I do believe many of my European friends wouldn’t agree with me. So that’s my case against it, having lived both in Europe and in the States. Finally, tile is much colder material than drywall, plaster or wallpaper, both in terms of actual temperature and its reflection. That’s a completely different feeling that I want in my kitchen. Kitchens with tile everywhere remind me so much of butcher shops and fish markets. These (drywall) are actually good parts of American design. Kitchens also feel warmer like a place to gather rather than prep meat. It makes a bathroom look and feel warm, pleasant, approachable, room-like, spa-like. I love to leave some walls without any tile. Homes were humid, people were scared of mold, there was steam, bacteria, no ventilation, often no window in a bathroom either. I think it’s based on limitations of the past. I love the simple design without excess trims, but not tile all over. This was my intention a couple months ago in the kitchen and our main bath… until I read this comment from a reader, Lane, on the tile post… design by design platform | photo by david lauer | via dwellįrom commenter Lane (edited slightly for context): I’m European, having grown up with it, I don’t like tile on all walls. It reflects the light, gives the rooms so much texture, and you barely need any art or accessories to dress it up. I wrote more about the desire in this post but the idea is how you can take a simple tile and create high impact by putting it on all walls. Like a fashion stylist might love hats, I LOVE tile as a design element, a lot. After a lot of reflection, provoked by a reader’s comment, I came to ask myself last week, “is a lot of tile really want we want? Are we over-tiling because we can and perhaps it’s not always the right choice?” Until recently I was on team “tile” everywhere, all the way – like in Jessica’s farmhouse kitchen above. I feel like Carrie Bradshaw, but less sex columnist and more design writer.

Fully tiled kitchen walls