Although I don't like the rock on the house in photo two (way too busy for my taste), I prefer the smooth stone on the porch surface, which should come in various shades. I would have the vertical riser between the steps faced in a similar shade to the porch stone, in a natural "rough" rock. In a climate with snow and ice, in my experience any stone is going to take work to keep clear whether smooth, flagstone or interlock. In the winter on some days we need to use ice melt to deal with ice buildup. Even though it is not "salt", it is tough on the mortar. According to my stonemason, over time the grouting in flagstone will take more maintenance and be more difficult to repair than in the case of smooth stone but I don't think this is a major consideration even in a harsh climate. Love the look of the porch you are getting!

blue and white encaustic tile googles up this: http://tileofspainusa.com/tile-trends-encaustic-and-hydraulic-cement-looks/ Looks close.

I think it's a concrete slab but I need to confirm that (it's an apartment building.) I'm wondering if that's the case... staining from below. I know that the problem with the freezer is that the drain gets blocked and it spills a bunch of water all at once--that I clean up quickly--and then stops. So I don't think there's a plumbing thing, but definitely will need to confirm that before we proceed. Is there a way to remove the stain?

The 'grout at change of plane' is a red flag. That tells us there are more issues BEHIND the stone...or at least there WILL be. Grout is not flexible enough to change planes. It can be vertical OR horizontal but not BOTH at the same time (like the floor/wall intersection). Caulking is required at all change of planes...that includes the corners of all the walls, the floor/wall interface as well as any shower nooks. Sigh. Is this person a TILE SETTER or a GC??? A professional tile setter KNOWS all of this, GCs are not always up on the 'specialties' like tiling or flooring. Now we question EVERYTHING: 1. What did you see on the WALLS before the tile was installed? What was the colour of the surface JUST BEFORE s/he applied the tiles? 2. Was the shower pan FLOOD TESTED for 24 hours (the drain plugged and the pan flooded with the water standing for 24 hours)? Was this done BEFORE the tiles were installed? 3. What do the edges of the wall tiles look like (where tile meets bathroom drywall)? 4. Caulking around taps/plumbing? Anything this person touched now has to be assessed for correctness. This is where in-progress photos help A LOT. Do you have any photos of the 'before' demolition...how about just before he started work? Anything?