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Please can you send me more information about your glass tiles


Thank you
J.Gauci

My sister has a bunch of samples of them for her kitchen backsplash and bathroom and I just keep willing her to get on with it so I can see how they look, the samples are gorgeous!

Hakatai has a very nice selection of tiles. The standard "Carter" glass tile shown in the pics above come in a number of pre-mixed blends. If you see too many of them, you're likely to get that overwhleming kid-in-the-candy-store feeling and be unable to decide on just one.

A couple things to keep in mind. The Carter glass tiles have a texture to them, and are fairly opaque. They aren't iridescent (although I guess Hakatai makes some like that now). They are also quite thin and therefore somewhat fragile. I installed them on a couple walls and broke/cracked a fair number during installation. I *think* they'd hold up well on moderately-trafficked floors if properly installed, but they're definitely not as hearty as thicker stones and ceramics.

If you're interested in a photo of "ice blend" on an actual wall, see photo #12 in this listing:
http://www.homevisit.com/vtour/large/ht_index.asp?companyid=0&DISPLAY=2&id=15417

How do they compare to Bisazza?

I'm not sure, but I think the Fantastix line they have looks like Bisazza. Ashland looks like Oceanside Glass, but they don't have the same size selection, just 1x1's.
These tiles are really well-priced at http://www.moderntilestudio.com

I have used hakatai in a few projects. They product is phenomenal and our tile guru says it's the best glass tile he has worked with. I did have a client tear out the ashland tile because he didn't like it when it was set. The problem was not the tile, it was that the client didn't look at the website, as I instructed him to, in order to see how the edges of the ashland tile are not perfect because they are handmade. Also, the guy who put in the tile didn't read the directions which is important for any glass tile application. Bottom line: hakatai is awesome and the price is way below other glass tile (you can look at http://www.mosaictilemarket.com for similar pricing but I am not familiar with the instillation of this product. I know Oceanside and Sandhill are recycled which is a big benefit, but I believe the hakatai can be recycled and doesn't emit voc's.

I just had a disappointing experience with Hakatai and their ashland-e series. I bought their Lagoon colored glass tiles, expecting to get some beautiful aqua-blue tiles as displayed online. Unfortunately the tiles I received were not only NOT aqua-blue, they were generally clear. I had expected the tiles to look at least somewhat like they did online because I had purchased from Hakatai one time before and gotten what I had expected to get.
Hakatai did offer to waive the restocking fee, but I will have to eat the cost of shipping if I decide to send the tiles back. The cost of shipping to and from is $85 ($45 dollars to my home, and $40 to send back via UPS), so I will lose almost half the money I spent. I would have been happier if they gave me a few alternatives, including offering to have me pay less for the tiles given that they misrepresented their product. I'm not saying don't purchase from Hakatai, but please be warned that what you see may not be what you get.

Just want to update that I decided to settle for the tiles, even though the color wasn't what I had expected. Hakatai made the extra effort of sending me some loose (non-paper-backed) tiles so I could see the color better. It was lighter than what I had seen online, but I decided to settle for it. Hopefully it will look nice anyway since the other tiles I bought (which just went up) look gorgeous. I also noticed they took my comment about the color looking incorrect to heart and changed the picture online so it more closely resembles their product now. I'll be more careful to find out the color in the future, but I'll still recommend people to Hakatai.