Flooring Tile - Kitchen counter-Ceramic vs Porcelain

I will be tiling my kitchen countertop!

My understanding is that porcelain is the strongest (chips and cracks) as compared to ceramic.

My problem is that it seems as though I am limited to 12 to 20 inch FLOOR tiles.

What kind of 4 and 6 inch tiles do I see when I go into model homes?? Are these probably ceramic?

Am i being to concerned on whether I have ceramic or porcelain?

Thanks,
Frank

More than likely you are looking at ceramic tile.They do not make alot of pocelain tile in the smaller format.You can find them though, as far as being overly concerned you need to consider the risks of being chipped.Do you have young children?Are they going to see alot of abuse?If just you and you're wife or whatever then i would'nt be too worried about it.You do need to excercise a little caution when dealing with ceramic but you don't have to baby it either.Pick a tile you like and go from there,there are some wall tile that are softer than the floor tile ,so get you a good solid bodied tile not a high gloss tile ,those tend to be a little more fragile than the matte finshed tile,or you coulg even consider granite tile that stuff is like bed rock hard to chip,but a little more maintainance so the choice is yours shop around a little before you buy,go to a regular tile shop not just lowes or h.d.:cool:

Are you planning to do any cutting on this counter?

My choice would be to go with the larger tiles (12" minimum) to reduce the number of grout lines. Nowadays, if you're putting in 4" or 6" tiles, you're trying to achieve a look. Usually that look is a bit dated.