I got Swanstone walls for my tub/shower combo and I love the material (kit ordered through Lowes with 15% "moving coupon" discount anyone can request). I wanted something that would stay clean and never have icky grout. My color Prairie is speckled and matte a bit like stone and does not look like cheap plastic. See this link for the color Glacier, the white in the Prairie Collection made from recycled materials. From the site's contact link I requested a color sample and they sent it right away. Below is the link to the Swanstone kits page. I ordered mine from Lowes and they can help you pick which one is right if you bring in your measurements. The Swanstone built in tall shower niche I got has the soap dish built in and has worked out great. I also learned in the thread about dispenser units for liquid soap/shampoo/conditioner and now I don't need any bottles in the tub/shower. Swanstone new recycled content colors http://www.theswancorp.com/index.php?page=green_page Here is a link that might be useful: Options for tub/shower wall kits Here is a link that might be useful: Swanstone shower options

We used Florida Tile's "Pristine" with 1/16" grout lines in our tub surrounds with unsanded grout and love the result. The tiles are nice & large at 9"x18". Here's a couple pics... For our master shower, we went with Florida Tile's Renaissance with 1/16" grout lines using unsanded grout on the walls. It comes in 4 different colors & the largest wall tile is 10"x 13". While they are not truly rectified (usually you have to go with natural stone to get truly rectified--cha-ching!$$$$), our tile guy said the edges were cut straight enough to pull off the smaller grout lines. As far as scrubbing tile & grout, the trick is to squeegee after you're finished showering, then you don't get water spots/mineral deposits on the tile and nothing growing in the grout so no grout scrubbing! Hope this helps!

I use a photo editing program (MS Digital Imaging Suite, which is discontinued :( I capture images from the net with ScreenPrint Platinum and then cut and paste materials into the photo. It's pretty much cut & paste, although I have taken to a lot of the other tools to work with color and blending, etc. Someone recently posted a free photo editing program ... You can either superimpose (paste) or also cut the stone out of your original picture and place the new material behind in the blank space, which might be an easy way for you to go. Usually the net images are too bright, so tone down the color a bit using the saturation and lightness/darkness features in the coloring tools. Feathering the edges with the blur tool is another good tip. I would say it seems you have enough detail with the grill and mantel, so it's hard to imagine putting pebbles in, which does seem off in style as well with the mantel. Not that we need any rules :) I do think they look very pretty together with a simple, plain surround, though. I only tried the soapstone, low contrast, which I find keeps it very simple to let the details of the mantel and grill shine. Everything shouldn't be calling for attention or it will get too busy and confusing to look at. I'm sure you know what I mean :) Such beautiful pieces!

earth_pal, I would appreciate a chance to ask you about your kiln installation. You don't have an email link on GW, but could you possibly send me an email via my GW email link? Alternatively, I'm going to start a thread in the pottery forum in the next day, in case you ever check in there. davidro1, I've sent you an email. Thanks. riverspots, I've looked at the total BTU output because that matters for venting and heating up the room. I see your point that the temperature of each adjacent combustible object matters for ignition. Those temps won't get anywhere near that high as there will be nothing combustible within at least a couple of feet (other than my legs). The nearest cabinet will be appx 24'' away. If I did put a ''landing space'' counter next to the range, it would be a small steel filler table. For reference, ignition temp of wood is >420F and of grease/oil is appx 700F. brickton, growlery's point that smooth surfaces are easier to keep grease-free makes a lot of sense to me. The brick would work for a woodstove, but (from the research I've done) you still need concrete board/fire board and an air gap behind that.