What makes a tile easy or hard to keep clean or low/high maintenance?

[Esgaroth]

In a bathroom or a kitchen for example.

I am trying to learn everything I can in order to avoid mistakes and regrets in our new house. I've seen a lot of people complain about certain tiles showing dirt or water marks or being a nightmare to keep clean.

So far I have gleaned: big tiles and dark grout are good, because this reduces the need for grout scrubbing.

But what about tile colour? In our current flat the kitchen tiles are sort of brown/pinky beige mottled and are very good at hiding dirt (maybe too good...) but they are not very nice imo. Our current bathroom floor tiles are dark grey and they usually look fine - but I've seen other people say that dark grey tiles are a nightmare so is it something other than the colour that makes them so?

Matt, gloss?

Basically if you've got a lovely tiled kitchen or bathroom floor that is low maintenance and looks good, can you tell me what its properties are?

We have a large format gloss tile in our en suite. It’s a large space and the tiles look like molten bronze metal. Dark grout. Looks amazing after 13 years.

Main bathroom has no tiles. Freestanding bath. We used wooden boarding and a sink with a slight inbuilt upstand. So no maintenance there! Second en suite is limestone large format tiles. No issues and they are in the shower. Other en suite just has large format textured white tiles. Huge mirror behind double glass sinks.

I’ve never scrubbed grout in my life. So my tips are large format, very narrow grout lines and go for texture if you don’t want the odd streak! I would highly recommend Porcelanosa. Fantastic range of tiles. By large I mean 90x40. You can also get large square ones. Don’t have tiles behind the sink. Think about mirrors. Use a low sheen wall paint and the wood boarding can look really good in the right bathroom.

Bathroom floors are coordinating tiles and non slip. One en suite has laminate wood. No bath though!

Forgot to add: water softener. Vital where we are.

Thanks for the great tips!

I've never scrubbed floor grout... even though the bathroom could probably do with it just by the shower where it is starting to look fairly grubby.

But on the bathroom walls we have smaller rectangular white tiles with a pale grout and the grout lines do need scrubbing in the shower cubicle. It is extremely tedious!

I think we are going to be dull and have some kind of beige tile in the bathroom and grey in the kitchen - something not too light and not too dark. There will be colours but not from the tiles I think!

We live in a very soft water area. That's good, is it?

Forgot to say we have never 'done' a bathroom or a kitchen before so we are a bit at sea. We've always just lived with what there was before.

@Esgaroth You don’t necessarily need tiles in a kitchen at all. Just get an upstand for the worktop and use a paint that’s easy to clean. Not a powdery emulsion. For a splash back use a piece of glass or stone. We have no tiles in the kitchen at all.

What do you think of these?

I think we do want tile on the kitchen floor and for the area behind hob and sink. It's not that I want to avoid tile, I just don't want to choose one I'll be cursing 6 months down the line.

The grout scrubbing has only been an issue in the bathroom, our kitchen tiles are easy to keep clean (although they are not very beautiful imo).

We have had vinyl flooring laid in our bathroom each time we have refitted it. Both are fairly pale colours with some variation in them, however the last vinyl we chose is so good at not showing the dust and dirt etc. it’s got less white in it and more colour variation (grey).

Go with a matt tile rather than shiny imo.

I'm actually buying a new build at the mo and I'm getting LVT as i'm fed up of dirty grout (I do have dogs though), it's so hard to keep it really clean, if not impossible really.

I have sandy beige marble floors throughout the house and bathrooms and kitchen. Previous house had white with beige and pink marble throughout.

Marble is marvelous. Easy to care for and hides dirt really well! Somewhat fragile in the kitchen though. Both kitchen and bath tiles are virtually seamless/ hardly notice the grout.
I recommend light colors which hide dirt better than dark ones. And most importantly perfectly smooth surfaces where dirt cannot accumulate.

That said, I have had several houses with red terra cotta tiles in 10cm octagonal shape that I have always adored . Even for baths and kitchens. They are timeless. Be sure to insist on narrow grout lines!
To me flooring is one of the most important elements in a house and can be an important deciding factor in a sale. Don't scrimp.