Hi Betsy,

I saw the travertine at Lowes as well. It looked nice to me. My tile installers wouldn't install it, they said the quality is too bad and it makes them look bad. One thing they told me was to hold up the tile and if you saw lots of pitting and holes, that was bad. I bought travertine through "The Tile Shop" --- they have nice stones at a pretty good price, My travertine floor tiles (16" x 16") were not crazy pricing at all. More than my Florida porcelain tile, but it is SO pretty! There was some pitting, but in general it is pretty uniform.

Can't wait to see yours!

Here is a pic of my "JinShan Bone Travertine":

Thank you for your response, it concerned me that the tile was jagged at the edges and it does have a lot of pitting, think i will spend the extra for florida travertine.

I think Oyster Mix Flamed tumbled travertine tile is a very pretty choice, here is what it looks like:

I was really tempted by the price for white/ivory travertine 3 x 6's at Lowes, as budget is tight. Was ready to buy till I saw this thread - then pulled up another gw thread from 2007 where a few GW folks said Lowes and HD have a bad rep for terrible travertine quality. Anyone have a bad experience at The Tile Shop? Just wondering if mythreesonsnc's good experience there has been consistent with others here.

Hi Kitchennovice --- I just saw this question and wanted to also pass on that Cali_wendy has a really pretty backsplash tile and she posted the details just the other day. Hers is a tumbled crema marfil from www.cooltiles.com. I looked it up, it comes in sheets with 2x4 tiles, hers is very pretty, check out her kitchen if you haven't already, or her tile link, which is: http://www.cooltiles.com/cv39c.html

It also comes in a honed 3x6 and maybe some others. It might be worth checking out? I have just ordered samples from them, but they haven't arrived yet....

I haven't moved in yet, and my Tile Shop travertine is totally covered, so I can't really tell much yet. I am now looking at backsplash material for my kitchen too and definitely have my radar going!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cali_wendy's beautiful kitchen (backsplash)

thanks, mythreesonsnc. That is a pretty tile....probably too light for my needs though. Have a white tile floor...so looking for more of a warmer, traditional tumbled hue that has beige/tan variations to complement maple cabs and black counter vs creamy white. But for another kitchen, gorgeous!