Back in the days, when Italian tiles were significantly more expensive than Spanish and Turkish tiles, most people didn’t know why or didn’t even ask why? ” It’s expensive because It’s from Italy” was a common belief.
In reality, along with features such as high-quality design and colored body of the tile, the main reason was the quality of the shine. Italians were the first to figure out how to polish porcelain tiles. Their tiles shone like marble.
Meanwhile, everybody else was using a type of glaze that was similar to the one that we see on glossy papers (That glaze made a reputation for its slipperiness and granted us the name “Orange Peel” for the light rippled like an orange peel over the tile.), Italians were literally polishing the porcelain tiles.
Back then as long as the tile shone, most flooring professionals called it a polished finish.
The polished Finish Is A High-End Feature
Today a marble-like polished finish is widely available for high-end porcelain tiles from Spanish and Turkish manufacturers. However, there are still lots of lower-end tiles in the market that come with the glossy finish.
If you’re paying top dollars for your shiny porcelain tile, you should make sure that It’s the true polished finish.
