Stacked tile is not easy to get perfect. I think the tiles are set fine, the issue is with the grouting. Some of the grout looks darker than the rest.
Stain the grout to a uniform color and it will look much better. Use the $700 refund to pay for the stain and fancy wall plates for your switches and outlets.

It’s odd because it is literally the exact same grout. Not sure why it would be a different shade? 🤔 But good call on new wall plates!

To me the actual tiles look like different colors!

It does to me too, but it’s from the same box and batch. Could be the angle or the shadows from the cabinets above? 🤔

there will always be color variations. your bottom row does not match the ones above it

whenever you get tiles, the installer (or you) should inspect the boxes to make sure they are all from the same dye lot. these are not. look carefully at all of the numbers on every box. Something is off.

The tiler, when using tiles from diff boxes, should take them all out of the box, lay them out and randomly pick one from all diff piles (they do this w/wood flooring as well). This assures that you mix up slight differences instead of compounding them all in one group. (like you have) although, they look completely different in tone. more pink. either way it was going to loo mismatched.

As for the grout lines, proper use of spacers would have avoided the offset on those grout line match-ups. is it only that one spot where it's off a bit? if so, it's not too bad, but I can't see the rest of the layout.

Take another pic showing the entire backsplash

this is a stacked layout my tile guy did. look at how nice everything lines up. very few errors on this. It can be done. your tile guys were just lazy. period.

Who ever is in charge is bullying you into accepting poor work. you're paying the money for it, you should get what you want. however, if you're paying a cheap price, you're getting a cheap install.

so the company scrambled to schedule another tile setter do the kitchen backsplash (after a 10 day delay).

This is not your problem, nor should you be held responsible for the outcome.

the contractor is refusing to fix the grout and tile issues, and is only offering to refund us $700 for the cost of the tile setting labour.

Have you paid in full already? Who is in charge? this contractor? do you owe him any more money?

what is going on w/this mess? Show me the outlet cover that is going over this and hiding the background wires.

Due to the color issue w/the two bottom rows, that backsplash is a tear out. And I don't know what's the deal w/this outlet. why do you have two and then one? what are these for? can you put one switch somewhere else?

If you do end up moving these, put them up under the cabinet to hide most of them

I tried to do it w/mine.

forget the switches, they're fine. I think what looks like variation in grout color is just variation in shadowing due to lippage. I can't tell if there's a color difference in the tiles themselves, but if they went back for more to fix their first job, it could well be from a different lot.

I'd take the money and move in. once you're settled, and over the traumas of buying, renovating, and relocating, you can reassess whether this is a job worth having done some time soonish or whether you've stopped noticing the imperfections since your kitchen got busy with real life. nobody can tell in advance.

no way this is lippage

These isn't any shadowing from the tiles above it.

those 6 tiles in a row that I see are all pink. (how come the far left tiles aren't affected if it's lippage or shadows?) Those other 6 tiles prob all came from the same box.

dumbo tile guy used one box at a time as he went.

Are all of the boxes still on the property? Get them. line them up and look at each and every lot number on the box

as for the switches, my point was, if the outlet plate cover was going to conceal the background.

if you have one like this, it should be fine.

Final payment has yet to be made.

Outlet covers have yet to be installed; the switches are for a potlight and the garburator. The third is electric.

They didn’t use spacers; no idea why, but while the foreman agreed with me that that wasn’t a good call, he also didn’t have the time to secure a whole new batch of tiles and do the whole thing from scratch. Instead he only pulled the problem tiles and redid the grout to fill in some of the gaps. And Beth is right; they did it one box at a time. They did have a spare box from the same order, which is what they used for some of the repair work. I think they have already tossed the boxes so i won’t be able to compare the batch numbers anymore.

Whether it’s lippage or not, I can see a discrepancy (as can everyone else). Contractor is trying to say that this is to acceptable standard except for the three tiles, and that’s where the $700 comes from. I don’t consider this to be a cheap company or a discount job;

the total renos for paint and tile and counters and tubs/sinks/shower etc will set us back $45-50k when all is said and done.

I have reached out to a few tilers to see if anyone can do a rescue job on this hot mess, but have yet to get the estimates back.

this is not within the scope of normal variance. not when the 'off' tiles are grouped in one spot so they're all very noticeable. nope. nope.

I bet he went and ordered a new box and didn't check lot numbers to see if they matched.

When you order tiles from a store, they will give you all matching lot numbers. that's why whenever you go back at a later time and need to redo or replace tiles, it's very difficult to get the exact color. you're dealing w/a glaze. Glazing will always differ in different batches due to temp, application, kiln time, etc. Your basic tiler ought to know this.

The contractor has already lost money by doing a 'redo' once. Of course he doesn't want to do it again. So, you can pick you battles and take the 700, hire a completely new tile person, and redo AFTER this contractor is finished w/your job. Or, continue to poke him w/this backsplash and demand he fix it. (but I don't think you're going to get anything better out of him.)

I'd take the 700, but I'd also want reimbursement for the tiles. if he won't give you a full refund, see if he'll meet you halfway and give you half.

I don't know what else he is doing for you on your home. maybe there's something else he can cut you some slack on. Try talking w/him and see if you can reach an agreement.

If you can prove that you got a diff dye lot on the new tiles, then it would be his fault and his dime. You'd have to reach out to the tile place that has the invoice on the old batch and the new batch. (or check to see if they have diff dye lots.)

no way you can check the trash for those boxes? or an invoice? any idea where he (or you) got the tiles? In any case, it's not acceptable, I don't care what he tells you

is it just those 6 tiles? do you have a picture before the 'fix' ?

No way to find the boxes. They take their trash with them at the end of each day. But I doubt the CEO will budge on the cost of materials. He does risk my big mouth posting a not so wonderful Google review though.

Before

Before

Before

Before

These were taken before. I had no idea that asking for repairs on the problematic areas would make things worse! Stickers were mine - to mark the tricky spots. I feel like they are punishing me for having standards.

well, the tiles clearly matched in that photo.

how many tiles are affected? just those 6 in the photo?

Can you please stand back further and take another photo that shows the whole backsplash?

are there any other tiles that look off?

Have you mentioned the tile color doesn't match?

do you know for sure he had a spare box? or is it possible he went back to the store to get another box?

What are the odds that out of your entire tile order, the ONE spare box left over contained mis-matched tiles??? seems weird.

I guess it's possible. just not likely. how many tiles in a box? Did that 'spare box' have a full set of tiles, or was it partially used? just trying to figure out the color diff.

lets see the after that mirrors this shot

btw, this really wasn't that bad. the arrow in the corner is really the only one that see that's off. I know if you look closely you can others, but it wasn't a horrible tile job.

At least all the tiles matched!

do you know where these tiles came from?

who purchased them?

you can always call and see if another box had been ordered at a later date. if it was, then it's his fault.

however, I bet he's PO'ed over having to fix it once already.

They looked ok from a distance but if you stood near the sink, you would be able to see that the grout lines were inconsistent and there was definitely lippage on some of the tiles. And on one side wall (not pictured), the last row of tiles actually dipped in relative to the 4 rows above them.

The spare box was already there when I was inspecting the original tile job. I don’t think it was purchased after, and the box definitely hadn’t been opened yet. I don’t know how many are in a box. I will try to grab a photo either tonight (artificial evening light) or tomorrow (daylight).

ok, well, maybe it's just the photo.

Up to you how far you want to take it.

(I would have tile up around the window. Or, done a window casing molding and diff sill. but that's just me)

We had limited time and budget so a number of items are going on the list for round 2. Was hoping new backsplash didn‘t have to go on the list again!

never settle for less than perfect on a job you've hired pro's to do. It is completely out of line for them to blame you or try to bully you into accepting crappy work. If it's you're first time working with home builders or contractors, let me give you some knowledge. Many contractors and sub contractors SUCK! You have to out your foot down. Best of luck.

I know perfection isn’t always reasonable so I don’t expect absolute flawlessness. But I agree that this is not a reasonable “compromise” when the tile/grout is clearly shoddy. I’m heading back to take more photos tonight and tomorrow