I think white subway tile is classic, and easy to keep clean and sparkly looking. But I didn't use it - both bathrooms already had Carrara marble floors, so we left those. We put in Ceasarstone Organic white counters in both. In the hall bath, the shower is a striated grayish tile (large format), with one bling-y vertical stripe on the end where the shower head and controls are. In the other bathroom, we used a white a Porcelanosa tile in a wavy weave on the walls of the shower, and a grey and black striped tile on the floor if the shower.

Guilty as charged.

I originally had a light gray and still do in my other bathroom. I like it a lot. My plan was to tear out and reinstall 4x4 gray tile. My BD gave me a look like I should be committed. I wasn't able to find the same gray. They all had too much blue in them. And I couldn't find the quarter round I wanted.

So I went with white. It's like a nice white t-shirt. Or white towels. Classic. White. I would never go with any color I wasn't sure I would love for the rest of my life. Also, for me, when in doubt keep it simple.

Why subways? Good question. I wanted simple and easy. I'm tired of making decisions. My tub alcove came out great. If I'd had some design help and more of a budget I would have done some pencil liners, etc. for interest, but it would have all been white. Just texture.

So my take is that white is used mostly for stylistic purposes. It looks good for a beachy theme, it's classic, makes the room look larger, keeps things simple.

when in doubt keep it simple. This is a very good mantra to follow. Less is more. My problem is I have the white bathroom designed in my head but I can't seem to make the gray bathroom work in my mind (I really love that gray tile). Do you think maybe the folks over at the home decorating forum can help with my indecision?

I used all shades of gray in our master bath. Well, the vanity top is white, but it has flecks of silver and gray in it. I've always loved the cool grays, and since we're redoing everything in the foreclosure we purchased, all the rooms are cool tones.

Shower Walls

Shower Wall Trim

Shower Floor

Master Vanity

Master Vanity Top

Bath Floor

I selected white tiles because I try to keep resale in mind as this is not our forever home (fingers crossed). I LIKE the simplicity of white tile, too. I think it's more timeless, even if it's not *in* it's not glaringly hideous and is easy to decorate around. So even if I get tired of the bathroom decor, the white tile will be easy to work with...just in case we ARE still here ten years from now ;-)

Actually, it's funny you say you've been seeing so much white tile in bathrooms. I'm leaning toward a white tile with color accents (pencil mold and such) for all the reasons named above. But when I look at sample jobs done by tile contractors in my area (and online, to a large extent, too), all I'm seeing is earth-toned stone look. Mostly beige. While many of them are lovely and have beautiful details - after awhile, I couldn't stand to see one more beige "stone" shower! Maybe I've been surfing the wrong sites! :-)

I'm totally with you on this jerzeegirl. Keep it simple. I even bought a white shower curtain, but I could easily get something colorful or eye-catching, and when I get tired of it, back comes the white.

linelle: I think you and I are traveling the same highway!

I wanted to keep it simple. In the past I have chosen color for e.g. large pieces of furniture and regretted it because these expensive things are not so easily changed. I chose white because it looks clean and crisp, and I can change the look of the room easily using (inexpensive) paint and accessories. I also think white is slower to look dated than some colors are (think mauve in the 80s).

jerzeegirl, yup. Looks like azul99 might be there too. BTW, gray looks so good with white.

Because I already have a beige bathroom and a blue bathroom. White was something new. As the old one was gold/green colors from 1971.