ᐅ 30 x 60 cm Tiles: Practicality vs. Trendiness

Bertram100 schrieb:

This is what my hallway looks like, with lots of grout and few tiles. As an example of inexpensive and small tiles.

A house from the 90s? That’s the impression I get from the picture. Old-fashioned. One of the first steps would be to remove the tiles.

Tastes really differ that much...

Benutzer200 schrieb:

Old-fashioned

That's true. The tiles are fired and come from a design dating back to the 1950s. I have furnished my house in a Mid-Century style. However, I usually prefer smaller tiles; I’m less fond of the larger ones.

In my opinion, large tiles are just a mainstream trend, reflected in the trend of "getting bigger and bigger."
At that point, it no longer has anything to do with personal taste or evaluation. Large tiles become unattractive when overdone and pressed together too tightly. (For example, placing two 1.20-meter (4-foot) tiles in a 2.50-meter (8-foot) space sounds somewhat illogical 😉 )

I choose tiles when I want to achieve something specific through the grout lines, among other qualities. It seems @Bertram100 feels similarly.
If I don't want grout lines but need a durable floor, I would go for linoleum or a seamless surface coating—just not tiles.

Therefore, my advice is: Think carefully about what you want. Don’t just follow someone else’s taste—it might not even be theirs.

Myrna_Loy schrieb:

The 1.20 m (4 ft) format in a grid pattern creates a very unattractive, clearly visible joint right in the middle.

No matter the format, a center should be a center, not a joint. I would never split 240 cm (8 ft) into 120/120 cm (4/4 ft), but rather the classic 60/120/60 cm (2/4/2 ft) pattern (or at worst alternate center and joint from one row to the next, but never have a “joint-center strip”).

Bertram100 schrieb:

I don’t understand why everyone is so excited about larger tiles.

That probably stems from the same “new prudishness” as the overly tall privacy fences and closed bathroom doors. The “Sagrotan generation” has absorbed too many TV commercials for bathroom cleaners and now can’t get the association “joint = bacteria reservoir” out of their minds. But the seamless maniacs can be helped: with jointless surfaces like terrazzo – and to avoid accusations of old-fashioned style, even in neon metallic finishes ;-)

Benutzer200 schrieb:

A 1990s house? That’s what I associate with the photo. Old-fashioned. One of the first measures would be to remove the tiles.

Why – are you under pressure to be fashionably up to date?

ypg schrieb:

In my opinion, large tiles are just mainstream, reflected in the trend of “getting bigger and bigger.”

Maybe in other areas too, a voluntary speed limit of 250 km/h (155 mph) might be introduced someday 🙂

Besides, the visual emphasis of the joint pattern can be influenced not only by adjusting the spacing frequency but also by the contrast between material color and joint color.

And: you don’t have to use a single tile format across the entire surface. For example, I could imagine alternating a row of 120 cm (4 ft) wide tiles with a row of 60 cm (2 ft) wide tiles (set in a staggered joint pattern) or even mixing rows of 120, 60, 30 cm (4, 2, 1 ft) tiles irregularly, adding dark 120/30 cm (4/1 ft) pieces like “black keys,” and so on.

In my opinion, the combination of “large format + grid pattern + strong material-to-joint color contrast” absolutely requires aligning the entire floor plan to the joint layout as a design grid. However, this means having the walls placed by precision craftsmen rather than typical bricklayers, including a surveyor present throughout the entire construction process. No expense spared. With even the smallest deviation, this combination becomes an aesthetic nightmare.

Additional question (apparently “off-topic”): are there any Yps fans here who tile in a grid pattern with light blue tiles and then grout in yellow?

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11ant schrieb:

Why – are you feeling pressured by a trend to stay current?

No, I already thought this looked outdated and old-fashioned back in the early 2000s. That hasn’t changed to this day. Outdated and unattractive simply doesn’t become appealing. It’s probably just a matter of style trends that these tiles have been out of fashion for decades but still have a few remaining fans.

Personally, I’m even more old-fashioned and prefer hardwood flooring / floorboards 😉, just like they have been used since the Middle Ages.

Why do you say outdated? That sounds quite dismissive towards the person who posted the photo. Simply saying "I don't like it" would be enough. Even better would be quietly looking past it.