TILE – Unlike manmade tile where we have a quality assurance process to maintain a uniform color batch to batch, mother nature has no quality program. Even if you could purchase a tile that came from the same quarry, the variation in color in just a few feet deeper into the quarry wall will vary sufficiently for the eye to see it. It may have the same pattern and general color, but once put into your floor you will be able to see the NEW different tile. Far better to repair the existing tile and blend the repair so that you cannot find the repair than to replace it.
Then there is also the cost and dust associated with replacing the tile (from most tile installer or removers). MARBLELIFE can actually do this without create dust, but using water to contain and control the dust created in the process so as to create a non-airborne mud, instead of dust. But here again, no need to replace when we can repair.
COUNTER – Unlike a tile where we can replace 1 tile out of 1000’s. With a counter this replacement of the entire counter is extremely costly versus the time and effort to repair and blend the repair. In these cases, marble refinishing or repairs might be more apt.