Where do you live? You can have my very expensive, relatively new black toilet. It's gorgeous. It looks beautiful for an hour after I clean it, then no one will sit on it because it looks dirty. I'm currently shopping for a new white toilet. It will not look as good with the slate I have, but I'm over that. By the way, I'm not picky about dirt. I'm a gardener. The problems with the black toilet in my part of the world are threefold: 1. We have hard water with lots of lime and calcium. The inside of the bowl has a thick white ring and water spots all over it. The water spots are very difficult to clean off. 2. Toilet paper is white. Little tiny bits of white paper are really obvious on a black seat. White TP dust is too. Black seats show finger prints- and butt prints! 3. Dust. Unless you have a well-sealed home and a nice air filter, dust will show like nobody's business. It doesn't help that I have big windows in a small bath, so the light picks it up, but still. Dust accumulates around the bolt covers and in all of the cracks and I have to go at it with a Q-tip. I imagine the shower pan will have the same issues if you have hard water or use bar soap. The other issue I have is that highly contrasting colors in a small room make it look smaller, and unless you want to go all super dark, you might have the same issue. Good luck. Renee

Good question. Acrylic is such a paint to clean. My base is difficult to clean. I know I am not supposed to use this, but sometimes it is so hard, I use soft scrub. I found Scrubbing Bubbles works the best....but again, not recommended. Bathfitter who uses acrylic recommends these cleaners: http://www.bathfitter.com/installation-service/cleaning-and-maintenance.aspx

Personally I would use channel as you will have more points of contact and screws since this is essentially acrylic. Whatever you decide to use make sure it is caulked exceptionally well as remember, water should not get near any holes.

First time I've come across the brand Duplach so no experience, sorry. "My contractor is concerned that any shifting or shrinking in the platform could set this product up to crack over time." If the platform shifts or shrinks, wouldn't it be an issue with any type of base? What type of platform, exactly? My worry would be the weight of this resin base. What dimensions is it? (I've looked at Fiora's bases and IIRC, their 60" x 30" resin base is less than 130 lbs.) Also, a 5-yr warranty is not terribly impressive, imo, but then again, most product warranties are so limiting as to be practically worthless for homeowners. All that said, a properly installed acrylic base shouldn't squeak.