Consider matching grout same color as tile? The grey looks off kind of purple, but may be computer.

^^ your tile is stunning!

The warm gray reads white to me too. Considering your goals I would not go that route.

I have a portion of my bathroom tiled in pink tile and I deliberately selected grout that matches the tile as I didn't want the grout to be another design element.

Thanks! Here’s the much better lit inspiration photo using the same tile. The grout they used looks white, though (and of course is the one thing they don’t address in the 40+ comments!) The manufacturer has a few more photos of similar installations that also all use white or very light grout. Unfortunately we don’t have a ton of spare tiles and are quite far from the store that stocks the Mapei products I’d like to use, so a sample board will be tricky. We could switch to a Custom grout, though, in which case I was looking at Cape Grey.

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Thanks @Helen! We do want the bond pattern to be visible, but don't want it to look like boxes. Our kitchen has white subways with Delorean Gray grout, for instance, and that's definitely too dark when I hold the green tiles up, but our existing bathroom has an almost-white grout that is too light (and also a pain to clean). Hoping there is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle that will keep the period look but lighten it a bit. (Even in the ungrouted tile, I can see the distinction between the lower third where they used leftover white thinset from setting the marble curbs and the top portion where they switched back to the gray thinset--the gray is definitely too dark, though not by much.)

Aaaand ended up not making the trek to Lowe's so now I'm back to Custom Building colors (or a weekend expedition to somewhere that stocks Mapei, but would be happy to skip that).

Any recs for similar Custom colors? I liked Cape Gray, but it is out of stock locally. Would CB Platinum or Rolling Fog work here, or will those be as light as the Mapei Warm Gray? Thanks!

A big no to grey.

clt3's photo is gorgeous, but I think there's a big difference when it comes to choosing colors for glass vs. glazed porcelain. I can't see grey working for green glass. I think white or off-white would look best. Or color match the grout to the tile.

These are glazed porcelain, just to clarify. We definitely don't want a true white (largely from a maintenance stance, but also because we are going for a period look) but I'm looking more seriously at the lighter grays now. Could still do the Mapei warm gray and just head somewhere that carries that if there isn't a similar Custom color, though. (That's the last photo above--I think there's a risk it will read white, but maybe that's a feature, not a bug?)

Oh whoops! IDK why I thought yours was glass. but still, clt3's tile is more blue than yours, so keep that in mind. untertones are so important!

Back when these mostly would have been set with concrete colored grout, so a really warm grey

That's the worry I have with the Mapei silver--had settled into the idea of Cape Gray, only to discover it's out of stock. Ugh. Our tiler does have a Custom grout stick set--here are the three that seemed to have the most potential:

Cape Gray:

Platinum:

Rolling Fog:

My husband thinks they all look the same so not worth the trip to get Cape Gray (and in this poor lighting, they kind of do, but I imagine that may not hold true once it's up on the wall!)

Our grout joints are 1/16" (or a bit less within each row since the tiler is using the built-in lugs) so the grout will be nowhere near as prominent as the sticks are, but still tricky to tell. I will see if there are enough bits and pieces left when they finish today that I can snag them for a sample board after all.

I would recommend sample boards if at all possible. Of course my projects proceed as if I have all the time in the world, so we could try out various things and let them dry.

Did you look at Mint or Biscuit?

@palimpsest This one feels like it has, since they started tiling in mid-April! But of course I am still trying to sort this out on the eve of grouting (well, not really--we have until Monday, assuming they finish setting everything today as planned). I'd been avoiding the sample board in part because we don't have a huge number of spare tiles, but I realized there are a bunch of cut tiles that they won't need once they wrap things up today, so I can do the sample board with those and still have enough left for a backsplash (plus a few to have on hand for any future repairs).

Tiler just finished and confirmed that they will be back on Monday to grout. I asked for his opinion on the color too--interestingly, he suggested matching the floor grout (Custom Pewter, which is way too dark IMO) so that didn't help at all! Sample boards it is...

Did some very quick sample boards. Both CBP Platinum and Rolling Fog are pretty purple against the green tile--ugh! So I think the Mapei Silver is safely out too. I've been avoiding the taupe-leaning grays, but maybe that's what I need with the green? Will let them dry and maybe it will shift, though.

In case this helps anyone needing to do this in the future... Far too many sample boards later, we found:

- Custom Rolling Fog and Custom Platinum went blue against the light green tile

- Mapei Warm Gray and Mapei Frost read pink (did not test silver in the end, though maybe should have!)

- Custom Pewter was fine colorwise but way too dark (as expected--we just happened to have some on hand so tried it out)

- Confirmed that others who've used this particular tile went with white grout, but did not successfully sell this in our household.

We are down to Mapei Cobblestone or dark horse option Mapei Mint. Pretty sure we will do Mint, assuming the look hasn't changed too much by morning. Despite being quite green on the sample stick, it actually looks pretty gray against the tile. Fingers crossed!

Can you use epoxy grout? If so, check out tiledoctor.com for Starlike crystal grout. We used it for the glass tile in our shower and I absolutely love it. We narrowed it down to 3 colors, did sample boards & ended up using Lapis Lazuli from the Gem collection. You might check out 810 Verde Capri or one of the greens from the Glamour collection. Also check out their finish additives (I think we used the galaxy one.) Our tile installer said they were easy to work with (he was a little dubious before the sample boards, but he ended up becoming a fan.). The result was so much better than anything else I saw & has held up well over the past 5 years.

Our tiler doesn’t work with epoxy so we’re looking at Custom Prism or Mapei Ultracolor Plus FA. (I paused briefly at the Laticrete display and then decided that was going over the top to add even more choices to the mix…) But I saw a display of crystal grouts at the tile store—so fun!

We had this same minty tile in our 50s house and it had a soft white grout. The tile looked as good as the day it was installed after regular use. It was our sons bathroom and he isn’t the cleanest guy. I miss that house.

@Kate beautiful! That’s what pretty much all of the new installs use, it seems. (This is B&W tile so most installs are period-inspired—in our case we’re going for a late 20s look.) I think we’re using the mint and hoping it continues to read gray and not green! It’s the one on the right below.

These are the other two still in consideration—warm gray on top and rolling fog on bottom. (I had bigger boards of these earlier but took them apart to make new ones.) These still look pink and blue to me, respectively, but maybe subtle enough that it wouldn’t be noticeable?

I am going to say mint green it is. It is surprising sometimes what you need to do to get something to look white, but just not too bright white.

I. grew up in a home that had a green and black bathroom just like your inspiration. We had white grout. I am not even sure that when the home was built (by my parents) that they had any other option but white for grout!

@ptreckel yes, until the post-war era, the only games in town were white and gray Portland cement grouts! I think white was more common with the green tile in general, though it was also more expensive so I'm sure there were some done with gray too. If I were the only decider, that's the route I would have gone, but my husband had very few strong opinions on the bathroom project, and "no white grout" was one of them. :) (If we had been able to get the Custom Snow White, I might have tried that anyway to see, but the only Custom options in stock were Arctic White and Bright White, and those both seemed a little over the top for "no I swear this isn't really white" options...)

Just want to say that bathroom is going to be fabulous - love that green tile!

Thanks--me too! Though man, all the decisions to be made are nerve-wracking--and here I thought we were done back when we ordered the tile last August! (I will say we had such a great experience with B&W Tile in southern CA and also with Daltile's CA distribution center, where we got the bullnose and cove base tiles, which work perfectly with the B&W subways.) Tiler is here and grouting with the mint now, so hoping it all works out!

And done! It does lean a teensy bit green right now, but hopefully that will mellow once it dries. (My husband, of course, has deemed it "white" with a sigh.) I will say that I didn't notice the odd left corner cut until after they grouted so maybe need to come back to that little piece with a darker sealer later...but going to wait until the glass is in to see how much we actually notice it. Oops. Otherwise pretty happy with the tilework overall, and relieved to be done and on to the finishing work!

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looks great!

I love it!

The minty grout appears white….as if it is simply reflecting the green of the tile. It is beautiful. Well done. The art of compromise made tangible!

I was just in looking at it and while I think it may continue to lean a bit green--we'll see tomorrow--it does look a lot like it's white grout that appears green because of the tile around it. Definitely better than blue/purple/pink undertones, though, if a bit more seafoamy than I was going for. Of course now I have to figure out whether to splurge for fancy glass that won't make it look more green when the shower glass people come tomorrow...it never ends!

Well from a historic standpoint I think your only other option would have been a distinctly brown cementy color. I feel like all the grays you looked at were blue/pink/purple. What you have is pretty far from white if you were to put it on a piece of white paper, it is just a whiter green than the tile is.

The walls will be white too (BM Swiss Coffee is the current plan) so I think that will make a difference too.

Lovely! 😍

This thread is ages old but I am using a very similar tile as you are @artemis78 and I can't tell you how HELPFUL your thread was with all of your details and thought process. Any chance this tile is called Signature/Imperial Mint by The Tile Shop? It looks IDENTICAL to the tile we are using for our backsplash (black counters, white cabinets). I'm leaning toward snow white or bright white for grout (custom brand). But you've made me consider mint!

Hi—glad it was helpful! The tile is from B&W Tile in Southern California; the color is 40W Green. We're still happy with the grout choice, which doesn't really read green at all in the finished product—but I always recommend tile boards to test! (Looking at these photos, the lighting is kind of wonky—the true tile color is closest to the first photo. Somewhere between a mint and jade green.)

We used Mapi grout color Rain. it is a beautiful light gray.