Advantages And Disadvantages Of Tile Countertops
Ceramic tiles are a type of building material that can be applied to a wide variety of different surfaces within your home, including countertops. However, due to ceramic tiles' distinctive material qualities, countertops that are made out of ceramic tiles carry a unique set of advantages and disadvantages. Understanding what ceramic tiles have to offer your countertops can help you decide whether or not they are the right building material to fit your needs.
Advantages of Ceramic Tile Countertops
Aesthetic Appeal: One of the main draws associated with ceramic tile countertops is the fact that you can customize the appearance of your counters however you'd like, as you can choose from a wide variety of colors and sizes of tiles. This allows you to create a truly unique surface, and match the aesthetic of your counters to the rest of the room fairly easily.
Price: Ceramic tiles are fairly inexpensive for countertop use, especially when compared to certain types of natural stone. This makes them the better choice for any homeowners who are concerned about staying within a tight remodeling budget.
Heat and Water Resistance: Another major advantages associated with ceramic tiles as a building material is the fact that they are highly resistant to both heat and water exposure. This means that you can put down hot pans and wet dishes on your counters without having to worry about any sort of long term damage or warping as you would have to with other types of materials, and will extend the lifespan of your countertops.
Disadvantages of Ceramic Tile Countertops:
Brittleness: However, despite their resistance to heat and water exposure, ceramic tiles are a fairly brittle material, and can be damaged by blunt physical trauma relatively easily. This means that setting a pan down too hard on your countertop can cause tiles to crack and shatter. While this is somewhat offset by the fact that you can replace the individual tile without having to touch the rest of the countertop, it is still something to take into consideration, especially since it can be hard to find a tile that matches an existing installation exactly.
Cleaning and Maintenance: Further, ceramic tile countertops can be difficult to maintain. While they are not absorbent surfaces, the grout between individual tiles can hold onto grime and other substances and become discolored over time. While you can clean grout using a toothbrush and bleaching agents, this can add a great deal of time to your cleaning routine, which is a major consideration.
Talk to an interior design service for more ideas on changing up your countertops.