ᐅ Experiences with Wood-Look Tiles / Villeroy & Boch in General

Hello everyone,

Some background: Unfortunately, we had a major disappointment with our vinyl flooring from a well-known brand (mineral-based, advertised as free of harmful substances and PVC). After only 7 months, many of the tongues/edges have broken in several places, and we are seeing a lot of surface chipping :-( The floor definitely won’t last more than a year, which is really frustrating. Especially since we installed it ourselves, and even if we manage to get a refund for the flooring (which I highly doubt—they are already trying to avoid responsibility...), it will probably only cover the material cost and not the many hours we spent installing it (we also had an extremely high waste rate because edges and tongues often broke during installation).

We are now considering having tiles installed and are looking for gray wood-look tiles for the kitchen, living room, and hallway. We will probably leave the other rooms as they are for now.

Do you have any positive or negative experiences with specific products or manufacturers?

Are Villeroy & Boch tiles generally recommended? I assume many people have used them?

Thanks!!!

Really nobody?? :-(

This is a brand, neither better nor worse than other brands.

Pay attention to pattern repetition (the more, the better), abrasion, and... there was something about warping or something like that. Maybe someone else knows more about that.
In general, long tiles are more expensive to install.

We installed the "Tuxedo" tile from Villeroy & Boch throughout the entire house. These are plank tiles measuring 30 x 120 cm (12 x 47 inches). They are more expensive, partly because of the Villeroy & Boch brand and also because the tile setter charges more for working with such large tiles. However, they are durable, have a great pattern, and the tile setter told us that in his experience, he rarely installs tiles this size—and he has been in the business for quite some time—that are as straight and consistent as these. He was very impressed, and so are we.

So far, I can only share positive feedback. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a comparison with other manufacturers or brands.

I wouldn’t put too much value on Villeroy & Boch as a brand. It’s neither better nor worse than other products.
When it comes to wood-look surfaces, always see them in person; photos are not reliable.

First, I would check if you can actually have tiles installed. Vinyl flooring is very thin, so if you want to switch to tiles later, you might run into problems with doors, stair transitions, and so on.
For that reason, I advise every new build owner against vinyl. Many don’t realize how much they commit themselves by choosing it.

We have ones from Marazzi. They look very nice and feel great, very straight and dimensionally accurate.
The best way is to simply visit a tile showroom to see what you like.
Photos from the internet and other people’s opinions are of little help in this case.