Why beige porcelain
Beige porcelain is warmer than white or gray tile, so it suits rooms with wood cabinets, brass or bronze fixtures and natural light. A mid-tone beige also tends to show everyday dust and footprints less than a very light or very dark floor.
Porcelain is a dense, fired body with very low water absorption, which makes it a practical choice for kitchens, bathrooms, mudrooms and open-plan living areas. A beige porcelain floor can run through several rooms of a house in one continuous color. The full beige range in every material is in beige tiles and mosaics.
Marble-look beige porcelain
Marble-look beige porcelain reproduces the soft veining of cream and beige marbles. Sande in Cream and Ivory comes matte and polished in 12x24, 24x24 and 48x48, Aria in Oro and Cremita is polished in 12x24, 24x24 and 24x48, and Exotika Alura is a polished 24x48 with a more dramatic pattern.
A polished marble look gives a bright, reflective floor for an entry, living room or primary bath, while a matte marble look feels softer and more relaxed underfoot. The 48x48 Sande sizes suit a large room.
Limestone and travertine looks
Limestone-look beige porcelain has the quiet, even texture of a fine limestone. Mood in Dune and Sand comes in 12x24 and 24x48, Girona Marfil and Chateau Luna Sable come in a lappato finish, and Girona Marfil also comes in a 48x48 for a large open floor.
Travertine-look porcelain recreates the pitted, layered pattern of travertine, and Trail copies both ways a travertine block is sawn. Cross Cut, also called fleuri, is sliced parallel to the stone's layers and shows a cloudy, mottled pattern; Vein Cut is sliced across the layers and shows long, parallel bands. Trail comes in both, in 12x24 and 24x48; Pisa Beige and Barcelona Taupe come in 12x24; and Cordova Avorio is a 24x48 with an R11 matte surface. For natural travertine in beige, see beige travertine tiles.
Wood-look beige porcelain
Wood-look beige porcelain gives the warmth of a light hardwood floor in a tile that suits kitchens, bathrooms and basements. Placero comes in several wood tones, including Maple and Oak, in long 10x60 planks, Whitehill in Ashwood, Beckleywood and Sandlewood comes in 9x48, and Braxton Saddle and Emotion Relax Beige come in 10x40 and 8x40.
Longer planks show more of the wood pattern on each piece, and run along a room's length they tend to draw the eye toward the far wall. A beige wood look is a natural match for a beige stone-look tile in the next room, which keeps the house in one warm palette.
Concrete, terrazzo, quartz and fabric looks
Concrete-look beige porcelain gives an industrial, modern floor in a warm tone. Attitude Warm Sand comes in 12x24, 24x24 and an 8.5x10 hexagon, Made.in Heritage Beige in 12x24 and 24x24, and Cemento Sand in a honed 12x24 and an R11 textured 12x24.
Terrazzo-look Oyster Beige shows small chips of stone in a beige ground, Explore African Beige has the speckled look of quartz, and fabric looks such as Focus Glacier, Loft Glacier and Iridian have a fine woven texture. Stone and slate looks include Infinity Desert, Journey Cozy Beige, Trek Sand, Marlu Dune and Traktion Stowe Desert Amber.
Matte, polished and lappato finishes
Matte is the majority finish in Stone Tile Depot's beige porcelain, with a soft, low-sheen surface suited to everyday floors. Polished porcelain, such as Brighton Crema, Aria and Sande, has a high-gloss surface that reflects light and deepens the color.
Lappato, Italian for lapped, is a semi-polished finish between matte and polished: the high points of the surface are polished and the low points stay matte, so the tile has a soft, satin sheen. Girona Marfil, Chateau Luna Sable and Elbe Sand come in lappato.
Anti-slip versions and R11
Several beige porcelain series come in a standard version and an Anti-Slip Grip version in the same color and size. Mood, Trail, Explore, Journey and Made.in each have Grip versions, and Elite Oyster Beige has an Anti-Slip terrazzo look, so a bathroom or mudroom can use the textured version while the next room uses the standard tile.
R11, in the names of Cordova Avorio and Cemento Sand, refers to a class in the German DIN 51130 ramp test, which rates surfaces from R9 to R13. Product names state these ratings; the product pages are the place to confirm them for a specific project.
Shade variation: V2 to V4
Shade variation describes how much color and pattern change from tile to tile, rated V1 to V4 under the ANSI A137.1 standard. V1 is uniform, V2 shows slight variation, V3 moderate variation and V4 substantial, random variation. Stone Tile Depot's beige porcelains carry ratings from V2 to V4, with V3 the most frequent.
A V2 tile gives a calm, even floor; a V3 or V4 tile looks more like natural stone, with lighter and darker pieces mixed across the room. Where listed, the rating appears on the product page.
Large formats and planks
Beige porcelain comes in large formats that reduce grout lines: 24x48 is a common large size, alongside 24x24 and 48x48 for open floors. Architecta Beige, Girona Marfil and Sande come in 48x48, which suits an open-plan living area or a large primary bath.
Smaller 12x24 tiles suit a small bathroom or shower walls, and the wood planks run from 8x40 to 10x60. Porcelain in more colors is in porcelain tiles.
