Are Tile Countertops Making a Comeback?

Short answer: yes. Tile countertops are making a comeback, and it is not just design-blog hype. We are getting real calls about them again, mostly for kitchen islands and bathroom vanities, after close to two decades where quartz owned the conversation. The tile going in now is not the grout-heavy 1980s counter most people remember tearing out. Larger format, better grout, bolder colour. Same idea, different execution.

Are Tile Countertops Making a Comeback? The Short Answer

They never fully disappeared. What changed is how often homeowners ask for one instead of defaulting straight to quartz. Design magazines started calling it a trend around 2025, and the requests we get match that timeline. Most are for a small footprint first: an island, a bar counter, a bathroom vanity. Nobody is ripping out a full quartz kitchen for it yet.

Why Tile Countertops Fell Out of Favour

Tile counters had a real run. Popular in the 1920s and 30s, back again through the 70s, 80s and into the early 90s, cheap, colourful, and easy for a homeowner to install without hiring a trade. Then quartz and granite showed up with a dead-flat, seamless surface, and tile started looking like the thing your parents’ kitchen had.

Grout was the actual problem, not the tile. Old-school grout stained, cracked, and turned into a crumb trap along every seam. Rolling dough on an uneven tile surface was never fun either. By the early 2000s, ripping out tile counters was practically a rite of passage for a first kitchen reno, and that reputation stuck around a lot longer than the tile itself did.

What Actually Changed

Grout technology, mostly. Modern epoxy and acrylic-based grouts resist stains and mildew in a way the old cement-based stuff never did. That single fix solves the complaint homeowners bring up first every time this topic comes up on a quote call.

Format changed too. Large-format tile, 12×24 and up, means fewer grout lines crossing the counter, which means less to clean and less to stain. Handmade and artisanal tiles bring texture without looking like a throwback. Put those two shifts together and a tile countertop reads current instead of dated, even using the same basic material as forty years ago.

Are Tile Countertops Out of Style?

No, not the way they were ten years ago. The specific look that reads dated is small ceramic squares in a busy pattern with white grout gone grey. Large-format porcelain, zellige-style handmade tile, or a bold checkerboard in a rich colour reads as a deliberate design choice, not a leftover from a previous decade.

What Is the Newest Trend in Countertops?

Texture over shine. Handmade and artisanal tile finishes, slightly uneven glazes, matte surfaces, are pulling attention away from the perfectly flat engineered-stone look that dominated the last fifteen years. Tile countertops fit that shift naturally, since texture is the one thing a slab material cannot fake.

What Is the 2026 Trend for Kitchen Countertops?

Bold and personal, less about resale-safe neutrals. Checkerboard patterns in saturated colour, mixed materials on the same counter, tile paired with butcher block or a different stone on an island. The through-line across every source we checked: homeowners choosing a counter that says something specific, instead of the safest option in the showroom.

Do People Still Do Tile Countertops?

Yes, though usually as a statement piece rather than the whole kitchen. Islands, bar counters, and bathroom vanities are where we see it most. A full kitchen tiled top to bottom is still rare on the Island. Most homeowners who love the look start small before deciding whether to go further.

Durability, Heat Resistance and the Real Downsides

Porcelain and ceramic both handle a hot pan straight off the stove without scorching or warping. That part of tile’s old reputation was always true and still is. Scratch resistance is strong too, better than laminate or butcher block by a wide margin.

The downsides did not go away, they just got smaller. Grout still needs sealing on a schedule, even the improved kind, or it will eventually stain. The surface is not perfectly flat, so rolling out pastry directly on it is still awkward. And a hard enough impact can chip a tile edge the way it never would a quartz slab. None of that is a dealbreaker. It is just what a homeowner is trading for the look and the price.

Which Tile Actually Holds Up as a Countertop

Porcelain is what we recommend most for a working kitchen counter. Dense, low-absorption, and it shrugs off staining better than ceramic without needing constant resealing. Ceramic costs less and comes in a wider colour range, but it is softer and more porous, better suited to a bar counter or vanity than a spot that sees a knife and a cutting board every day.

Natural stone tile, marble or slate in a tile format instead of a slab, looks the part but needs sealing on a real schedule, often once or twice a year depending on how much water and acid it sees. Skip that upkeep and it will etch and stain faster than either porcelain or ceramic ever would. Glass tile shows up on Pinterest boards a lot but rarely on a working counter for the same reason: gorgeous, scratches if a pan slides across it wrong.

Cost: Tile vs Quartz and Granite

Ceramic tile material typically runs one to fifteen dollars a square foot. Marble and other natural stone slabs can run past a hundred and fifty. Quartz sits somewhere in the middle once fabrication and installation are factored in, usually well above tile either way.

Labour is where tile can surprise people. Keep the layout simple on an island and costs stay down. A checkerboard pattern, mixed formats, or hand-cut edge detail adds hours before the first tile goes down, same as it does on a floor or backsplash job. Material savings over quartz are real. Labour savings depend entirely on how complicated the pattern gets.

Resale Value: Comeback or Red Flag?

Mixed, and worth weighing before committing a full kitchen to it. Some research suggests homes with tile counters sell for slightly less than comparable homes with quartz or stone, and plenty of buyers still associate tile with an older kitchen that needs updating. That perception has not fully caught up to the trend yet.

A well-installed island or vanity in a current pattern is a different story than a full 1990s-style counter left untouched. Buyers respond to intentional design choices, not just material labels. If resale is the main concern, a small tiled feature reads as a design decision. A whole kitchen in tile is a bigger bet on the next buyer sharing your taste.

Where We’re Installing Tile Countertops on Vancouver Island

Islands and bar counters lead by a wide margin, followed by bathroom vanities in older character homes where a warm, textured tile suits the existing trim and floors better than a slab of engineered stone would. A kitchen tile installation gives the most room to play with pattern since the footprint is usually larger and more forgiving.

Bathroom vanities are the other common request, especially paired with a matching or contrasting bathroom tile installation on the shower walls or floor. Full kitchen counters in tile are still the exception here, not the rule, though that could change if the trend holds another few years.

Try It Small Before You Commit

Start with an island, not the whole kitchen. It gives the look without the risk, and it is the easiest section to redo later if the pattern feels wrong after a year of living with it. A bar counter or a powder room vanity works the same way. Large-format tile with minimal grout lines keeps maintenance simple wherever it goes in.

The Bottom Line

Tile countertops are back, just smarter than they used to be. Better grout, bigger tiles, bolder patterns, and homeowners choosing them on purpose instead of by default because nothing else was affordable. Whether it belongs on your counter comes down to how much upkeep you want and how long you plan to stay in the house, and that is a conversation worth having before ordering material. Anyone weighing this up around Campbell River, Courtenay or Comox can ask us and get a real number.

Related Questions

• Can Porcelain Tile Be Used for Kitchen Countertops?
• Can I Use Peel and Stick Tiles on Kitchen Countertops?
• Can Slate Tile Be Used Outdoors?

Jordan Tile & Stone

Tile installation and repair across central Vancouver Island: Campbell River, Courtenay, Comox, Oyster Bay, Nanoose Bay, Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Nanaimo.

Phone: (250) 201-3891
Hours: Monday to Sunday, 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
Address: 4423 Patricia Rd, Oyster Bay, BC V9H 1B8