  • meg711
    16 years ago

    Our kitchen has amber accent tiles and amber and brown tones in our granite, so we didn't want to go gray although I think that looks great. Instead we used a grout in a color called linen. Sorry I don't know the brand. The grout actually looks darker IRL. We had seen some darker grouts but they took on a pinkish tone that we didn't like.

  • suska6184
    16 years ago

    This almost looks white, but actually it's a soft gray and we're happy with it.

  • soigne
    16 years ago

    Grout = Tec, Dove Gray

  • glad
    16 years ago

    thx for posting the thread -- i just assumed i'd do plain white if i do white subway, also! so many things to think about...

    suska- what type of tile do you have? really like it. i'll probably go with the plain daltile rittenhouse square white white, but a stone look is also an option.

  • tresamores
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thank you all. I chose "bone" from Polyblend. It has a little hint of gray in it, so I think it'll look nice against by tan brown (dark grey) countertops.

    I'll post a picture of the project when it's done.

    Thanks again!
    Marci

  • lakrajago_yahoo_com
    13 years ago

    Hi

    This msg is for meg711 for the pic above..what is that granite name? it looks really nice?

    thx
    Lak