I don't know but if you were looking at the Salient model, those bothered me too. I am looking at the Bellwether model which does not seem to have the patterning. However it's not in stock anywhere nearby and time is ticking so I may have to go ahead and order sight unseen.

I have heard acrylic is hard to clean. I'd rather have a tile floor than a plastic/acrylic floor, personally! I had planned for tile but the forum has convinced me to consider the cast iron.

From what I've read, the Bellweather has a slip resistant finish. I can't tell what the pattern is like. I believe most cast iron tubs and shower bases have the non slip finish for safety.

It does - it has too as wet enameled cast iron would be treacherous- but from the photos there is not a pattern it's just all over the surface. You can see the pattern on the Salient in photos. The Bellwether also comes with an optional drain cover for a more seamless look.

Salient:

Bellwether:

Thanks for the info. My daughter is interested in the cast iron shower base, but is a little nervous about keeping the non slip surface clean. In our last house we had an acrylic tub and I really liked it. It was easy to clean, but I'm sure not as durable as cast iron. We used it once or twice a week so not a lot of abuse.

I am sure that cast iron will be easier to clean (even with non slip) than acrylic because it doesn't stain/bond to soap scum and dirt like acrylic. We had acrylic shower pan (textured) in our previous home and it was horrible to keep clean.

We have an acrylic tub and a shower with benches. I can't keep them clean, and we have very soft water. The only thing that takes off that bonded scum is a Magic Eraser, but I'd probably need a case of them to get it spotless. The floor of both is textured and looks gray, but nothing cleans it.

Thanks for the input. So cleaning may be an issue for both the cast iron non slip texture and the acrylic showers and affect their 'shiny' look. Would solid surface like Swanstone or Corian be a better choice?

Are you sure your tub or shower pan is acrylic? Our acrylic tub was the easiest to clean, the shower stall not, but it was fiberglass. Part of the problem in the shower was that we used bar soap.

To clean the tub where we also used bar soap, I would just use a little shampoo and the tub was like new. It could be that if the finish is scratched, the surface is harder to clean? I really liked my acrylic tub.

We've had an acrylic Maxx shower pan for several years. Granted it is a spare bathroom that mostly gets used daily for showers only when my sister visits twice a year. But I used it for several months daily when I had foot surgery and couldn't use our tub. It still looks like new and I don't really do anything. Just rinse it out or use a bit of Fantastic spray cleaner and rinse before sister arrives. It never gets ugly or even dirty looking. Maybe with more use ours would do that. My hubby uses it with bar soap occasionally but my sister and I use shower gel Maybe that makes a difference. Our water is not overly soft either.

I have a 25-year-old shower pan that's either acrylic or fiberglass. Honestly, it isn't that hard to keep clean, probably more so since I stopped using bar soap a couple of years ago. It's builder's grade, so not a high end product. I currently use a shower daily over an acrylic tub in my other bathroom and it's simple to clean with Softscrub.

We have 2 cast iron tubs and when we went to put in our new shower pan, I had thought we'd do a cast iron pan. I went to visit my friend and I was commenting on her beautiful cast iron shower pans when she informed me they were acrylic. I figured if I couldn't tell the difference and they were half the price, I should just do acrylic. We've only been using it for a week, but so far so good. We went with Kohler acrylic, but not sure of the model.