I have glass tiles on the wall and solid glass for a countertop. You could do stone tiles with glass inserts but I would prefer to avoid any grout on a countertop. Ultimately the grout gets dirty and a burden to keep clean. The solid glass counter is very easy to maintain. You could carry the shower wall design to an accent wall eg. behind the vanity and use the glass inserts there to tie the two areas together.

a slab of stone seems to be quite common, and it looks nice. Concrete, in some places. Glass is used--sometimes backpainted, sometimes tinted. Some photos show wood--though there are risks w/ that, of course. You could use a very modern tile, I suppose--I'm thinking 1x1-inch, in porcelain or glass. Either clinical white, or perhaps beautiful aquas and metallics. Or a bigger tile, just one that's very sleek. Any of the solid countertops: stones (granite, marble), Silestone, quartz, soapstone, solid-surfacing (Corian, etc.). Stainless is used sometimes, but I see it w/ white sink, not clear glass. Some vessel sinks just sort of float out there on brackets, but that could be hard in a guest bathroom, if your guests will need to set their toothbrushes down on something. (for a powder room, it would be OK) For a modern spa, you want both luxury and clinical cleanliness. Maybe marble? How much storage do you want? For a spa look, you don't want anything very bulky. But if you go with a vanity of some sort, and can stash cleaning supplies and extra toilet paper in it. Maybe a skinny vanity, w/ modern lines? that will also hide the plumbing. And you can put the TP on the inside of the doors. And you can put a slab on top that's much wider than the pedestal, for more contrast? (and to emphasize the skinniness of the vanity?) You don't want your counter surface to distract from the sink. (I did a search on images.google.com for "vessel sink") Here is a link that might be useful: some helpful thoughts about dimensions, faucets, etc.

Thanks. I don't comment on fixtures often, but I do have to say I think the Memoirs is a lovely sink. The sink itself is large, the wide rim I absolutely love, and it has a good-sized bowl. It is indeed a nice sink. We had the same feelings over the backsplash. We went back and forth between painted wood or teak. I thought the teak backsplash would make the Memoirs pop more due to contrast, but my wife didn't want too much wood grain in the room. So we did painted wood which I topped with a teak cap. If my wife ever did want teak, I told her I'd simply glue a teak veneer over the painted wood. It's still painted. That run of cabinetry changed a couple of times during the design process. It was originally going to be a spacious 2-sink vanity. My wife really insisted on one sink! So that freed up space for the floor-to-ceiling storage closet on the left and what we call the "toilet pantry" on the right. The design has worked quite well for us over the years, I built it around 15 years ago. My daughter, who was 7 or 8 years old at the time, designed the profile for the toe kick cutouts. That was quite a bit of fun "working" with her. If you go in another direction, no worries. Choose what works best for you.

Thynes! Thanks so much for giving me the exact name and number for your tile. I had seen your expanded kitchen post and couldn't find the exact tile. You have such a lovely kitchen, so warm and welcoming and the tile really makes a statement. I also see they only have one USA distributor. Your tile in your kitchen looks totally different than on the website..were you able to get a sample or see the tile in a store? I've sent Saltillo an email as well..so we shall see. Thanks again for the information. This post was edited by harleysbud on Sun, Mar 31, 13 at 15:25