Love my new Acrylic Kohler Archer tub! We did our bathroom about 6 months ago, so it's had plenty of use to really compare it to our Cast Iron upstairs. I love long tubs with a good book. First thing I love that was noticeable right away: With my cast iron, I need to fill the tub before getting in, other wise my back absolutely freezes when I lie down and my skin hits the cast iron. With acrylic, it doesn't feel cold to the touch, the way cast iron does. Also, the Kohler archer has a special drain that allows you to get a really deep soak with a higher drain, which I love! No regrets with the acrylic, and no issues at all keeping it clean, either. Even with use daily, sometime multiple times.

For a 36" x 60" tub, if you were to pick granite tiles that cost $10 a square foot and the installation also cost you $10 a square foot, and you had a 12" deck all around the tub, the tub deck would cost you approximately $700 (I didn't even subtract for the tiles in the "open space" of the tub). That same surround, done as a slab, you'd be lucky to find granite for $50 a square foot. That'd make the slab cost $1750. Then, they're be the charge for polishing the edge. A bathtub rim is easily as big as 4 or 5 kitchen sinks, and a undermount charge for a kitchen sink usually runs $200-$300. Say they only charge you $600 for polishing the rim and mounting the tub properly. That brings the total for the slab up to $2350, vs. $700. In the scheme of things overall, not a significant difference in price when you factor it in over the years of enjoyment you'd get from it, but it's enough $$ in the short run to make you think twice about if it's what you really want. I'd personally go for the undermount. It's a much neater cleaner streamlined look that'd be worth it to me.

Well, I can only give you my personal experience (whether that is "fact" or not is up to you) but I do have chemical sensitivities and had no problem at all when we put a cultured marble vanity top in our home. It was in a mostly-open (large cutouts) box when we purchased it from Lowes so I would guess it had already done what offgassing it was going to do before then. Did you Google 'MSDS "cultured marble"'? I found one MSDS in less than ten seconds.

Hi Polly, thank you for your kind words. I can't blame you for not using marble flooring, with all the concerns I've seen on this site, I went with all porcelain in my second bathroom, floor and shower walls. I wanted to do another soapstone sink and integrate it into a marble counter. It would have worked I think, but the SS remnant I had ended up not looking good with the marble. So I have an incomplete sink in our shop, that I need to finish. I might put it in the basement as a utility sink, or give it to my sister if she wants to remodel. I haven't given it much thought lately though. Regarding marble counter. I did do a marble counter in my second bathroom and used a Kohler under mounted sink called Verticyl. There are several shapes, and contemporary. here is an image, I have liked it. The marble is so pretty. The vanity is walnut in a frameless cabinet. It is hard to see in this pic. But the marble counter is nice with it: This is a picture I took at an Ann Sacks store in Seattle last winter. Carrara under mounted tub. The fixtures were all Kallista, I think the tub was too: