I just used all polished in our basement bathroom, which we now use a lot. I have 60 sq ft of unpolished in cases in my garage, but decided I loved the polished too much. We use a bath mat. We have 2x2 polished in the shower too. My tile guy said the 2x2s have enough grout lines to make them fine in polished. Put the shower into use on Jan. 1 and have not had any issues. Love it and would do it again. (Plan to use the unpolished in the laundry room.)

Floor in progress

Debbi, the polished tile on your floor looks great. The light tile looks very similar to what we used in our foyer, and the dark tile seems similar to what we used in our boys' bath. It adds more light and sparkle, which is probably welcome in a basement bathroom. And speaking as a former geology student, the "stone-look" through-body porcelain tiles look incredibly "natural" in polished form, but not so much in unpolished form. I did a "wet foot test" on the big polished tiles in our boys' bathroom, and I hate to admit it, but it is pretty slippery. Once I put a bath mat down, it was fine. My wife and I will be the only ones to use our new master bath. We both use a bathmat, and the shower door will have a nice handle for support. But I might think twice before using polished tiles on the floor of a bath used by guests or small children. No question, though, the polished tile sure does look nicer.

Polished or unpolished-- especially with porcelain, makes no difference with respect to cleaning. Both will be easy to keep clean. The unpolished might have just a bit more grab to it with respect to walking on it.

Bill, Since you are passing by, I have an aestheric question for you, regarding the base of any untiled wall, where it meets the tile floor. In previous installations, our contractor did a line of 4" high tiles at the base of the drywall, topped with brushed stainless Schluter molding. Grout lines all lined up perfectly with the matching floor tile, and it provided a clean, modern, easy-to-maintain finish. But here on Houzz, I have seen installations where people just use a white approx 6" high baseboard along the bottom of the wall, to cover the edge of the tile floor. My contractor doesn't think that looks as high-end, but of course it is cheaper (less tile and Schluter) and faster (less cutting and laying). I'm not crazy about how white baseboards can get banged up by vacuums etc, but I doubt it would be a problem in this bath. Do you have an opinion on appearance, between the two? Would you say one approach is more common than the other?

Polished tile is risky in any bathroom. Especially with young children growing up in the home.

Many of the larger tile now comes with texture and it is quite safe underfoot.

This month I'm working with some large 18"x36" tiles in polished and a fake flamed effect.

I have the same dilemma - love the polished stone "look alikes" but worried about slippage. Would love to know more about the large format polished tile that has the texture you describe? I have been looking at the Anatolia Ottomano in polished ivory to give you an idea...

I just finished a bathroom with polished tile on tub surround and shower and matching unpolished on floors. It looks fantastic. Consider yourself lucky that the tile comes in both versions. You may underestimate the 'slip' factor until someones slips.

kerick, in addition to the super polished finish, the Durastone porcelain tile comes in brushed, matt, honed, rockface and stream finishes. The honed and rockface finishes look particularly natural and nice, I think, although I still prefer the polished. Here's a link for the finishes in the grey tile (prob darker than you want):

http://www.everstone.com/catalogue/durastone-tiles/

shappy22, as it happens, I decided to do a "real-life" slipperiness test on the polished tiles, since we had almost identically finished polished ones installed in our boys' bath five years ago (with never a slip). My wife kept mentioning that the similar polished porcelain tile in our foyer has been slippery at times, even though we've never had a problem in the boys' bath, which guests also sometimes use. So I used the boys' bath for showering for two weeks, with a bath mat just outside the shower and even without. Even with wet feet right out of the shower, I never sensed the slightest bit of slipperiness or loss of grip. Odd. So on a hunch, I poured a big glass of water on the tile and -- wow -- what a difference. It was suddenly very slippery. And that explained the difference between our experience in the bath and the foyer. We are not "splashy" people and even when washing kids and dogs, we just don't get our bath floors very wet. But the foyer floor can get standing water when it is rainy and people track in water or shake out umbrellas (as we thought about it, that's when people slipped). So, long-winded conclusion: if you use polished tile where the floor stays basically dry, I would not worry about slipperiness. We are using it in our master bath and dressing area on that basis (and, of course, because we think it looks SO much better in polished form!). But if you tend to get water all over your bath floor when people use it, I would not choose the polished tile.

shappy22 - what tile did you use that came in both polished and non polished?

American Olean Porcelain Tile in Scene comes in a "lightly polished" or an "unpolished (honed)" in several shades.

look in floor and decor they carry them

we were planning on doing polished 12×24 porcelain tile for shower wall. I'm worried about keeping it clean. which is easier to keep clean polished or unpolished porcelain?