Blech, I hate my tile counters. The grout looks terrible and the spaces collect food bits; it's so hard to keep clean. I want solid countertops so badly. Someday.

I hate my tile countertops! Luckily they are a terra cotta color and the grout is tannish to match (thank you 1978 color schemes), but I am always putting a wooden cutting board (with a flexible cutting mat on top to chop food) or acrylic cutting boards to combat food particles from getting into the grout. The overall 1978 scheme is neutral and I love the dark walnut cabinets and terracotta tile floor that I have, but someday those counters HAVE GOT TO GO!

I recently bought a house that was built in the 20's and renovated. I have a tile countertop and it's really no problem, keeps easily clean, the grout is clean also and the surface is not uneven, rather flat actually. The counter is at least 4 years old since I know the previous owners stayed 4 years and didn't do the renovations, so for sure it's older than 4 years old and have kept really well. I have one cracked tile but that's it for bad review. And I'm not one to always clean immediately after cooking, so it doesn't seem to stain either.

I hate our 10-ish inch tile counters (tan with a sort-of putty colored grout). The grout is just impossible to keep clean. I sealed it once the first year I lived there, but it wasn't really helpful. The grossest part is if something like an egg or drop of chicken juice (SHUDDER! I am a veg but cook chicken for my family) accidentally ends up on the grout, it's in there forever!
I'm seriously thinking of using our tax return for Corian instead of the college fund.

I have tile counters in my rental and I thought they added to charm of the place. They're a sunny yellow that makes me smile. I need to scour the grout more often but I really haven't had problems with them.

When I catered I hated to work in a kitchen with tile countertops. They stain, always look dirty, are a bi--ch to clean and if you drop anything on it you can either break the item or the tile. Wouldn't have it in my home kitchen even if it were free.

I have tile countertops in my rental and I kind of hate them. They were not well cared for before my boyfriend and I moved in so they are cracked, stained, and need to be regrouted. I opted to cover them up several large cutting boards from IKEA instead. Looks way better, easier to clean, and I can pretend I have butcher block countops instead.

I could see having a tile backsplash but tile counters - way too much trouble to try and keep clean.

I have had them in rentals before, and although it wasn't too hard to keep them clean I kinda hated them! They are impossible to roll dough out on or anything like that since they aren't flat. Solid countertops plz!

I hate tile countertops! For all the reasons people have already mentioned. The unevenness is the worst part for me, if a cuttingboard is even jiggling around the slightest bit without a towel under it, it drives me nuts.

I love the fact that I can put anything hot on them, but hate how dirty the grout gets. Yes, I can clean it with 409 or Comet or something, but food particles just get ground in when I try to wipe with a rag. I have to get out my dust buster to clean up broccoli bits before I wipe the counter. It's a toss up, though - I might like the fact that I can put anything hot directly on them a bit more. (We have terra cotta and grey grout. Everyone who comes into our 1935 house raves about how pretty it looks!)

The woman who renovated the kitchen, prior to us moving in, installed tile very similar to the pictures from this post. She wasn't much of a chef. After living with tiled countertops for over a year, I wish I could rip them out. I hate them! Cleaning is the number one issue I have. I have to scrub with a toothbrush just to clean out the tiles, not just once but twice a week of heavy duty cleaning. It attracts all kinds of dirt. I can't wait for the day that we can renovate the kitchen. That and the pepto bismol bathroom were the major downsides to the apartment.

My parents have a home that was built in the early 70s and the standard kitchen counter was tile. It looked fine but my mom spent her whole life trying to get it replaced. It was hard to clean, did not have a smooth surface. While I think it may work for some, I'm disappointed that tile counters warrant a post at all.

My condo has tile kitchen counter tops and I'm saving to have them removed. Put me on the 'HATE TILE' list.

Oh God, anything but tile. Uneven, impossible to clean, always looks dirty, busy visual pattern -- just the worst. Except for the old subway tile from the 30's/40's, which is still pretty bad but the grout is so narrow, and the tiles are flat, plus they have vintage value... otherwise, tile must go.

If I had tile in my kitchen, I wouldn't save up for marble or anything, I'd have that sh*t replaced immediately with laminate if I had to do it myself.

I too have had tile and hated it. It would be very difficult here in Florida as even the tiniest specks of food on a countertop can attract ants. (That may be the case in other climates too). Plus, it's rarely very pretty.

We have them in our apartment right now and I loathe them. LOATHE. They're awful to clean. About the only good thing is they seem rather heat resistant, but that's it. Kitchen counters should be 100% smooth. Otherwise, you're cleaning spilled salt/flour/sauce out of grout while you're trying to cook! I'd rather have the cheapest Formica any day.

I installed porcelain tile countertops in my condo. I love the porcelain because it's easy to keep clean and looks awesome. (And $4-8 is WAY too high an estimate per tile)

I used epoxy grout and love it. My best friend spilled red food coloring on it the very first week, and it wiped right off! No stains! I also used tiny grout lines.

The whole job cost about $800, and gives the look and feel of granite without the upkeep of granite (sealing, etc). It was WAY cheaper than crappy laminate. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

One easy way to get all your tiles level is to use a little extra mortar, then lay a 2x4 over the top and gently hammer on top. It'll level out any tiles poking up.

Tile counter tops: just don't.

The only thing worse than ceramic tile tops is when people try to approximate a granite slab by using the 12-inch stone slabs from Home Depot.

Bleck. Looks cheap and is cheap. Difficult to clean.

Hate them. The worse place for tiles than on a kitchen countertop is in the shower.

Love these comments because I feel like I've found a support group. My tile countertops are SO HORRIBLE TO CLEAN, they make me crazy! Sorry you're all suffering but good to know I'm not alone.

Mimi Wan, you are right. Why would we encourage anyone to install these???

I have ceramic tile in both the kitchen and bathroom and I love the look of it. My building was built in the late 40s so it was par for the course, I suppose. If you ask me, tile looks a hell of a lot better than that tacky Home Depot speckled granite countertop look I see everywhere.

I grew up in a house with tiled kitchen counters. I would never ever NEVER NEVER NEVER voluntarily put tiles on a kitchen counter top. They are a nightmare to clean, it's an uneven surface. You basically couldn't pay me to tile my counters. My mother has since replaced most of the tiles, because it was becoming such an issue... There are so many other alternative materials that can fit all budgets. No tiles ever.

My bathroom vanity had to be replaced recently, (approx. 24" x 72"). The replacement budget was very limited but my landlord allowed me to select the countertop material. I went with 12" x 24" porcelain floor tiles with approx. 1/16" grout lines. The tile cost $5/square foot and we used an off-white grout which closely matched the tile.

I'm pleased with the result: minimum grout lines and -- because the tile has a completely flat profile, (i.e., does not curve down at the edges) -- the countertop surface is very flat and smooth.

Same here, hate my tile counters! We bought our home with the dreadful tiles and the grout is disgusting, it's crumbling, and they're topped off with moulding around the edges. They're so gross.
I'd rather have a piece of painted wood with sealer for countertops!

I don't have tile countertops, thank goodness, but I hate the look of them. First, most look really dated unless they're those cool colorful retro ones. Even then, I would hate to deal with cleaning the grout. And as someone who bakes a lot, the uneven surface would make rolling doughs a pain. When they have dark grout (like that first pic), they just look constantly dirty and gross. When it comes to cheap options, give me laminate any day. Oh, I if you're putting in new counters and planning to sell your home in the next ten years, don't do tile granite-it defeats the purpose of granite. Better to leave the old counters and let the new owners put in whatever they like than have to deal w/ tile- people think it's ok just because it's the oh so great "granite".

I chose to tile my counter-top and I like it just fine. I used 8" x 10" porcelain to minimize the amount of grout lines. I wanted green tiles, and the ones I have call themselves green, but they are more of a eggshell blue. I still think they look nice and I know they were a hell of a lot less than $4 per tile. I don't have any trouble keeping the surface clean and it was miles more affordable than the cheapest estimate for a solid countertop.

I have to smile at that commenter who begged to differ because her subway tile grout is easy to keep clean -- subway tile is way different from the wide-gapping square tile shown in the main photo. (Not least because subway tile is more likely to be on a backsplash than on a countertop.) I had the wide-gap ceramic tile on countertops of an otherwise unbelievably wonderful rental in California, and I would advise people not to even consider it. Messy, dirty, uneven, crackable -- it's got everything you wouldn't want in a surface. In fact, the only reason I read this article was that I was curious that someone was saying there would be at least one pro alongside the zillion cons.

The lady at the tile store warned me not to use tile for the kitchen counters (only the back splash) but she also warned me not to use anything but a light colored tile and not to use marble for counter tops. I lived in Greece and had no problems what so ever with my solid marble counter tops so I did not consider her right about this and just ignored her. I used gold tile (not light yellow) and have no problem with the slightly darker color despite her warnings but she was right about the impracticality of the tile counter top. Tile on a counter needs very frequent re-grouting. You can learn to do it yourself. It's not that hard but plan on spending 1/2 day or more every 6-12 mos. re-grouting and a lot of extra work cleaning the counter top on a regular basis in order for it to look good. As much as I love the look of tile, I wished that I had used Corian or even Formica.