Short answer: No tile on this site records slate as its material. Three are written as slate looks, the Ridge Grey, Ridge Slate and Ridge Charcoal, and all three record porcelain as their material. They share one finish, rough, one thickness, 10 mm, one recorded slip rating, P5, and the same two sizes, 300 × 600 mm and 600 × 600 mm. Since 5 October 2026 you choose between the two sizes on the product page. What separates the three is colour and grain.
"Slate tiles" is used online for two different products: tiles cut from the rock itself, and manufactured tiles made to look like it. Product listings do not always say which one they mean, and a photograph of a grey cleft face does not tell you. This page sets out what slate is, what the three Ridge product pages record, and what to ask any seller if natural slate is what you are after.
1. What slate is
Slate is a natural rock. Geologists describe it as a fine-grained, foliated metamorphic rock, formed when shale or mudstone is altered by low-grade regional metamorphism. The foliation, a parallel alignment of flat mineral grains in the rock, lets slate break along those planes, which is how it is split into thin sheets. Most slate is grey, from light to dark, and it also occurs in green, red, black, purple and brown. The same source notes that most of the slate mined around the world goes into roofing slates, and that slate is also used for interior flooring and exterior paving. That is one reason a search for slate tiles can turn up roof slates as well as floor and wall tiles.
A slate tile, in the strict sense, is a piece of that rock, split or cut to size. A slate-look tile is something else: a manufactured tile whose face is made to resemble split slate. Both are sold as "slate tiles", which is why the material line on a product page matters more than the name.
2. What "slate look" means on these three pages
On each Ridge product page, three places tell you what the tile is.
- The Material row reads Porcelain on all three. That is the line that answers "is it real slate?".
- The Style row reads Stone look. The Ridge tiles are grouped with the other stone-look tiles, not listed as natural stone.
- The description uses the words "slate look". The Ridge Grey and Ridge Slate descriptions also mention a "cleft-stone face", the uneven surface of split stone.
The only natural stone recorded on this site is marble: five product records name it as the material, and the tiles here that are actually stone lists them. None of them is slate.
3. The three Ridge tiles side by side
| Tile | Colour group | Described as | Sizes | Finish | Material | Thickness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ridge Grey | Grey | A mid-grey slate look with a rough, cleft-stone face | 300 × 600 mm; 600 × 600 mm | Rough | Porcelain | 10 mm |
| Ridge Slate | Grey | A dark slate look with a rough, cleft-stone face and strong directional grain | 300 × 600 mm; 600 × 600 mm | Rough | Porcelain | 10 mm |
| Ridge Charcoal | Charcoal | A near-black slate look with a rough face | 300 × 600 mm; 600 × 600 mm | Rough | Porcelain | 10 mm |
All three also record a slip rating, P5, and a box coverage for each size; sections 4 and 6 set out what each of those records says.
The three run from mid-grey to near-black, and only the Ridge Slate description mentions a directional grain. If a strong grain matters to the look you want, that is the one to sample; if you want the darkest of the three, it is the Ridge Charcoal.
4. What the slip line records on the three
The product details on each Ridge page read Slip rating: P5. The class is on the AS 4586 scale, and it was updated on 1 October 2026 from supplier documentation; before that, the three pages recorded P3. The page puts its own limit next to the line: the slip rating is a reference figure, and it asks you to confirm it for the intended application.
That is all the record says. It gives the supplier's value for the tile, not a judgement about any particular floor, and we do not hold the underlying test reports. Tile slip ratings: what P3 means explains the classes and which other tiles here record one, and what to confirm before choosing covers how to use a recorded class: take the value and a description of the surface to your certifier or installer.
5. Rough: what the Finish line says
The Finish line reads Rough on all three pages, and rough is the only finish they name, so there is no second finish to choose. The descriptions say what that face is meant to resemble. Ridge Grey opens "A mid-grey slate look with a rough, cleft-stone face", Ridge Slate "A dark slate look with a rough, cleft-stone face and strong directional grain", and Ridge Charcoal "A near-black slate look with a rough face". A cleft face is the uneven surface left when stone is split; on these three it is a porcelain face made to resemble that surface, not split stone.
Rough describes how the face looks. It is not a slip class: the class is recorded separately, in the slip line above. Porcelain, ceramic, rectified, matt, gloss sets rough beside the other finish words used here. The rough finish tiles collection lists five tiles: the three Ridge tiles, and the two Haven terrazzo looks that offer matt or rough. The wider textured tiles collection adds five wave-profile subway tiles, Pietra Vela Fluted and the two Atlas texture-and-honed tiles to those five.
6. Size and box, chosen on the page since 5 October 2026
Each Ridge page has a Size choice with two buttons, 600 × 600 mm and 300 × 600 mm, and the order is placed for the size you pick. The Size reference row and the Box coverage row in the table of details follow the size selected. The two boxes are not recorded in the same way.
| Size | Box coverage shown on the page | Where the figure comes from | Pieces per m² |
|---|---|---|---|
| 600 × 600 mm | 4 pieces, 1.44 m², 30 kg per box | The supplier's current documentation | about 2.78 |
| 300 × 600 mm | 8 pieces, 1.44 m² per box | The typical pack for this size; the page says the supplier's current documentation does not state it, and to confirm before ordering | about 5.56 |
The product description still reads "the 300 × 600 mm box is not specified", and that remains true of the supplier's documentation; the figure shown for that size is the typical pack, labelled as such. No box weight is given for the 300 × 600 mm size.
Because both boxes cover 1.44 m², an area takes the same number of boxes in either size, provided the 300 × 600 mm box is the typical pack. For example, a 10 m² area with an assumed 10% allowance for cuts and wastage comes to 11 m², which is 7.64 boxes, so 8 boxes: 32 pieces at 600 × 600 mm, or 64 at 300 × 600 mm, 11.52 m² either way. At the supplier's 30 kg per 600 × 600 mm box, those 8 boxes weigh 240 kg. The area is an assumed figure for the arithmetic, not a recommendation.
The page also offers a sample piece, and the same cut piece serves either size. How to compare tile samples at home covers what to look at once it arrives.
7. Size sets the joints
With one finish and one material across the three, the choice of size changes the finished surface more than the choice of tile. Leaving aside the width of the grout, a square metre of 300 × 600 mm tiles has about 5 metres of joint running through it; a square metre of 600 × 600 mm tiles has about 3.3 metres. The smaller format reads as a busier, more paved surface, and the larger as a calmer one. Stone-look tiles: 6 faces compared sets the Ridge tiles beside the other stone looks here on the same rows.
8. What the product record settles, and what it does not
The record settles the question this page started with: the Material row, from the supplier's documentation, records the three Ridge tiles as porcelain, not slate. It also gives the finish, the thickness, the two sizes, a box coverage for each size and a slip class.
It does not answer the questions people often go on to ask when they compare natural slate with a slate-look tile, such as how each should be sealed or cared for, how it wears, or whether it suits a particular room or outdoor area. Those depend on the exact product and the project, not on the word "slate". For the tiles here, ask us about the specific tile; for a natural slate, ask its seller, using the questions below.
9. If you want natural slate
We do not sell natural slate. If that is what you are looking for, these are the questions that tell a natural slate tile from a slate look, whoever is selling it:
- What does the product record give as the material: slate, or porcelain or ceramic?
- Is the face split from the rock, or formed in manufacture?
- Does the listing give a thickness, and is it the same for every piece?
- Where was the stone quarried, and does the seller state it?
- Does the seller give care or sealing instructions for it, and what do they say?
Questions people ask
Is slate-look tile real slate?
No. A slate-look tile is manufactured to resemble slate. On this site, the three slate looks all record porcelain as their material.
Are the Ridge tiles porcelain or ceramic?
Porcelain. All three product pages record Porcelain in the Material row. Porcelain or ceramic: what the words on a tile page mean explains the difference between the two terms.
Does Tilekind sell natural slate tiles?
No. No product here records slate as its material; the only natural stone recorded here is marble, in five product records.
Can a slate-look tile go outside?
The product records give the finish, the thickness and a slip class, not approval for any particular outdoor area. The three Ridge tiles are also grouped in the outdoor tiles collection. That grouping is for browsing, and the collection page itself says the record does not settle a particular balcony, patio or courtyard. Whether a tile suits a balcony, patio or courtyard is for your installer or specifier to confirm against the specification the project needs.
What is the difference between slate and slate-look porcelain?
Slate is a natural rock, split or cut to size. A slate-look porcelain tile is manufactured, with a face made to resemble split slate. The name and the photograph can be the same; the Material row on the product page is what tells them apart. This page does not compare how the two perform, because the product records here do not say.
Do the Ridge tiles record a slip rating?
Yes. All three record P5 on the AS 4586 scale, updated on 1 October 2026 from supplier documentation. Each page describes the slip rating as a reference figure and asks you to confirm it for the intended application.
What sizes do the Ridge tiles come in, and how many are in a box?
300 × 600 mm and 600 × 600 mm, chosen on the product page since 5 October 2026. A 600 × 600 mm box holds 4 pieces, 1.44 m² and 30 kg, from the supplier's documentation. For 300 × 600 mm the page shows the typical pack of 8 pieces, 1.44 m² per box, and says to confirm it before ordering, because the supplier's documentation does not state it.
What does "rough" mean on the Ridge pages?
It is the finish the three pages record, and the only one they name. The descriptions call it a "rough, cleft-stone face" on the Ridge Grey and Ridge Slate and a "rough face" on the Ridge Charcoal: an uneven face made to resemble split stone. It is a description of the surface, not a slip class.
Where these facts come from
The material, style, finish, size, thickness, colour group and descriptions come from the three Ridge product pages on this site, read on 27 September 2026. The description of slate as a rock comes from Hobart M. King, Slate: Metamorphic Rock, geology.com, read on the same date. The joint lengths are arithmetic on the face sizes, ignoring the width of the joint. Nothing here is a specification for a project; the product record and the people installing the tile settle that.
Updated on 5 October 2026: the slip class reads P5 on all three pages since 1 October 2026, from supplier documentation; the 600 × 600 mm box coverage comes from supplier documentation added on 2 October 2026; and the size choice, the typical pack for 300 × 600 mm and the sample piece are as the three Ridge pages read on 5 October 2026. The note on what slate is used for comes from the same geology.com page, read on 5 October 2026. The box counts and the weight in section 6 are arithmetic on those figures.
Search with Google? Add Tilekind as a preferred source and Google is more likely to show our guides in your Top stories.
