Is light or dark gray better for the room?
Light gray tile keeps a room bright and works as a softer alternative to white, showing the shape of each tile without stark contrast; Mist, whose name points to a light tone, is a glossy gray subway in 3x6. Dark gray tile gives a wall weight and sets off white cabinets or marble counters.
Gris Fonce, a name that means dark gray in French, Roca Dark Gray and Gridscale Graphite, described as a deep gray, are the darker tones. The broader gray range in every material is in gray tiles and mosaics.
Gray subway tile formats
Gray subway tile comes in several proportions. Mist comes glossy in 3x6, Zephyr glossy in 2x6 and 3x6, and Gris Fonce in 4x12 in both glossy and matte, so one dark gray can go glossy on a backsplash and matte on a bathroom wall.
A slim 2x6 gives a fine, detailed wall, a 3x6 looks classic, and a 4x12 stretches the wall for a more modern look. Grigio adds a glossy 4x8 and Zephyr a glossy 4x8 Marbella for a slightly squarer brick shape.
Polished 3x12 Roca strips
Polished 3x12 Roca strips are long, narrow ceramic tiles with a polished face, offered in Dark Gray, Silver Drift, Flow Frost and Flow Lavender. The long format suits a horizontal backsplash or a vertical stacked feature wall, and the polished face throws a bright reflection along each strip.
Roca Dark Gray and Roca Silver Drift also come in a matte 8x9, so a room can pair polished strips on one wall with the same color in matte on another.
Stone and concrete looks in ceramic
Stone-look ceramic prints the pattern of natural stone onto a glazed ceramic tile, giving the look of limestone or travertine in a glazed ceramic tile. In this collection the stone looks come from MSI: Charisma Silver is a limestone look with cooler gray tones and a distinctive linear pattern, in 12x24 and a matching 2x2.
Ansello Grey is a travertine look with gray hues and delicate veining in 12x24, and Napa Gray a travertine look with sweeping tonal veins and clouds in 12x24 and 12x12. Gridscale, in Concrete and Graphite, is a matte 12x24 with a neutral or deep gray palette, and these larger matte formats give a wall fewer grout lines than a small subway.
Handmade-style gray ceramic
Handmade-style gray ceramic recalls traditional tilework. Riad is a matte 4x4 described as a zellige look, after the glazed handmade tile of Morocco, and Storm is a matte 6x6 with a hand-painted gray finish.
Slate Rustic, a 2 3/4x9 3/4 tile with a rustic face, pairs with crisp white or with deeper reds, navy or sage, which makes it a strong choice for a farmhouse kitchen backsplash or a mudroom wall.
Hexagon and chevron shapes
Gray hexagon and chevron tiles add pattern to a single color. Gris Fonce comes in a matte 8 1/4 inch hexagon, a larger scale that reads as a bold geometric wall, and Storm comes in a matte 2x6 chevron that sets the strips in a V pattern.
Grey is a glossy 6x6 square for a simple grid, the plainest shape in the range and a good backdrop for a patterned accent elsewhere in the room.
Matte, glossy and polished finishes
Finish changes how gray reads. Matte gray, such as Gridscale or matte Gris Fonce, has a soft, low-glare surface that looks modern. Glossy gray, such as Mist, Zephyr or Grey, reflects light and helps a small bathroom feel more open.
Polished gray, such as the Roca 3x12 strips, has the brightest, smoothest shine of the three. Using two finishes of one color, glossy on the backsplash and matte on the surrounding wall, keeps a room unified without looking flat.
Pairing gray ceramic in a room
Gray ceramic pairs with white or gray cabinets for a monochrome kitchen, with navy or green for contrast, and with warm wood to keep a gray room from feeling cold. Chrome and nickel fixtures echo cool grays such as Charisma Silver, while brass warms a darker gray wall.
Gray ceramic covers backsplashes, shower and tub surrounds, vanity walls and laundry rooms, and the larger matte formats such as Napa Gray and Gridscale also suit floors where their listing allows it. For heavy-traffic floors, the denser porcelain range is in gray porcelain tiles, and more ceramic in other colors is in ceramic tiles.
