Porcelain, almost always
For a bathroom floor, porcelain is the safe answer. It absorbs almost no water, it is hard, and through-body versions hide a chip. Ceramic is fine on walls that stay dry but is softer and more porous underfoot.
Get the slip rating right
A floor tile for a bathroom should have a slip rating suitable for wet, barefoot use. Shower floors need more grip again — a textured porcelain or a mosaic, where the extra grout lines add traction. A beautiful polished floor tile that turns into an ice rink when wet is a false economy.
Size and the room
Big tiles in a small room are not automatically wrong, but they need a flat substrate and they generate more cuts as a share of the area. A 300×600 porcelain is a calm, forgiving choice for a compact London bathroom; small-format and mosaic suit shower floors and period-style schemes.
Bring the actual room dimensions to the showroom, not just the floor area, and tape a sample to the wall to look at it in the light you actually have.
Published 15 January 2026.