MSI La Paloma Encaustic Sample Glazed Porcelain Floor and Wall Tile for Bathroom, Tile, Kitchen Backsplash and Countertop

I've been searching everywhere for some nice square burner covers for my gas stove - and found these tiles! I had only found one set of very cheap, flimsy, badly reviewed metal covers that would not have fit properly and had terrible reviews and pictures! All I needed was something heatproof and sturdy to sit on the burner grates and make a little more surface space on top of the stove (without covering the whole stovetop with a "noodle"). These tiles are the perfect size for this, at 8" x 8", very thick, smooth on top and rough on the back so they don't slide around on the grates. I wanted tiles that had a whole design on each tile so they could stand alone and look nice. They arrived packaged very tightly in shrink wrap and the box was packed full with styrofoam peanuts, so no damaged tiles. Sample tiles like these are great for little projects like mine, and decorating in general, where you only need a few. Also, these are ecaustic tiles, where the colored designs go all the way through the tile, and are not just painted on the top surface like ceramic ones. There are youtube videos on how these tiles have been made for hundreds of years, it's really fascinating. Beautiful!

Really nice tile. Didn’t use it in the end. Easy return.

I love the actual tile. Nice, thick, heavy, and great quality. The reason for the 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the shipping issues. I bought 9 cases. They ship them in boxes of 2 cases. The boxes are SO heavy that 3 cases were shattered upon arrival. They did have to replace those cases for me, but sent them in a box of 2 cases again. Luckily theses weren’t broken because the box was damaged. I recommend they send each case individually so the shippers can properly transport and handle them.

Difficult to assess the quality of this tile as it arrived broken. Color seemed nice. Tile is thicker than other samples I’ve looked at.

Some problems with this tile: first, the photo is misleading. A single tile does not look like the photo. The reason is... in the photograph, if you look very close, you can see the photo is actually showing four tiles, not just a single tile. So there is a lot more 'empty space' within the 8 by 8 inch area than I thought. This is not what I'm looking for in a tile design. The other problem I have with this product is the flaws in the surface of the tile. Other reviews have mentioned this. It seems to be dust particles in the enamel. If tiles were used as flooring -- it would not be so visible. However if I wanted to use the tiles on a wall space, the numerous flaws would be easily seen.