Interesting thread. We had the same discussion with our tile guys. We have hardwood in the hall and are tearing out the hardwood that was in the powder room and replacing it with 12 x 24 porcelain. They asked about a threshold and I figured that would look strange, so they said they could probably get the floors flush or else use a wood reducer/transition strip stained to match the existing hardwood.

One guy told me that thresholds have a purpose - to act as a dam to prevent water from leaking out of the room if there is a plumbing problem. Oh well, we'll take our chances on that!

All the thresholds from the powder room, hall bath, to the master bath have the marble thresholds you're describing. One between tile and wood, and two between carpet and tile. I think they are fairly generic and at least when my house was built 30 years ago, very common. We did replace the one from the master bath with the same granite that is in the vanity countertop. We're just starting a hall bath remodel and I plan on keeping the gray marble threshold that is there now. It should look even better because the floor tile will be a gray. To me, it looks better than a wood one for the powder room where the floor outside is wood.

marble thresholds are pretty standard in my neck of the woods. If you can get both surfaces level, I would nix it and just butt the tile up against the outside surface. Both should meet at the centerline of the door. That way when the door is closed you only see tile from the inside of the bathroom and from the outside you don't see the tile at all.

I had a house built in 1929 and all thresholds from wood to tile were marble (no marble anywhere else). It's old school charm and might be weird in a modern house, but it's a nice touch usually.

Thanks. My house is newer (1999) but not necessarily modern. The bathroom in question will use old-fashioned materials, such as the unglazed hex tiles. Just didn't want it to look like an afterthought.

Yes, I agree that if you have a very traditional house and/or a classic/vintage design that marble will not look out of place at all. But it would not for me in my contemporary house!

We have marble, granite, or travertine thresholds in the doorways to each of our three bathrooms. Contemporary house/decor. The marble threshold is pink/red, and was the closest "match" we could find to the travertine floor tile in that bathroom.

One piece of advice if you do a stone threshold; make sure to have each side properly cut or beveled to meet the adj flooring. We messed up with the thresholds in the two upstairs bathrooms, should have gotten the outside edges beveled, but didn't know to do that (our tile guy is fantastic, but somehow overlooked this).

numbersjunkie, At least your tile guys asked you. My GC made this decision and, like many of his other assumptions, he was wrong. Similarly, he had round electrical boxes put in for all 12 sconces without asking about our sconces, all of which have square backs that won't cover the round box. More work to cover the exposed edges. Like deciding we wanted a frame of molding around our shower, so he left an ugly gap that won't be covered, so more work to fix that. I could go on and on, but this is probably best discussed in another forum.

We're not paying by the hour; his bills reflect the percentage complete, itemized by category (e.g., painting), and his sub, the painter, is doing the patching. I'm no novice when it comes to renovations, and we thoroughly vetted this contractor. He had rave reviews--too many to be fake--from clients I spoke with personally. He's very active in trade organizations. But his facebook page shows an interesting spin (some might call it lying) on our project. For example, he brags about his clever solution when "the client changed her mind" about a tile pattern, when, in fact, the client (me) noticed he was doing it wrong and showed him how to correct the pattern.

We have marble thresholds --- and no other marble in sight.