I am finding tile choices to be super challenging. I haven't bought my tiles yet, but have visited several places in San Jose. All Natural Stone in San Jose has beautiful tile and amazing selection. There is also Daltile in San Jose with some great tiles too.

Hi Lalitha,

I haven't been tile shopping in about 10 years, but when I redid my master bathroom back then I bought the tile at "Tileshop". It's on one of those streets that intersects North First just north of the airport: Brokaw Road or maybe Zanker. There are lots of tile stores on that street, so I'd suggest finding a time when they're all open and then browsing a bunch of them on the same trip.

Please post back what you find. I'm doing a big addition / remodel in Mountain View with construction starting next month, so I'll be going through the same thing later this year. I'm not a huge fan of subway tiles, though. They remind me too much of the grungy subways when I lived in Chicago 20 years ago. :-)

Laura

Tile Shop is on Brokaw.

There's also Artistic Stone in Mountain View. I thought it had closed but the website is still active. 2407 E. Charleston Rd, MV.

If you want to go up the peninsula, Da Vinci Marble in San Carlos has a nice selection.

Here is a link that might be useful: Da Vinci

I am probably ordering my tile though tile-shop (not tile shop)

I also loved Heath from CA but really need to go to CA to see the tiles as I don't have a color match from them.

Not sure of the actual location.

Hmm, I guess my post from last night didn't go through. I just went to Bullnose Tile on Brokaw (near 101) last weekend and actually had a sales guy come up to me--what a surprise! I was pretty happy with their layout and may have found something that will work. My neighbor who did her kitchen last year recommended them.

Thanks for all the recommendations.. I plan to spend a day in San Jose area this week.

michoumonster --> All natural stone has some ceramic but a lot more stone/ porcelain.. I did visit there several times and have lusted after the lovely clay tiles they have in display. 20K for a 5ft square design.. gulp!

Annie --> Walker Zankar.. DH called it this too :)

annkathryn --> Looks like artistic stone is now near the mtn.view costco.. I will check this out as well. I had not ventured north so far eventhough I am in peninsula :) Da Vinci is on my list now.

a2gemini --> Heath Ceramics looks beautiful. They have a factory and showroom in sausalito which is about 30mins north of San Francisco. Thanks for the tip! Everything seems custom order though and is probably expensive. Also tile-shop seems to have a location on brokaw

Sjerin ---> I like Bullnose and infact found our bathroom tile there (Wood series by Refin Ceramice and distributed by PAC. It looks like real driftwood). They have a lot of porcelain and stone stuff but hardly any ceramic which is what I am looking for other bathrooms and kitchen backsplash. I think the kitchen backsplash issue has more direction now that GW has convinced me to make the old work.

Lalitha

Since we are on the topic of San Jose area recommendations, does anyone else have any kitchen related recommendations in the area?

Are you looking for anything specific, Laura12? I'm on my 2nd kitchen remodel. The first was a facelift prior to putting my house on the market. The second, underway now, is an expansion & total replacement in a fixer-upper.

Here are some suppliers I've used in the past or am using now:

Appliances
University Appliance in Santa Clara
Meyer Electric in Mountain View (moving to El Camino from Castro Street)
also ajmadison.com

Granite
All Architectural Stone in Santa Clara
All Natural Stone in San Jose
Bedrosians
Golden Dragon Stone in Santa Clara (prefab)

Fabrication
Marblus Granite in San Jose

Windows & Doors
Greenhouses Etc in San Jose
Viking Door in San Jose

There are several good plumbing supply stores in San Jose but all are much more expensive than online, so I bought most plumbing stuff at:

faucetdirect.com
costco.com (for a Hansgrohe kitchen faucet)
homeclick.com

Cabinets
Ikea in East Palo Alto
Amberwood Cabinets in San Jose

Lighting
Beacon Lighting in Sunnyvale
Lamps Plus in San Jose
Los Altos Lighting
bellacor.com

Let me know if you want contact names/phone numbers. Hope that helps!

Heath is moving out of Sausalito to San Francisco so it will be closer to you :)

I haven't been there yet - it's on my to do list (not that I need any tile, but its oh so pretty!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Heath new location

Heyyy, is that right next to M Teixeira??

Thanks everyone!

How about for frameless cabinets?

I finally, after much angst, ended up finding Hormoz at HB Cabinets and Millwork (on Brokaw,) through my friend who did her kitchen last year. I was on the hunt for a cabinet maker who would use no-formaldehyde wood and wouldn't charge and arm and a leg. I was going to use Scherr's but my contractor wasn't comfortable with an out-of-state supplier so I feel like I hit the jackpot here. We are just finishing the design so he can order the wood and we will sign the contract. So far, I have nothing but very good things to say about Hormoz and my neighbor's kitchen is beautiful.

sjerin - I too am searching for a custom cabinet maker with no formaldehyde wood that doesn't charge an arm and leg. Curious to know how your remodel is going and if you still recommend Hormoz at HB Cabinets and Millwork.

I ended up going to all the tile places and ended up ordering from Tile Fantastic on Bascom. They had the largest selection of ceramic tiles. Super helpful and a couple of the ladies there are very creative. Not cheap:(

annkathryn - this is quite a belated response, but was curious, did you actually get cabinets from Amberwood? What has been your experience with them?

The other thing I'm looking for is hardwood floors, I had samples from lumberliquidators and was all ready to go in that direction when I read all the feedback here and now I don't want to take the risk on over 3000 sq ft of hardwood!

Laura12 I can no longer recommend Amberwood. The process to get cabinets from them is just too painful. While they do good work (the vanity in my previous house was made by them) their lack of communication and lack of follow-up makes for very difficult and time-consuming interactions. They don't return phone calls or respond to emails. I've driven down there a couple of times, only to have them drop the ball and not follow up. My general contractor has worked with them for years and says it's like pulling teeth to get a quote. He sticks with them because they're slightly cheaper than another company he's used, but he's about ready to drop them.

I was very close to cancelling my vanity order last month but didn't want to delay my renovation project even more. In hindsight I should have ordered the vanity from Sherr's (see my recent post on my kitchen cabinets) but their lead time was even longer than Amberwood's and I just didn't have my act together on the bathroom decisions 3 months ago they way I did for the kitchen.

As for hardwood floors...wow, 3000 square feet? I can't tell you about lumberliquidators - they seem to have mixed reviews - but we decided to go with Teragren bamboo and found a good distributor if you're interested.

Laura,

Check out Floorstogo in San Jose.. They are diagonally across bullnose tile on Rogers Ave. I saw 2 new builds in palo alto this weekend and they both had floors by these guys and it was lovely. The work was very well done. We ended up going with town and country flooring in redwood city as they stocked the specific floor we wanted.

Lalitha

Thanks for the information about amberwood, that really helps!

And yes about 3000 sq ft of hardwood! We are building a new house and as long as we can find something within our budget we would like everything other than the bathrooms and laundry to be hardwood. We have finalized our floor plan, but won't break ground until this winter. We are trying to start making decisions now, starting with hardwood floors, bathroom tile and cabinets. It is a bit overwhelming!

We are considering bamboo, do I would love to have the name of your distributer!

Lalitha, I will definite checkout floorstogo! Thanks!

Laura the company we'll probably order from is linked below. I've read mixed reviews about them online but the phone interactions with them so far have been very professional and have increased my confidence. Prices are very good. I should know within a month how the transaction goes and will follow up if there are any issues.

Here is a link that might be useful: Quality Flooring

I highly recommend Artistic Tile & Stone in San Carlos. Cynthia is an amazing designer and they carry a great selection of tiles.

http://www.artistictileandstone.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Artistic Tile & Stone San Carlos

Does anyone have any other cabinet recommendations in the San Jose area? Thanks!

Hi Laura, I haven't used any of these cabinet places yet, (still haven't committed) but they had good yelp reviews and I also found some beautiful kitchens in the archives that had used these places-- Nivya (in Santa Clara) and also Precision Cabinets (in Brentwood). I got a quote from both and they were pretty comparable. I did feel that the person I talked to at Precision Cabinets was more detail-oriented because he got everything on my wishlist exactly right in the quote, so I am leaning towards going with him even though they are quite far away.
For hardwood floors, I purchased mine from Whole Wood in San Carlos. They have a large selection and really good prices. We got the same flooring being sold for $12-$15 per sf at All Natural Stone for only $6/sf. My contractor is going to install mine, but they also offer installation, they told me installation was $1/sf, which seemed pretty low to me, though I confess I don;t know the going rate for hardwood installation since my GC is doing mine.

michoumonster - now there is a deal! I've been drooling over some $12/ sq ft hardwoods, by I have more of a $6 budget, so that would be quite the find! What floors did you pick out?

And $1/sq ft is a great deal for installation! Generally the cost seems to be more in the $2-$3 range.

I'll add Nivya and Precision to our list, we are trying to make pats with cabinet makers over the next couple weeks so this is very timely! Thanks!

Laura, definitely check out Whole Wood, it isn't a nice showroom, more like a small warehouse -- you will trip over pieces of wood everywhere-- but I thought selection and prices were great. We got some closeout white oak floors made by the same manufacturer of DuChateau. They will be installed soon, knock on wood!

I'm in the Bay Area and purchased Chelsea Plank Hickory flooring through a distributor in Reno. Even with shipping charges it was about half what the local flooring stores were quoting for similar flooring.

Got my brazilian cherry at wholewood, too. Victor is quite nice. They do tend to spam craigslist a little bit, but it all seems legit. Be careful, though...his prices do change, so this is one area where it's worth it to order more than you might need. Also, get the entire list of wood you need from your contractor. My guy was not at all organized when it came to the stairs, so I had to keep going back and forth with Victor as to how many risers and whatever other little parts they need to build stairs, and there was no bargaining room by then.
if anyone wants to work with a chinese cabinetmaker in south san francisco, you can try Gao's Group. I think they have a website. I pushed them, and they got my cabinets done in just over 4 weeks. of course, now I've been in for 9 months, and there are still a few little things left, but he did get the important stuff done when I needed it! They actually make the cabinets, I believe, and definitely have staff who speak english. They were also 20-30% less than Precision cabinets from Brentwood, partly because they'll give a discount for cash.
I got my floor tile/slate at Terico tile (absolutely love that place - I'm not one to need 10,000 choices, so this actually worked for me), and my backsplashes at Bedrosians, with some Terico, Unitile, and some Oakland place mixed in, while looking for my granite.

I can't find Nivya, did you get the spelling of the name correct?

Thanks!!

Hi Laura, sorry about that. i think i spelled it wrong. should be niviya.
here is their website. they are in santa clara. they also told me they can make matching tables to the cabinetry. i still haven't committed to anybody yet though as I am fine-tuning my design and budget. but maybe they will work out for you. HTH!

Here is a link that might be useful: niviya website

Kitchen reface depot does a fantastic job constructing new build cabinets and refacing cabinets that are customized to fit in your space (not necessarily limited to kitchens).

You might want to give the owner Paul a call or e-mail
408-9304054
kitchenrefacedepot@yahoo.com

Camphappy, if you see this, would you mind sharing the name of the distributor? Thank you.

Camphappy, if you see this, would you mind sharing the name of the distributor? Thank you.