The Best Way to Cut Kitchen Counter Tile
- 1). Place a tile cutter on a sturdy, flat surface. Mark a ceramic tile with a grease pencil along the glazed tile face where you wish to make the cut.
- 2). Put the tile onto the cutter with the mark along the scoring line. Run the scoring blade of the tool over the tile, cutting a deep line in the face of the tile along the mark.
- 3). Strike the tile with the cutting tool handle along the scored line to snap it at the scored point, making the cut you need.
- 4). Use tile nippers to cut curves or notches into the tiles for outlets or obstructions in the tile surface. Mark the tile along the cut with the grease pencil and then nip off pieces of the tile toward the line using the cutting end of the scissor-like nippers. Each cut with the nippers removes a small section of the tile. When you reach the cutting line, take off smaller pieces along the line until you've made the cut desired. Use a hole saw to cut through the tile when the circles are in the center rather than the edges of the tiles.
- 5). Cut thicker slate, granite or marble tiles with a wet saw containing a diamond blade. Mark the stone along the cutting line and then place the tile onto the wet saw with the mark aligned with the blade.
- 6). Turn on the wet saw and push the tile gently against the blade, allowing the water-cooled blade to do all of the cutting work through the tile. If the blade begins to spark from overheating, stop cutting, check that the water is flowing freely along the blade and wet down the tile to increase cooling.
