Traditional cementines, made of coloured cement paste, are back in the form of porcelain stoneware tiles, bringing a burst of colour, energy, geometry and decoration.
On this page you will find a series of articles in which we will tell you which types, decorations and formats are most in vogue today.
Here are the topics that we will discuss together:
Floor of a room decorated in vintage style using 20x20 multicolour cement tiles. Vintage tiles are in fact a very modern and resistant porcelain stoneware with a cementine effect and therefore offer a guarantee, even in a public place, of resistance to abrasion from footsteps and mechanical resistance to falling objects, provided that they have been produced by serious Italian manufacturers.
Some brands - including Bisazza in particular - repropose the traditional product with absorbency and stainability characteristics (which must be considered). Bisazza Cementine floors allow you to play with geometries as seen in this image:
While being more delicate and fragile, traditional cement tiles are a wonderful product that conveys a taste of naturalness with its soft, matt surface. The vintage feel of the tiles gives rooms a strong and original connotation
Other manufacturers - such as Ceramica Sant'Agostino - repropose the traditional style but interpret it with the new technologies of porcelain stoneware. These are what we call "cementine-effect stoneware" which combine aesthetics with unparalleled strength and durability.
Like this cementine stoneware kitchen wall tile that imitates Amalfi majolica tiles:
In this bathroom in Trissino (Vicenza) we used cement effect tiles to enrich three niches next to the sanitary ware. The surfaces chosen to cover the bathroom are large slate-effect tiles and a smooth resin on the wall of the niches.
The majority of cement tiles are now offered with this new technology of digital porcelain stoneware, which combines aesthetics with maximum practicality. There are dozens and dozens of versions of this cementine-effect porcelain stoneware: matt or smooth, with bright or faded colours, with modern geometries or vintage curves.
This is the product we recommend you evaluate and use, especially if you are thinking of using cement tiles for floors, because it combines the aesthetics and practicality of porcelain stoneware.
As I told you, there are many different types: from the colourful Fioranese proposals to the more sober and elegant Sant'Agostino ones.
But you can also find cementine stoneware in black&white versions, which are very original and striking.
The beauty of this product also lies in its ability to combine perfectly with the colours grey, beige, greige and dove grey, which - used as backgrounds - enhance its decorative capabilities.
Recently we have seen the emergence of another type of decoration, again on cement effect tiles. Instead of using a coloured decoration, the tiles seem to be made by inlaying different materials, such as wood and marble. This allows us to make a cementine bathroom wall covering by combining it with a wood-effect stoneware floor.
An example of this product can be seen in this patchwork:
Of course, there are also others in various styles. The one above is richer and more ornate but with softer tones, while the one below is more elegant and with brighter colours:
The most common question you may be asking yourself is: how much do cement tiles cost?
There are so many different types that it is really difficult to give you an answer. But I don't want to evade the question either, so I'll try to answer it: an Italian cement effect stoneware, of good quality and with a good design can cost around 25/30 euros per square metre. This is for a rectified product (i.e. with the edges cut so as to be sharp-edged), with a nice design and with a variety of decorations.
Of course there are cement tiles with lower prices. You can find, for example at Leroy Merlin or Bricoman or Iperceramica, versions with a non-rectified edge, a thinner thickness and with less refined and more repetitive graphics, even at 10 euros per square metre.
Your choice depends on what you have to do, on where you want to place the cement effect stoneware.
Here are a couple of examples.
For example, if you want to cover your kitchen with cement-effect stoneware tiles, I recommend that you invest in a high quality product, because:
In this case, the "right" price for cement tiles will be at least €30 per square metre
In cases where space is at a premium and the graphic aspects, the design, the care in the execution of the tile are not so important, it is possible to opt for cheaper products. Without going as far as Asian imports, there are Italian products that allow you to create cement floor tiles at prices below €20 per metre.
Alternatively, you can find high quality second choice cement tiles.
In that case the price of the tiles, which would cost 30€ or more, is reduced by at least 30%, perhaps due to defects that are not very visible in a large space. Again you are down to around 20€ per square metre.
Even if you decide to cover a portion of your bathroom with cement tiles, the small amount of space you will need does not justify finding the lowest price on the market.
Keep in mind that putting too many cement tiles in the wall would be a wrong choice, you would get a confused, psychedelic environment. So choose a high quality product and try instead to "dose" the quantity, diluting the coloured and decorated tiles with more neutral ones.
So what prices are justifiable for bathroom cement tiles? In my opinion, the necessary investment is at least €25 per metre.
Stoneware cement tiles have become very popular, many tile manufacturers offer them, and today you can find a very wide range of decors:
and others.
We recommend that you come to the shop to see them live and have fun playing to find the combination you like best.
You can buy cement tiles and use them to make an insert in a floor, but you can also decorate a bathroom, perhaps even just one wall, or use them to enrich niches. We also offer them as kitchen wall tiles, especially if you have chosen a country or rustic kitchen.
Please note that you can use them either in the patchwork version, mixing different colours and shapes, or in the version with a single decoration repeated in a full field.
On this page we collect some achievements and give some advice on the use of this fantastic product. If you too are in love with Cementine, come to our shops and play with us to find the right combination, personalised for you.
Showroom setting using black & white cementine effect stoneware tiles
A bathroom setting photographed at Cersaie in which stoneware tiles have been combined with terracotta-effect stoneware. The tile is inspired by the Mediterranean decorations of Amalfi majolica.
Another collection of Amalfitan cement effect tiles, combined with an intense pastel colour and offered both as floor and wall tiles in the bathroom.
In this tavern in San Giovanni Ilarione, we have supplied a wood-burning cooker and multi-coloured cement effect stoneware cladding.
A wooden floor and a modular steel kitchen. We have proposed, in the wall where the kitchen blocks rest, a covering with a patchwork of Cementine.
A portion of the floor, the inside of the shower and the wall of the cabinet are being covered with cement effect stoneware tiles. As the product is rectified, we have laid it using progress profiles screw levellers.
A kitchen, in Vicenza, covered with Black & White cementines
After this overview of achievements, we will now present some of our projects in which we have used cement tiles.
Try to find the right project for your bathroom among them.
Have fun discovering how cement tiles can enrich a wall, decorate an area of the bathroom, enhance niches or the shower space.
In this attic bathroom we used cement tiles to enhance the shower space.
Here we used the cement tiles to enrich the floor into which they are set and to enrich the little wall which we had to build in order to be able to put the wall-hung sanitaryware. Amazing!
Floor and wall coverings with coloured cement tiles on a neutral background.
Soft cementines combined with a cement effect stoneware for this minimalist style bathroom.
Here we have proposed the use of cement tiles in illuminated niches. The black and white cement tiles match the black and white tiles in the bathroom.
In this project, the wood-effect stoneware floor intersects with a space intended for cement tiles. The cement tiles are then placed on the wall of the sanitary ware and the shower in an amazing scenographic effect.
In this project we proposed a niche along the entire wall lined inside with cement tiles and lit by LEDs.
A proposal of elegant cement tiles in the shower area of this bathroom covered, on the other walls, with large corten metal effect slabs.
In these renderings the cement tiles are rectangular and the decorations are black and white with shades of grey.
Fresh tones for this bathroom design with cement tiles and large tiles in Baltic blue.
The design of this bathroom features a horizontal band of cement tiles running the full length of the walls, crossing over neutral-coloured stoneware.
In this project we show how the bathroom would look if we were to cover the walls completely with soft (not bright) cementines.
I leave you with a collection of photos showing various environments in which cement tiles have been used: public places, bars, private residences... In all these buildings, cement tiles have contributed, with their decorations and colours, to bring cheerfulness, but also a touch of vintage. Here are some photos of samples of cement tiles in our shops, where you can find the ones you are looking for.
Enjoy your work!
Are you looking for photos and projects of stoneware cementines? Do you want to use cementines and are you looking for ideas? Cementines, especially stoneware, are used in many areas.
Here are some articles you might like to read:
► Cementine as a floor covering and boiserie as a wall covering: a super cosy bathroom!
► Cementine as a kitchen wall covering in Martina's house in Arzignano (Vicenza)
► Bar counter with modern stoneware cementines
