Luxury Vinyl Tile: Looks Like Stone

Armstrong calls this "Cuarzo," I assume because it sounds good. But Cuarzo is simply the Spanish word for quartz.

Quartz-look luxury vinyl tile is not common. Yet Armstrong has fourteen quartz variations, this one being Multi-Glaze. While this one has the occasional quartz-like swirl, if you're looking for something that shouts "Quartz!" they have one for you. It's called Pearl-Gray and is infused with a silvery sheen that is almost like real quartz.

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Silver Cleft Slate

Cleft slate means that the slate is cleaved rather than honed. This results in a low stair step-like texture that is so distinctive to slate.

In this line called Stuart, Shaw tries to recreate the look in luxury vinyl tile. It's not my personal favorite, as I think it looks too much like old-school vinyl tile. Or, who knows, maybe I'm just not a fan of silver.

But I include this because it does represent an unusual type of stone-look LVT.

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Light Brown Slate Showing Clefting in Detail

In this picture of a lighter-brown LVT from Shaw, I have included an inset to show you the detail of the ledge-like cleft texture that the tile simulates.

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Beige Travertine in Large Rectangles

This is a soft, beige, light-tan travertine-look luxury vinyl, under the Adura brand, with one interesting distinction: the tiles are not the usual 16" x 16" squares, but 12" x 24" rectangles.

Adura's Travertine comes in two other colors: a light, silvery gray and a darker gray. All are 4mm thick, so don't expect deep textures. But if you can handle that, you'll find that this brand is typically less expensive than others.

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Terracotta Is Not Stone

Yet I've included it in this gallery of stone-look luxury vinyl tile because it is an anomaly. At one time, vinyl tile was all about replicating the look of tile. I distinctly remember in the mid-1970s, every kitchen I walked into had a vinyl floor that tried to simulate the look of Mexican terracotta tile.

This 16" x 16" Adura product has the patina of well-worn terracotta tile. Like other tiles under this brand, it can be grouted or left ungrouted. The grout is merely for aesthetic purposes; it is not needed for structural reasons.

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Warm Slate with Bronze and Golden Tones

This luxury vinyl tile is a slate that Armstrong--taking the name from the vast mountain range in the Mid-Easter United States--calls Allegheny Bronze Age. It's a complex and rich mix of light browns, bronze-golden tones, and even greens.

This LVT comes in a range of sizes, from 8", 12", and 16" square, as well as rectangulars, 8" x 16" and 12" x 16".

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Golden Travertine Stone

What would the Greeks think of this? It looks like rich, golden travertine stone with large sections of off-white and beige. Its "stone" tiles are 16" and 12" square, as well as 12" by 24".

Yet it's not stone; it's Armstrong's Alterna Reserve, a premium version of the familiar Alterna luxury vinyl tile.

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Black Stone

Black stone? What kind?

In my extensive academic studies of luxury vinyl tile, I have discovered that about 50% of the stone-look LVTs attempt to correlate to an actual stone (slate, marble, etc.). The other half is simply a generic stone-look that you would not find in nature.

Karndean calls this one Noir (Black), and it looks like it should be something, but it isn't. What distinguishes it from plain black tile is that its surface is textured to look like stone.

Luxury Vinyl Tile: Dark Slate Stone

This is slate-look luxury vinyl tile, but the picture is deceptive. In this view, you'll see a dark background mixed with mottled whites and light greens.

Yet on closer examination, you would see that this "slate" also has darker browns and an almost bluish tint. From Karndean, this is called Atlantic Slate.