Why You Shouldn’t Use Black Grout

Using black or dark grout with white tile had it’s moment and now, it’s over. Yep, I’m afraid it was a trend that lasted for a few years and now it’s really not recommended by anyone including designers and contractors. Here’s why.

7 Reasons Not to Use Black Grout

1. Your contractor will hate you. First of all, when you tell a contractor you want black grout with white tile, they immediately hate you. Here’s the thing, grout is messy no matter what color, but especially when it’s dark. It is extremely difficult to clean off of the white tile. It takes contractors a very long time to finish this job because it requires so much extra cleaning. Some contractors might even charge extra for black grout.

2. You may think that black will hide dirt and this is true. However, black grout actually can inadvertently look dirty.

3. It shows every single flaw. If those tiles are not cut perfectly and perfectly spaced which they likely won’t be, you WILL notice it. If you’re like me, once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

4. It’s a Modern Farmhouse trend. I’m not knocking on farmhouse. There are some farmhouse elements I actually really adore. Using and white (in certain areas and doses) is one of them. But, if farmhouse is not your style, just know that black grout is.

5. It stains other areas. When I had my bath/shower combo tiled, the black grout stained the tub a bit and now I feel like it forever looks dirty. I’ve scrubbed and now just accepted it’s not coming off. It’s not unlivable, but the former white tub now has a gray tinge up around the top.

6. You will get tired of it and desire a cleaner look. When you change it, which is actually really easy to do you’ll see that you instantly have a cleaner look and your space probably looks bigger.

7. It might fade over time and look washed out. Black grout has a tendency to fade and look an uneven faded gray.

My Own Kitchen Experience with Black Grout

I have/had black grout actually in three separate areas of my home. I have a dark gray (almost black) grout with white subway tile (classic choice) in a basement shower. I have dark gray with white subway in a second floor bath/tub combo. I also have it on my kitchen backsplash with a lantern shape white tile. I just recently changed the grout on the kitchen tile. It was pretty easy and inexpensive. More on that…

Here’s my kitchen with black grout and black hardware.

A little background on why I chose what I did in the first place. I moved into this house about 3 years ago. It was in need of some updating. I moved from another cookie cutter home in a neighboring town. We made offers on four houses in the area before we got this one. It has a great floor plan, no extras but good location for us. The main reason it was our 4th choice was because it had the exact same builder floors, cabinets and granite as our last house. That’s right exactly the same finishes! While that might be comforting to some, I am a person that loves constant change in my life or I get bored and feel like I’m missing out on life. I really just wanted something different. We decided to take the opportunity to just do some updating to make the house ours. I also always have to keep in mind that we may only be in a home for a few years. Historically we’ve moved a bit because of my husband’s job. We had our kitchen cabinets painted white. I really love a white kitchen. I don’t care what anyone says! We installed new countertop and a backsplash.

We used SW Pure White for the cabinets and I would use that same white over and over. More about having your cabinets painted in another post though. We previously had granite which has a lot of brown and black in it. It’s a very popular builder grade granite that was used a lot about 10-12 years ago. We chose a white marble look alike quartz counter top. More about counter top choices and why I wouldn’t choose quartz again here. The island was wrapped in drywall. Awful. So, my husband (that’s him in the photo!) graciously put paneling over it and we had the island painted SW Gale Force, also a color I would use over and over.

Now for the backsplash…

I really love the idea of black and white in a kitchen. I chose black hardware to stand out on the white cabinets. I didn’t want a white subway tile, I really wanted something unique. I found this lantern shape tile and new from the start it was the right choice. The shape is what makes it unique, so I wanted to highlight the shape by using the black grout. The idea actually turned out exactly how I envisioned and I don’t regret the choices I made. Let me just clarify also that my style is not Farmhouse. I was not going for a farmhouse look. My style is fresh traditional, but I wanted something unique and more modern in this kitchen. But, I am impatient and well a designer so I’m constantly aware of new looks and get restless with my choices often. My poor husband.

I recently changed out the hardware and painted the grout a very light gray. My kitchen looks bigger and more traditional now. And the changes I made were very inexpensive. I purchased the hardware from Amazon (both times) and I also got the grout pen from Amazon,

I really like the new hardware I replaced the black with. This can be such an inexpensive yet impactful update. Here’s my pulls and my knobs.

I’m working on another easy kitchen DIY update, so stay tuned for that. It’s a no sew DIY faux roman shade!