I think it sounds great! I would almost be like solid surfacing in a beautiful material. I don't know why it wouldn't work. I'll be interested in the experts opinions.

I don't think it would visually as the tile are too large. The smaller tiles I feel would help break the walls up.

I love the idea. We've selected a Porcelanosa 12x24 for our small 3'x4' shower. The designer came up with it, and in the drawings (scale elevations) it looks super. we'll have a 12x16" niche. We live near a Porcelanosa showroom and they have a whole bunch of displays set up. Jaw dropping. Believe me, those tiles look great in a small space.

-Babka

Do you have pictures of your shower stall Babka? I love Porcelanosa tiles. They are so modern and beautiful. They all have this gorgeous sheen to them.

I also would like to see Babka's drawings. We will have 12 X 24 tiles in a 3' X 5' shower, and I haven't decided yet how to set them up.

Nothing built yet...still in the design stages. There is only one (very thin) vertical grout line down each wall. I can't show the elevation drawings here, but they will be stacked, not staggered. You can do that on graph paper to get a good idea of what it will look like. Many of the displays, not all, at the Porcelanosa showroom are stacked larger tiles. If they put in trim tiles, they are mostly vertical rather than horizontal. We are going from old 70's 4" ceramic tiles to this and I love the change.

-Babka

Thank you very much for all the responses.

Babka, May I know the name of the Porcelanosa tile you selected. I am also going to put a 12x16 niche in each bathroom. Thank you.

Babka,

I am trying hard to picture how you only have one grout line. Am I correct to assume you have multiple horizontal lines?

From what I have read/researched, the American Tile Association is not recommending stacking for the longer tiles due to lippage. Have you heard of this too? How is that dealt with?

We will be DIYing the tile installation, so am trying to figure all this out ahead of time...

What about using those spacer dealies that pull up on the corners and create nice consistent surface? I can't remember what they are called....I did a search and they are called tile leveling systems. Not to say that a really level wall wouldn't be needed, but this might be helpful for that little bit of extra tweaking.

Sorry I wasn't clear on the grout lines. I meant to say one Vertical line. A picture is worth a thousand words, and I cut and pasted these from Houzz.com, where you can see many bathrooms with large tiles stacked. Just select bathrooms then contemporary and sit back.

I don't have the name of the tile we selected, but it is very much like (if not the same ) as pictured in the light grey photo.

-Babka

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In a modern large bath, large format tiles work well. They overwhelm a smaller bath as they aren't proportionate to the space.

These are 12x24s in a 5x3 shower. The back wall is 5 feet. The middle accent tile is right at about a foot (just over). This is before Grout, obviously, which is being done today!
(The picture appears a little distorted since my partner took a series of pics on the phone and "seamed them together" which some sort of app. But that back wall is flat).

This post was edited by kirkhall on Mon, Mar 25, 13 at 14:31

With large tiles, your walls need to be perfectly flat. Make sure to use the correct thinset.

Tiles this big need a really good tile installer.

Kirkhall- Which moasic tiles are those? We're going to do a similar white glass/marble moasic on the outside of our pony wall to add a bit of sparkle too. Looks great!

-Babka

Large tiles in small bathrooms make the space seem larger.
Plus, less grout to upkeep!

The trend is towards larger and larger tiles until installers in the US will learn how to do slab bathroom walls and floors.

Banish grout, I say :)

Really appreciate all your help.

I finally decided on Porcelanosa's 12"x23" venice marfil tiles.

This post was edited by janesylvia on Tue, Mar 26, 13 at 1:31

Why "larger tiles in small bathrooms make the space seem larger"? I thought small tiles would make small space looks larger.

Just look at Kirkhall's bathroom, the sparkle moasic stripe looks much longer than large tiled stripe.

Those are "oyster shell" or Mother of pearl shell tile... I got mine as round. You can also get them in square, rectangle, or hexagon. They are extremely thin, and my tile setter had to build out that middle section with an extra sheet of cement board.

Thanks for asking this question -- I want to use 12 x 18 (maybe 24) inch tiles to tile the floor of our 4x8 powder room and my DH thought the smaller tiles would be a more appropriate size . . . . the fewer grout lines makes sense!