Here are other shots

and more

and even more

still more

Setting tile involves a level of skill and some setters are more skilled than others. While this may not apply in your case, I tend to side with the "quality comes at a price" camp. Without knowing your contractor's qualifications or if you paid a "fair" price for a quality installation, I couldn't honesty comment on whether or not you are being unreasonable. It may well be that what you see is the best that your contractor is capable of. If he could do a better job, he probably would have. No legit tile setter with any amount of skill would do a sloppy job and say, "that's good enough." He may not have seen that really crooked tile until after it was grouted, but that is no excuse for leaving it that way. While I see flaws in the first pictures, I don't know what you want us to see specifically in the "and even more" and "still more" shots. It looks like he ran into problems with the liner and getting those mosaics to all lay flat at the same level, that one tile to the left of the soap box is definitely out of whack, and he got sloppy with the grout in the corners as well as leaving a few holes. Something is amiss around the soap boxes, but his cuts look straight enough ... is that just uneven grout? I can't really tell in the pictures.

This post was edited by jellytoast on Thu, Jun 12, 14 at 8:07

There are a couple things that could use improvement. The tile to the lower left of the first niche is projecting outward for some reason (super-lippage?). There doesn't appear to be enough grout under the first niche. The slivers in the corner are unfortunate but that a product of the size of the tile versus the length of the space it's covering. Those slivers have to go somewhere and I guess he figured that would be the least conspicuous place.

OTOH, from where I sit the joints appear to be very evenly spaced so that is good.

What are you seeing that you don't like?

I'm not sure if these niches are in a kitchen or bathroom.

I just had my tub surround tiled and a niche was added. He didn't use a form, but framed it in and did it all by hand. It is beautiful work. My tile setter consulted me about everything, wanted to make sure I liked how everything looked. The guy is a darn artist.

I don't think your niche looks *that* bad, but I can see areas that could have been done better, esp. the tile that sticks out. I hope they're amenable to correcting things like that.

"I just had my tub surround tiled and a niche was added. He didn't use a form, but framed it in and did it all by hand. It is beautiful work."

I'd love to see how your job turned out ... did you post pics of your completed project by any chance?

jellytoast, it isn't done yet. The counter won't be installed for another week or two (we knew upfront that they have a 3 week turnaround after templating) so the vanity is still under wraps and no sink or faucet. But I have a floor and toilet, which got christened today. I know, TMI. Tub spout/diverter needs an adapter and then that will be done. I have more grout to seal.

Here's my niche. The grout doesn't look this dark IRL.

That looks lovely, linelle. It's hard to tell from the angle of the picture ... are those bullnose tiles or trim pieces?

Thanks Jelly. They're quarter-rounds, which also trim the perimeter of the alcove.

I wouldn't be happy with that job. Besides the tile sticking out, the corner (3rd pic) looks pretty bad. The grout lines are different widths & look sloppy. The niche looks crooked.
Linelle, your job looks great.

No one can see as clearly as you, but what I see is the side tiles on the niche look to be cut too short so have wide gaps at the top joint, the left field tile has a lot of lippage, the joint below the niche is wide and uneven, the niche is not level or something is amiss that the left tile doesn't align with it. The corner is uneven in the other shot and the mosaics aren't lined up straight, some excess grout. Not sure if it could have been laid out better or niches sized differently to avoid some of the small cuts.

You have reasonable expectations for a tile job. Like anything else, people have varying degrees of skill and particularness with their work.

Did you get multiple bids and how did this tiler's bid compare?

Seems you cannot be too careful when selecting a tileman.

I see it all, and I would want it all ripped out. Such peculiar things--asymmetrical design, lippage, looks like chipped tile in a corner. He begins to create a frame on the niche, and destroys the idea at the bottom because he doesn't want to cut tile? On the other hand, it is true that we see "fancy" designs online and in magazines and expect the guy--who isn't spending his evening hours perusing shelter magazines-- on the corner to be able to execute them. I just had a big tile job in my kitchen (in a very small town) and even though my experienced, but not "worldly" tile setter was a prince, there were details that I had to explain and some results that I might have liked to have turned out differently. Your tile work is complex, and it could be the first time your tile setter has encountered all the details you needed accomplished. Staggering the narrow pieces in the corners is disconcerting, too--I think he didn't make a plan, or worse, was trying to save you money by using every scrap of tile rather than cutting a large square to fit and to match what is above and under. I know you want some responses and maybe it is a bad idea to agree with you that this isn't great work--ripping it out might be worse.