OK, if anyone's still following this thread, I think I've selected a tub. I went to some K&B showrooms where I found only a handful of displays, none of which really stood out in terms of comfort... THEN I took a long, hard look at the space again and realized that I could only do a tub that was 5'5" long or less and 34" wide or less. And I realized I didn't want to spend a lot of money for a tub. So I ended up finding the biggest tub that fit those dimensions, at a reasonable price. I ended up deciding on a Jacuzzi Luxura. Haven't ordered it yet.

The "better warranty" they are referring to that you are paying more for by using the plumber's/GC's vendor has to do with coverage on more than just the fixture itself should it fail. When you buy online/at a non-preferred store, the only thing the plumber/GC will warrant is the install. When you use their supplier, they warrant the fixture, the install & any damage that may occur to surrounding flooring, cabinetry, etc. So let's say you buy your bathroom sink faucets online, they are defective and fail within the first year of install flooding the vanity cabinetry, warped the custom tub deck, and soaked the carpeting in the adjoining bedroom and closet & destroying the bathroom floor. You call the GC/plumber & they say the install was not to blame, it was the fixture itself. You are now on the hook to contact the manufacturer, handle the warranty replacement hassle yourself + the cost of removal & re-installation of the fixture + repairing all the collateral damage that occurred at your own expense. Now if you had bought the same fixture through the GC's/plumber's supplier, they would immediately replace the fixture & take care of the warranty paperwork hassle for you with no waiting, they would re-install at no cost & cover the costs of repairing all the collateral damage. So the next question is, how often do fixtures fail within the first year? I can't say for sure. What I can tell you is that my DM & DD bought all of their fixtures for their5 bd/3.5ba home online & none have failed. We bought most of ours through our GC/plumber's supplier + 2 fixtures online & only 1 has failed --the handshower (supplied by the plumber's supplier) started leaking out the sides of the twist control. It was promptly replaced within a week (it was special order to start with so we felt a week was reasonable). That leaves the final question of what level of risk are you willing to take / is the 20-30% higher price worth the peace of mind of knowing you're covered in the event that the worst happens? Only you can answer that one. You may want to do a search on the 'Bathrooms' forum on this topic--there are plenty of threads on there discussing this very topic. To answer your actual question of where we bought our fixtures--the ones we bought ourselves were purchased from www.irawoods.com. Hope this helps! This post was edited by mydreamhome on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 23:35

We bought ours from kitchen/bath/plumbing supply store that our contractor has account with (also purchased our Cambria through them as well and they coordinated the sinks and countertop delivery and installation). I felt the same as breezygirl: if there was a problem/defect with the sink, I wanted to have a relationship with someone who could help me. I checked the prices on Amazon and although we may have saved $100, we felt it was a small price to pay for piece of mind considering the total cost of the project.

Our Silgranit Diamond 1 3/4 sink in Cinder arrived today and seems to be unscathed. :) (It's about time that a few things about this remodel start to go a bit easier!) We purchased from Home Perfect...I read a few different reviews that weren't completely favorable, but most of those seemed to stem from items not in stock and being given erroneous information in that regard. We ordered the sink and the grids on 11/24 and it arrived today (11/27)...sure can't complain about that! In retrospect, we could have waited a bit longer, but many of the places I was looking for the sink online were saying that they were out of stock and it would be a 2-3 week wait. HomePerfect said that there were 3 available when I placed my order, and it has since been updated to reflect that 2 are available, so I'm assuming that they accurately deducted the one that is now sitting at my house for the next Lord-knows-how-long!