Is Travertine Tile Appropriate for the Kitchen?

Question

I am retiling my kitchen and a contractor told me that this is not appropriate for kitchen use.

Answer 1

Use glazed non slip.

It will not absorb spills.

Answer 2

Your contractor is doing you a favor. Travertine is absolutely beautiful, but it is the most porous of the natural stones. It is pitted (take a close look at the stone. Any light areas are pits that have been filled with a material called Akemi). The "fill" material is less dense than the actual stone, and can cause pitting. Travertine will also stain more readily than any other natural stone. If you drop red wine or (more common in my house) spagettios on it, it will soak into the stone and be a beast to get out. No amount of sealing will prevent this from happening. Sealers are topical treatments that will wear off.

An idea...Dal tile (www.daltile.com) has a product called Portenza. It is a travertine look ceramic tile that I've used before. It is very realistic, and will not stain like a real travertine. Have your contractor install it with "butt-joints" (means the tiles are butted up against each other with almost invisible grout lines) and you may not be able to tell the difference.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I restore houses. We do fixers and restore them. I have used Travertine tile in kitchens on the counter tops. They work just fine and you must use a sealer with travertine tiles. We did not use it on the floors. We used a vitreous tile that looked like a good match. It was easier to maintain. Some people use it in conjunction with Granite. they use it as a back splash. It might be a bit of a mess on the floor since you would have to constantly be resealing it and cleaning it is very hard to do.

Answer 4

TILE YES, NATURAL STONE NO! TOO ABSORBANT!