Blog — January 26, 2026
Slabs up to 5×10 feet mean a shower wall or kitchen backsplash with almost no visible seams. Less grout means less cleaning and a more contemporary look. The tradeoff: large-format tile needs a dead-flat substrate and an experienced setter — it doesn't forgive an out-of-square wall the way smaller tile does.
Small-format tile — penny rounds, hexagons, zellige — handles curves, niches and accent walls that large-format simply can't. It's also more slip-resistant on floors because of the grout line density, which is why we still use it for shower floors even in otherwise large-format bathrooms.
Most of our Park City bathrooms use both: large-format on the main walls and floor, a mosaic accent on a niche or feature wall. It reads as intentional, not mismatched, when the two materials share a tone.
Large flat surfaces get large-format. Curves, drains and accent moments get mosaic. If a room needs both, we pick materials from the same collection so the grout color and body tone match.