I would not use acrylic units in a higher end home. I build custom homes in the Midwest, normaly I use Kohler cast iron tubs (Villager # K715) in secondary bathrooms with a nice tile surround.

To decide anything I think it's helpful to list your criteria. Ex: It must be durable; it must be available in pink; it must be easy to clean; it must be non-allergenic; it must cost less than $5000. Whatever your criteria are. Then rank them as to importance. Then as you determine how well each candidate meets your various criteria, an answer appears almost as if by magic.

I saw mainly the one criterion. Is there any criterion other than that they be appropriate for a higher-end home? And is their being suitable for a higher-end home important primarily for resale, or to fit in with the expectations of your friends or employer,--or for some other reason? Knowing a little more about what's important to you and why will elicit more on-target advice.

frankks~ Thanks for sharing the brand you prefer. I'll check those out!

pinktoes~ It would just be important for resale. We don't even know people in that area of the country (although we have met our new neighbors and they're awesome... but not likely to see our kids' bathrooms...LOL). Yes, my main question is for resale. They will be white tubs, with one bathtub being an almond color to match a vanity and bowl that ds chose for his bath. No pink or any other "special" color. Hope that helps clarify.

Anyone else care to share your opinion? :O)

Thanks for clarifying. If your main concern is resale, then I don't think people expect to see acrylic tubs in a higher end home. Even in secondary baths. I would be sure to make the master's stand out from the secondary so it is clearly more elaborate in its treatment.

I assume you aware of the maintenance involved in tiled tub/shower surrounds and have a cleaning crew to do it for you. Otherwise, your life will be misery. lol

twotogo~ Thanks for your thoughts. I might ask our realtor what she has noticed in other higher end homes in the area. Our new home is clear across the US, so I really am not as "up" on what comparable homes put in. Good point!

pinktoes~ the master will definitely be more elaborate than the children's baths. If it turns out half as nice as I hope, I don't think I'll ever want to leave it... LOL! And the cleaning crew..... FIVE kids. :O)

Okay, I'm going to look for cast iron tubs as soon as we get out there. We'll be there in a week.... woo-hoo.

Thanks for your input everyone. I do so appreciate your advice, even in these seemingly obvious questions. This is somewhat of a mystery the first time around. :o)

I see both in high end homes around here. If you are going to be cleaning them yourself, I would go with acrylic. If you will have a housecleaner, I'd go with tile. I clean my own bathrooms so we got all acrylic (except around the whirlpool tub in the MB)--I didn't want to end up hating my new home because I had too much grout to clean.

totallyblesses: You mean your KIDS do the cleaning? I MUST have misunderstood!!!

Seriously, if your kids do their own cleaning then you get the acrylic tubs complete with acrylic shower surrounds and let resale take care of itself. Because there is NO WAY that kids of any age are gonna adequately clean tile grout. Mine gets resealed every 3 years and I still scrub it with a powered brush every week. Every grout line.

Our house is around $800K for 3000 sq. ft. near Atlanta, GA, so I don't know if that qualifies as "higher end" or not. I do my own cleaning, and I have allergic asthma (allergic to 5 groups of molds), so our baths are getting one-piece tub shower modules where even the ceiling is acrylic. We have the luxury, I suppose, of building to suit our own needs.

Acrylic is a better product than fiberglass. Kohler's are some of the best. The one for our master sells for $2400. but it has some built-in grab bars for our old age. We hope it will be our heirs who have to deal with resale. There are a number of things they may have to change to get top dollar when they sell it; the tubs will be one.

Totallyblessed, sounds like you've made your decision, but fwiw, I'd also consider WHEN you want to resell..if it's relatively soon, then definitely tub and tile. If you're thinking maybe 10-20 years, then I'd go with the 1 piece, and just change them out (yes, 4 bathrooms, but think of 20 yrs of cleaning saved!) before selling. It'll be time to 'update' before resale, anyway.

Even in high end homes, I'd consider the 1 piece for the bath by the garage, or whatever qualifies as the au pair/nanny bathroom.

If it were me, I'd definitely do the tile. To me, the acrylic surround screams cheap and your home is beautiful and high end. I wouldn't cheap out the kids bath.

I've got four baths to do and they will all be tile, including the kids shared shower. As far as cleaning, in a few years, they'll be able to take over. However now everyone uses the master shower so it's the only one of three that needs regular cleaning.

To me, acrylic screams low maintenance. Go with whatever will make your life easiest. Our old house was beautiful but high maintenance and we ended up hating it. Our new house is a very nice house (about $650,000 for 3,200) but we made it as low maintenance as possible (with no tile tub/shower surrounds but we made our showers big enough so that the next owner can do tile if they want) and we love living in it. If you will be selling in 3-5 years and need to get a premium selling price, then I'd go with tile. But if you will be there longer than that, whoever buys your house is probably going to redo the kitchen and bathrooms anyway so don't sweat it as long as you leave room for the new owners to put in tile showers, etc. Heck, even if you put in tile for resale purposes now I would guest taht most potential buyers won't like your tile choices anyway.

There is one attractive alternative to acrylic, that's easier to clean than tile, and that's solid surfacing. Corian and probably other manufacturers make it in a thinner version than their countertops. It's beautiful but more expensive than tile. You have only the seams at the wall corners and where it joins the tubs.

I'm SO amazed at the ability/willingness of children to clean tile grout! I'm a little concerned, however, because eventually they'll have to use some pretty toxic products to remove and bleach out mold stains. Their lungs are more sensitive than adults. But, still, tile is what "high-end" homeowners expect at this point in time, so that will probably take priority for most of us.

We chose an acrylic enclosure for our upstairs bathroom. I don't think it necessarily looks cheap if the rest of the bathroom is done nicely. I didn't think it was cheap when I bought it. It cost about $800 compared to a fiberglass enclosure that was ~$450. I plan on putting glass doors on it in the future.
Our master bathroom shower will be ~4'x7'x10' and tiled. It will have the Kohler Watertiles and three showerheads to match. It has the Kohler DTV thermostatic valve and digital controller. Uh, that's why I went with the acrylic upstairs!

meagan: I don't think the acrylic looks cheap and it certainly isn't. But it IS hard to distinguish acrylic from fiberglass just by looking, so most buyers avoid it because they associate it with "cheap." Whereas, if they see tile, they associate it with "high end", even though it is cheaper than solid surfacing (Corian), which they have the notion is also "cheaper".

I think it's basically psychology and marketing to the status-seeker in us all at work here. And if resale relatively soon is a big concern, then whether or not you are yourself status-conscious, you know your potential buyer will be. So, you have to play to the market. Other times, we just don't have all the education to make a fully informed decision. Or, we are relatively unconcerned with upkeep or use of chemicals, etc. Or we ourselves ARE status conscious. There are a lot of things going on in a buyer's mind; a lot of conflicting motivations.

Is acrylic the same thing as "cultured marble" or is that another smooth option? When I think of acrylic I think of the plain white of our UltraBain airtub.

chisue: Cultured marble is a resin but it has the swirled pattern similar to real marble. Acrylic, so far as I've seen it, is plain. Like a porcelain tub, but made of acrylic resins over fiberglass.

Cultured marble is less expensive than acrylic and used to scratch easily, though I've heard its been greatly improved. My parents have huge sheets of it as their shower surrounds and love the ease of maintenance. Same as Corian, just the 2 corner wall seams and the seam around the top of the tub. I'm not crazy about pseudo-marble, but am considering it for a hobby room sink because you can get the sink/countertop in one piece and its way less expensive than that combo in solid surfacing.

You can get cultured marble without the swirl pattern. We did this in one bath, last house.

allison: You mean its just totally plain? What color did you get? In what fixtures? Is it holding up well?

I guess one thing I'm not sure anyone has mentioned for totallyblessed yet is the use of real marble. Really high-end homeowners seem to like marble floors, walls, and especially big walk-in showers that are totally marble.

I had this same question about our girls bathrooms. We decided to go with the Kohler Villager bathtub and then are putting white tile in. Color accents are easy with paint, shower curtains, and towels.

In our last home, we had cultured marble sheets (made for us, not bought premade - was not inexpensive) used for two walls in a glass shower, a corner column, etc. Not sure I have any photos - found one, but it's not great. Bathroom was small. This is standing near vanity/toliet area looking back towards bedroom. Shower head is on the left shower wall, not shown. They brought it to the house in sheets and cut to size for trimming out around the glass wall, column and door opening...and threshhold. This was DD1's bathroom.

It was SO easy to keep clean. I used Bon Ami and/or Soft Scrub Gel to clean. She squeegied the glass/walls after each shower. Not a must, but helps keep it cleaner.

{{gwi:1489035}}

I would not suggest marble walls, floor, shower, etc in children's bathrooms. My parents have all marble bathrooms - their entire main level flooring is marble (but the kitchen and MBR). It has to be professional cleaned and resealed every few years. It is not a low maintenance material.

Totally, have you tired searching a local RE company's website for houses for sale in your area to see what they are doing? Even in our last town, it varied from one side of town to the other.

Last year DH and I went on one of those tour of homes. I think we were in Portland...DH had a 100% travel job and I didn't know where we were half the time! LOL! I am almost positive it was Portland, anyhow, they were very high end homes and DH noticed in a lot of the kids or secondary bathrooms they used acrylic tubs. Of course the bathrooms were decorated so beautifully they looked wonderful!

We are putting in an acrylic whirlpool tub in DD bathroom. I just could not see paying twice as much for the other tub. They both looked about the same but the other one just had a bunch of bells and whistles. For us it was a good choice. We really do not intend on selling anytime soon and I just do not see me paying $700 or more for DD's tub :-0.

I am sure whichever you choice it will look wonderful in your home!

I cannot understand why anyone would choose marble in a high-use area. One of the first posts I read on this forum long ago was a plea from someone whose maid had ruined an entire shower enclosure by using caustics to clean it. There was nothing to be done but to tear it all out and start over.

I'm really happy with my "marbelized" porcelain tiles -- big ones, so less grout! We have cultured marble tub surround in our Maui condo that is holding up well.

I'm another person who uses ONLY Bon-Ami in her house! (I wonder how many people today (city folk) understand the motto on the can. There's a little chick with the saying "Hasn't scratched yet!")

That's the only thing I use on my sinks/tub, Chisue. Isn't it great!

I can see how people would select marble for high use areas. It's beautiful, last a lifetime and is virtually indestructible - until the maid comes along. ;) My parents house is 22yrs old and the marble looks new. No kids (my kids did sleep over), no pets and she sets the maids straight about what can/can't be used. If you asked them today, they would tell you they don't regret it. I've never heard them complain about having to have it clean/resealed. I said every few years, but I can only remember it being done twice.

So much great advice. I think I'm going to have to just look at some tubs in person (again) and see how they look to my eye.

I want the house to look nice. The older children HAVE chosen their granite while we were at a granite yard, so they will definitely be getting nice baths, whether their tubs are tiled or not tiled.

A good point was brought up that even if I tile around the bathtubs, future buyers may not like our choice anyway. That is a good point.... that holds true for every other choice in the house. Drat!! :o) LOL! Anyhoo, it would be more work to replace tile than to rip out an acrylic tub/surround and put in stuff they like, right?! :op

Allison, thanks for sharing your photo. I think that shower looks really nice.

I know that what is "in" right now is going to be dated eventually anyway. I'm hoping to avoid "trendy" in any way, shape, or form, but of course that is going to be difficult to do. I look at my design magazines from even a year ago, and see "trends" that seem to be fading. I'm not wanting to be trendy, that's for sure. Just wanting good quality, whatever we choose.

Marble is a good point. I think the 3rd floor (guest suite) bath will be marble. If not the bathroom, then their kitchenette will get carrera (sp?) marble on the countertop with distressed black cabinetry. Some way or other, I'm getting that marble up on that 3rd floor space. LOL! I'd actually love it in my main kitchen island top, but it's just not going with the color scheme/feel on the main floor.

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I really do appreciate your responses.

Oh... I'm definitely checking out that Kohler tub.... now that 2 people have recommended it. Thanks. :O)

My guest bath in my new home will have an acrylic tub surround. I have one in my current house that is very stylish, 20 years old and still looks brand new. Upkeep is a snap, no grout lines to deal with. The guest bath will have shower doors or a closed shower curtain. Who really cares how expensive it is as long as it looks nice, is easy to maintain and serves the purpose. A tub surround for your kids bathroom sounds like the right choice. When this house I'm in now is sold, I know there won't be a problem with the tub surround vs tile because the surround looks so good.

Hey, since you're moving to Alabama, you need to read up on the AL marble - it's the whitest marble in the world. (Does have veining). Here's an article and I'll link a couple of places for you as well. It is classic. Actually, it's what my parents used for the main level flooring. I might have a picture too.

Here is a link that might be useful: AL marble called the whitest.....Article

Sylacauga - article about the marble town where a lot of it comes from.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sylacauga Marble Industry

Well, count me in the camp that thinks acrylic tub and shower surround is just the best thing since sliced bread. We have what I would call a high-end house, and I had no problem buying a Sterling tub and surround for our guest bath. It is one of the best decisions I made on this whole house. It is a 36" x 60" tub. It is so nice and big to soak in and to take a shower in, and it is a snap to clean. Don't let people scare you about this high-end selling problem.

Joan

We are using acrylic tub/showers for our kids baths. And people may even see them. For me I knew that any tile I chose was likely to be outdated by the time my kids leave for college, a time that I think it will be necessary to redo the baths that had children abusing them for so long. At that point I may do a tub w/ a tile surround but for now I know my 2 yo won't care what her bathtub is made out of but she is likely to color on it with everything imaginable, but would do the same w/ tile. So the replacement factor was a big part of our decision.