What Color Grout To Use With Gray Tile [Pro Recommendations]

Gray everything is in right now, including gray tiles. This dark hue turns the traditional bathroom aesthetic on its head, creating a smart, modern finish that looks as clean as we feel after a hot shower.

We love, love, love it!

In fact, it’s such a fantastic design option, we’re betting you already knew it was what you wanted before you checked out any other possibilities.

But something that doesn’t come quite as easy is deciding what color grout to use with gray tile. No need to worry, though, as you’ve come to the right place.

There are no hard, fast rules when it comes to pairing tiles and grout color. If you think something would look good, you should go for it, but should you be looking for a grout-gray tile precedent, we’ve got a few for you here today. Good options are white, forest green, and sapphire.

Can Grout Be Any Color?

Before we dive into your color options, let’s cover this fundamental question.

You’ll be happy to know that you can easily customize the color of grout to suit the design ideas you’ve been dreaming up.

To do so, you simply add an appropriately colored concrete pigment into your grout mix. Getting the right pigment-grout ratio can be pretty tricky. 

Generally speaking, you shouldn’t exceed 10% of the weight of un-tinted grout when adding pigment to the mix. And no more than 3% if adding pigment to pre-tinted grout.

Do bear in mind, though, that gray grout will produce a different tone to white grout. Also, a suitable grout sealer will likely intensify the pigment.

Best Color Grout To Use With Gray Tiles

There aren’t really any wrong answers when it comes to pigment colors — If you really like something, you should go for it!

That said, we’re here to get the creative juices flowing with a few highly synergistic grout color pairings for gray tiles.

Match The Grout To The Gray Tile

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your choices, simplify by settling for a grout color that matches the gray of your tiles.

After all, you picked that shade because you love it, and when you double up with the grout, you give it more prominence in the room.

Grout typically forms some sort of contrast with tiling, making this a striking, off-the-wall option certain to turn heads.

Light Gray

Gone with quite a darker, perhaps slate-gray tile? Then pale gray grout should be a real contender.

It’s not quite as stark as a white (we’ll talk about that next), amounting to a more cohesive display while still emphasizing the rich gray of your tiles.

There is, however, such a thing as too much gray, especially in an operational room that normally has quite a light, breezy quality.

That said, you can always spring for some brighter light bulbs to inject a bit of luminance into the space.

White

White is the most popular grout shade, partly because white grout doesn’t require any pigment, and partly because it’s so versatile.

A very diplomatic shade, white plays nice with most tile colors, and as it’s ubiquitous, it can add a low-key vibe to your installation.

Don’t want your tiles to draw too much attention? Then white grout is probably the one for you.

Dark Gray

A deep, charcoal grout can break up the monotony of pale gray tiles significantly. What’s more, the darker the grout, the more it will hide blemishes that build up over time.

Again, though… some people won’t have a large enough tolerance for gray to double up like this.

Blue Gray

With blue-gray grout, you get the synergy of gray on gray without fatiguing the eye. The blue tinge adds just enough variation to keep things interesting.

Blue mixes well with all different shades of gray. It doesn’t matter if you have darker or lighter tiles; there’ll be a blue-gray combo perfect for you and your bathroom.

Forest Green

Here’s an interesting option for you… a lovely deep forest green. It sounds a little out there, and it is, but gray and green are a match made in heaven.

Very light gray tiles may form too jarring a contrast with forest green grout, but everything from mid-gray all the way through to onyx-gray will look amazing with this color. Like dark gray, it will hide blemishes incredibly well, and as it’s not often attempted, your bathroom will be wholly unique.

Sapphire

Forget blue-gray for a moment and consider a truer shade of blue. Blue and gray are natural partners, and as sapphire lives right on the line between dark and light blue, it’s an incredibly versatile grout color.

It will work wonderfully with pretty much any shade of gray tile, but it’s quite unique, so won’t be to everyone’s tastes.

Ocean Turquoise

Ocean turquoise is one of the most beautiful colors in the world. Sadly, as a very rich hue, it can be hard to work it into our interior aesthetics, but gray tiles provide the perfect excuse to use it.

It’s far more interesting to look at than gray or blue grout, and as it’s got a pelagic tinge, it’s thematically suitable for the room with all the water action!

Indigo

If you want to lean further into the oceanic theme, we’d recommend indigo, a very deep shade of blue that pairs well with both light and dark shades of gray tile.

Black

Feeling confident enough to embrace the darkness? Awesome, then black grout is the only way to go. It forms a pleasing contrast against even the darkest grays, and really makes a light gray pop.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, you’re not short on a few options when it comes to choosing a grout color for gray tiles. Grays and white are the most popular options, with blue-gray ranking as a close second. But you don’t have to stick to what’s tried and tested.

This is your bathroom, and you get to decide how it looks!

Frequently Asked Questions