someone with experience with a wet saw could Look At The tile and tell you what the cut edges will look like when laid and grouted.

In the past I considered much the same herringbone idea, so I ordered one rectified porcelain sample -- this was from Artistic Tile -- and asked my contractor to have the tile guy cut it into strips about 3" x 12". It worked.

But then I changed my design direction so that tile didn't get put to use. Although now I'm considering the need to have an AO crema lookalike porcelain trimmed from 24x24 to 8x24.

If you do this, be sure to ask about the "per cut" pricing. It adds up.

thanks everyone for your insights. I'll have to check with the prospective tile contractors....

I am doing the same thing but with 12 x 12 tiles cut down to 6 x 12 size in carrara and laid in herringbone pattern. I have not asked my tile guy how much more it will be in labor yet but I only have two options to do because the $5.70 sq ft pricing is hard to beat for honed carrara. So I am stuck with offseting the 12 x 12 tile or cutting to 6 x 12 and doing the herringbone pattern. I really think I will end up with the herringbone unless my tile guy says his labor will be too pricey. I think it will be OK though. He has been fair so far.

If you have to micro bevel the edge (likely) to match the finished factory edge it's not worth paying someone to do. If you buy a tile saw and a stone rasp and DIY, it will take a while, but you won't be out those extra hundreds of dollars. However, to handle that large of a tile, you'll need a pretty expensive tile saw. Maybe better to rent that and do all the cuts and then do the bevel one tile at a time while watching TV.

Why not make the herringbone out of the 9 x 18 tile? Why would you need to cut it?

We actually had to postpone this bathroom remodel, but decided to go with the 9 x 18's in a herringbone. At the time it seemed too large, but now I am comfortable proceeding. I am going to use artistic tile exedra tiles in a herringbone. I am very excited to see the result.