Hi! I just got done with a marble look alike search and am going with a company called peronda. The biggest issues I had with all other manufacturers were:

1. printing process showing-look at a magazine/newspaper up close and you'll know what I mean. (being that I'm in the marketing/printing field- this is the first thing I see)

2. Ripples in the surface...when certain angles hit the tile you can see tiny ripples sort of like roller mark texture on walls which screams fake to me.

Peronda is mirror smooth..and the printing process they use is awesome-in other words,... very realistic.

I forgot to mention go to their site and look for the versalles tile.. thats the calacatta look. The "museum" version is more like carrara.

I found two recently. I think these are hard to come but ask your tile store.

Marmi di Napoli - this was really quite good. I had to keep touching it to be sure it wasn't marble. The texture is great and it has a good white color to it.
This is the only link I could find on the Internet to the tile and I don't think it does it justice.
http://www.bedrosians.com/files/resources/brochures/Porcelain.Creme_Brulee.Creme_Brulee.T.pdf

Marmo D (similar name as above). This one is very good too.
http://www.italgranitigroup.com/dettaglio.php?_serie=91&_search_type=3&_search_by=&L=EN

Eleganza Gemstone also is pretty good, but it's a little creamier in color and not as white.

http://www.eleganzatiles.com/products/residential/gemstone_white.html

I can attest that the Marmi from Bedrosians (mentioned above) looks really good. If you can find a showroom, it's definitely worth a trip to take a look.

Just want to tell you that I just found another tile that is glass smooth without ripples/ or printing process showing (not quite as nice as the Peronda but better than the rest)... AND the best part is that I found it at home depot ( I originally found it at a tile showroom-looked up the manufacturer and searched like crazy to see if anyone else sold it for less-HD does but under a different name) Anyhoo, I'm going to install this in the spare bathroom. Comes in several sizes: 12 x 12, 12 x 24, 18 x 18, 2 x 2 mosaic and bullnose.

Below you can see some pics of it, hard to tell in the pics but the reflections
are smooth, plenty of variation so it doesn't look fake (that was another issue I had with other brands) Please excuse the mess in the pic-in the middle of gutting the bathroom -also I did't take off the plastic on all the pieces yet.

Here's a link to the HD tile:

http://www.msistone.com/porcelain-pietra/calacatta/

This is what tile showrooms sell (same manufacturer/different tile name):

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202943512/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=2&langId=-1&keyword=calacatta&storeId=10051#.UJbKprQuLs0

That's very nice looking tile, kali. Unfortunately, the website shows that I can't even buy it from HD online where I live in FL, so availability must be pretty local.

Try going to a tile store and asking them to order a sample (or see if they carry it) from MS INternational- that is the distributor/manufacturer. Oh and ps...when I did the store inventory search they all showed zero,, but I called and had an employee locate the tile for me which was in one of the stores that showed "0" inventory.

Did you see the peronda brand? The only issue with that brand is that it comes only in 18 x 18.. it is rectified so that you can cut it down if you want. (both brands are actually).

Seriously other brands mentioned above do not compare...I've looked at about 20 brands -some of which were mentioned on garden web- and they all had that porcelain ripple look, a dead giveaway.

A "close" third (although the printing is visible and not as smooth but better than others) was Porcelanosa. This is NOT rectified though.

http://www.porcelanosa-usa.com/home/products/tile/floor.aspx

Here's a blogger who directed me to Peronda. Although not calacatta you can see how perfectly smooth the tile is.

http://victoriaelizabethbarnes.com/?s=peronda&submit=Search

OK. Done posting.... Sorry I'm just super excited as I spent weeks and so much gas traveling to stores to find the perfect look alike and finally found two brands. : D

What was the price/sf foot? I can't even see a price on the HD site, since it's an unavailable item.

12 x 24= $39.84 per case (8 per case)=$4.98 / Sq. Ft
12 x 12= $32.37 per case (13 per case) =$2.49 /Sq.Ft
18 x 18= $33.62 per case (6 per case) = $5.60 / Sq. ft

Not too bad price wise. I just picked up the 12 x 24 for the walls and I'm in love. It's the same tile you can get at a tile store - ask for MS International Pietra Calacatta.

Thanks, That's very reasonable.

That looks lovely kali and I can't wait to see it all installed!

I'm a little late, but I did my master bath in the 18x18 tiles from Mission Stone & Tile. $4.35 sq. ft.

Michelle16 used the same tile in her laundry and she loves it too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Calacatta Porcelain

Here is the Calcutta from our hall bath. It is a curb less shower. The smaller mosaic is in the shower area. The larger rectangles are in the main area.

Lalitha...what brand is that? Assuming it's a honed look? Can you see the printing process on the tile?

Beekeeperswife, those tiles look great in your bath.
following the link, the tiles are described as matte. Is this a honed type of finish or are they shiny?

jules they don't have a shine. If you contact MS&T they will send you a sample.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mission Stone & tile

Does anyone know how much the Marmi from Bedrosians runs per square foot?

Floor and Decor has beautiful, well priced marble like porcelain tiles. The product I've linked to also came in a 12x24 and 3x6 subway. I was in store today and they are very nice in person--at least worth a sample if you are going for this look. Another plus is this particular tile wasn't super glossy/slick. They had a lot of different marble like porcelain tiles, most of which were super slick/polished.

Here is a link that might be useful: Marble like Calcutta porcelain tile

kali2024, How slippery is the calcatta? We're looking for shower wall and bathroom floor application and thought the high gloss finish may be like an ice rink on the floor. The specs say Slip-resistance/Coefficient of Friction rating of .50 wet which is borderline in my book. Thoughts?

Have a look at Costco.

what do you mean by checking out Costco?

that's also looks nice. But i have Stone Magma in my bathroom on floor and in my kitchen on wall aswell, it looks really awesome on floor and walls aswell.

This post was edited by benlinus on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 6:53

there are lots of great pictures of the MS&T porcelain calacatta on their site. If you click on the "larger image" it tells you the exact products used.

Here is a link that might be useful: MS&T gallery

My contractor who does a lot of tile work directed me to Floor and Decor - we did 12 X 24 with their bull nose also. It is matte finish, not polished. He said that is why he thinks it looks so real. The polished fake marble doesn't always look as good.

I think it is stunning but then I have to be honest, I have not been in a bathroom that was real marble. I wanted easy maintenance and that is how it is and everyone who sees it seems to be very impressed. I think you can order it online. We used the 12X24.

We didn't use it on the floor - I was worried it might be slippery - I don't have good balance.

Here's a sample of the Floor and Decor from our bath project:

Bull nose here at:

Elphaba, I love your bathroom. Is this the Carrara Blanco ceramic tile?

nosoccer -
the tile we used was from Floor and Decor - I think it was mentioned above by someone who used their 12X12. We used the 12X24 plus their bull-nose. We are VERY satisfied - our very experienced tile guy said he thought the reason it didn't look fake was because it was a matte finish. He said the polished porcelain calacatta tends to look more fake in his opinion. And the price we paid for the 12X24 was 1.99 per sq ft. The bull nose was more expensive $5.xx something or other sq ft. And the blend with the floor tile (misingi suber from Arizona Tile) is quite spectacular - always the first comments we get when someone sees the room for the first time.
Floor and Decor porcelain calacatta

Thanks so much for the info! It looks beige on their web site but white/gray in your bathroom. What does it look like in real life? Also, do you think it would be slippery as a floor tile?
Your bathroom is gorgeous!

Yes, the pic on the web looks much less white on my monitor also but the real tile does have a lot of white with more of a pale gray tinge to the white than beige - I know that different batches of tile can look different for the same tile but this seems pretty extreme.
As far as slippery, I don't think I would trust it on the floor but then because my balance is poor, I probably am a bit more fearful in this area. The cof of .6 for when it's wet passes the minimum test of acceptance for a floor tile but I wouldn't use it on the floor. I don't think it would be real slippery but I still don't think it would have enough traction for most - any degree of slippery is too much IMO - though they do have that "non skid clear spray" you can coat on - Here on Amazon

By the way, I remember the box having a reference that it was made in Italy - sorry I didn't save the name/info - but I think this is an example of how Floor and Decor buys up small batches of quality tile (sometimes though a bit of a lottery I guess) - just because they're cheap doesn't mean they are poor quality. But don't count on being able to buy the same tile a year from now - once they sell out, it's gone - that's my understanding at least.

The matching bullnose porcelain calacatta is HERE

Though I still liked the look of the matching bullnose which my tile guy used a fair amount of, some of the pieces had a bit of roughness - not sure if some will be difficult to clean over time. This was not the case with the matte 12X24 pieces - all were quite smooth.

kali2024, Can you post any update for the MS International Calacatta tiles? Do you still love it a year after? I'm about to install the 18x18 for our kitchen backsplash but I'm not sure which thin-set mortar to use. Which brand/type did you use? Did you have any problem with sagging? Any suggestions before we install? Thanks so much!

For matte finish, try daltile florentine, american olean mirasol, and marazzi timeless. The marazzi has a creamier base with more brownish veining. I can't tell the difference between the american olean and daltile.

I just came back.
I don't what I wrote down, but out of all of them them, Rex, Evolutions, Naxos, etc...

I think it was Gazzini, but out of all of them, there were my personal favorite !

elphaba: Ha that's funny- I thought all the non polished looked more fake than the polished. Which is why I automatically knocked them off my list, and then only a few mirror smooth polished looked good. Bottom line is the printing process, if you can see the screen dots on it, they look bad.

I don't know what you mean when you mention "screen dots". So I guess that means we have good stuff. Though I don't remember that on anything posted here either. Guess the eyes are the second thing that goes.

Still really enjoying our bathroom. I only have one regret and that is related to the lighting and I can change that pretty easily whenever I get through with all the other stuff we're doing in the rest of the house. Don't ask me about regrets in other places though. Guess it's hard to avoid them.

kali2024--

After much searching we finally found the HD tile you so highly recommended! It looks beautiful!

Quick question, we are thinking of using the 18x18 porcelain calacatta ivory on the floor and the 12x24 in the shower of our master, and I was just wondering if you found your floor slippery or have any regrets? Pictures would also be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Momo: check out this thread:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg1002142928939.html?32

Jacqueline has it on her floors you might want to ask her. We are just working on that spare bath- had other projects that took precedence.

Elphaba: look at a magazine close up... See those dots? That is the printing pattern/process that a lot of the manufacturers use and screams fake. No will be that close but coming from an industry that deals with print, i spotted this a mile away.

Beekeeperswife - do you have a link to the details in your bathroom? Love the wall color and tub as well as the floor tiles.
Thanks