If you’re styling your kitchen with tiles, it’s usually to make it look considerably bigger or maybe smaller. However, it’s easy to forget which does which, and which tiles to go for in certain situations. Which is better for your kitchen between small and large tiles?
The tile size you should get for your kitchen should depend on how you want it to look. If you want the kitchen to look larger than its actual size, you should always go for the bigger tiles. It’s important to ensure that the sizes are proportionate to prevent your kitchen from looking out of place.
In this article, you’ll learn all you need to know about styling your kitchen with tiles. Firstly, I’ll show you when you should prioritize small tiles, when large tiles look better, and how you can use any tile size to your advantage when styling a kitchen.
Are Bigger or Smaller Tiles Better?
Before answering this question, it’s important to understand that “better” isn’t a measurable quality. While some people will argue that large tiles are simply better, others will swear by small tiles and neither of them will be wrong.
The better tile depends mostly on what you want to do with your room. Large and small tiles have different uses and different aesthetic effects on your home. While some people think bigger rooms look better, some will give up anything for a compact enclosure.
If you want your kitchen to look bigger than they are, you may want to consider getting bigger tiles. With fewer and thinner grout lines, large tiles will make it look as if you have considerably more space than you have.
While that is mostly true, disproportionately large tiles can make a very small room look out of place. There isn’t much to wrap your head around in a small room, and you’ll notice the many cuts made in a bid to make the large tiles fit the little room.
Also, the value of tiles isn’t based on the sizes alone. Many other qualities define the perfect tile for your kitchen. If you only got the size right, you’ll also need to have a specific color and shape to get the desired effect for the room.
Do Small or Big Tiles Make a Room Look Bigger?
Small tiles exist for a reason, but making your room look bigger than they are is not that reason. If you want to create the illusion of a much larger space, you’ll need something much larger than a small tile.
There is no definite standard for what counts as a small or a large tile, as tiles are continuously getting bigger, just as rooms get bigger too. For most cases, a large tile is anything above 12 inches, as that has gone past the standard tile size.
However, you don’t need a 14 or 24 inches tile to make the illusion of a bigger room. Frankly, if you try styling a small kitchen with tiles of that size, it will look terribly out of place, making your kitchen look irregularly designed and badly thought-out.
For most large kitchens, 12-inch tiles are enough to create the illusion of a larger space in the room. Much smaller kitchens can make do with smaller tile sizes. If your kitchen is objectively too small, I don’t think the size of your tiles can give you any more space than you have.
As hinted in the preceding section, the tile size is just one of the factors that make your room look bigger. You should also focus on the color and shape of the tiles, and how they contribute to the overall perspective size of the kitchen.
While most people believe lighter colors will make your rooms look bigger, that isn’t always the case. Tiling your kitchen floor without regard for the color of the walls may create an uncomfortable and distracting space due to the contrast and color shift.
For the illusion of a bigger room, it’s best to keep your tiles as close to the color of the wall as possible. If possible, try styling your walls with the same kind of tiles you used to style the floor. That will create a uniform and uninterrupted view, making the space look much bigger.
With regards to shape, sticking to diagonal shapes will give you that illusion of a bigger space that you always wanted. A diamond-shaped tile is the best option for people willing to enlarge their room illusively. Combine that with the magic of large tiles and you’ll want to shrink your rooms.
What Size Tiles are Best for a Kitchen?
Styling your home with tiles is a pretty straightforward process; until it’s about styling a small room. For most people, kitchens are relatively small rooms, and consequently, they can’t carry the same size of tiles as larger rooms.
When styling a small kitchen, there is a practical limit to how large of a tile you can use. Going with the largest possible tiles that won’t look out of place is the generally recommended option, but there is more to creating the illusion of a larger kitchen space.
If you want a kitchen that looks larger than it is, you should try going with lighter colors across the entire room. Having darker colors on your wall and lighter colors on the floor will only make for irregular and out-of-place designs.
Also, getting the boring square-shaped tiles will only make your kitchen look somewhat boring. Squares give a feeling of being confined in an enclosure, making your kitchen look even smaller than it should be.
Instead of a boxy design all around, you can consider laying the tiles diagonally to make them look somewhat exciting. Another alternative is getting tiles with a diagonal shape out of the box. Rectangular tiles also do this well: the goal is to make the entire design a little less boring.
