I've installed several of the Kohler CI shower receptors. For clarity...the bottom edge of the tile isn't supposed to be 5/8" above the top of the receptor. The tile backer board is held a minimum of 5/8" above the top of the receptor. The tile itself can go lower. Whenever the tiles get kicked out like that, it's a sign that your wall studs needed to be furred out before the backer board got installed over the studs. Or as Bill wrote, another layer of cement board could have been put over the first. Your wall simply needed to be "thicker." I furr the studs by ripping strips off the edge of a 2x4 to whatever thickness is needed. Usually 3/16" give or take. It depends on the tolerances used in the initial wall framing. Those strips go right on the exposed edges of the studs to furr the wall out a bit. Then the backer board gets installed. Then the tile get set with no interference from the radius of the receptor's flange. Look at the diagrams at the top of page 8 in this pdf, you can see the furring strips, or "shims" between the wall studs and the tile backer board: http://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpna/catalog/pdf/en/1009404_2.pdf

I had that exact pink and brown tile in my last house. I must have tried 10 different decorating schemes in there; the pink is hard to coordinate with. I ended up replacing the vanity and used plain white 4x4 tile on it. That looked okay, and might look okay over your shower surround. A little awkward, but okay. I could also envision just using some sheet formica up there, well caulked; if you want to do something cool, get "boomerang" or some other 50s-inspired pattern and play up the kitsch factor. I discovered that it was going to be a big challenge to replace the bath/shower fixtures (mine were brass, very corroded - ick!). It sounded like I would have to rip out tile to get to the valve and plumbing inner workings, as you can't just pop on new handles and tub spouts very easily. But you can replace the shower head relatively easily. As far as figuring out whether it's structurally sound, I guess I'd go into the crawl space and try to inspect the floor under the tub and toilet. Poke at the wood with a screw driver and see what happens. If you replace your toilet, you'll have a chance to see if any horrors lie underneath - in mine, the subfloor was not in great shape (thanks to a previous owner who liked carpet in her bathrooms :) If you don't see rot, I would guess your bathroom will last a long time. I've read in the New York Times that tile from the 50s was made really strong. (I'm attaching a fun link you've probably already visited, but just in case...) Here is a link that might be useful: Pink Bathrooms

Rhetorical questions: If you have to cut a tile, why not cut it accurately? If the space to be tiled can't be measured accurately, then why not cut the tile slightly oversized then place and recut a time or two to get a proper fit? My comments? Your installation is okay for a first time DIYer, but it's certainly lacking considering it was done by someone getting paid to do it. The baseboard should have been pulled and the door trim undercut. Then the tile should have been set and the baseboard installed over the floor tile. Ignorance or apathy. Or both. There's no forgiveness for the slice in the corner bead. You don't "not see that" when you're setting it in place. Apathy. The bench installation isn't pretty, but who framed the shower and the bench? The tile can only be as good as the substrate it's going over. Accommodations can be made for slightly irregular framing when installing the tile backer board, even when tiling, but sometimes those on-the-fly adjustments depend on the framing and waterproofing used in the shower. Certainly the tile work could have been neater. Some of the visual will disappear after grouting with a tile-colored grout. That's not me giving the installer a pass. It's more me offering you a mental band-aid. In the end, when you set tile, YOU'RE responsible for the tile you set. No excuses. If a tiler is given an out-of-square shower to tile, he needs to bring it up before he unloads his tools. If the installer chooses to do a lousy job over lousy substrate? It's on the person installing the tile. The orientation of the floor mosaic? It looks like the bathroom floor tile hits the shower curb at a 45-degree angle, and the shower floor mosaic does the same. Or close to it. Did he try to make the grout lines of the shower mosaic align with the grout lines of the bathroom floor tile? As far as orienting the shower mosaic to the drain grate, the drain grate can be rotated 360-degrees, it is not a limiting factor. Built-in benches require attention to detail. I see minimal attention to detail in the finish surfaces of your shower, so the integrity of the bench is a concern for me. On these forums I've seen ugly substrate and absent waterproofing covered with drop-dead gorgeous tile installations. But seldom have I seen a tiler do meticulous detail work on the substrate and waterproofing and then go on to cover it up with a lackluster and sloppy tile installation. So like millworkman in his earlier post, I am concerned about waterproofing. Especially when I see a built-in bench. My conclusion? I'd ask about the waterproofing. If the bench and shower were properly waterproofed? You have Schluter products in the bathroom. Did he Kerdi the shower and the bench? Talk about the grout job. That it needs to be good, it can't be sloppy. You need the grout done well to pull this job together. If after all that talk you want to continue with this guy? It's a less-than-average tile installation. It's not gorgeous. It's not horrific. If you want an easy out, I'd have him replace the sliced Schluter corner beads. I'd deduct a bit to have shoe molding added to the baseboard, then painted. On the flip side, if there is inadequate waterproofing on the bench and in the shower, then it's a tear out. Leaky benches are just horrible.

They typically are fine with having customers buy their own stuff. It's just their labor is tremendously expensive or something. Depending on the case, I didn't want to know how much every detail of the cabinets were for example. I figure their prices are their prices. It sounds like you are on the back end of a poor front end. If the contract gives the contractor carte blanche to price things at whatever he wants, then it is a poor contract, as there is zero goal alignment there. If you are too far into this contract, and it is legal in your state (which it would not be in several states) then you are going to have to just ride it out and make a hundred little decisions like this. I can't tell you what you should contract out yourself as the entire reason for having a contractor in the first place is to select subs that match the job, so that clients can pay a small fee to have someone knowledgeable select subs. --- I watched my contractor measure and mark with small pieces of painters tape, where the holes would be. Then he used a laser level, before making the holes. A laser level might work if the floors are level but it could just as easily cause problems. You want pulls that are visually level and not actually level. Your contractor basically used a time consuming way to do something that would have been fast with the right tool. Grab one of the True Position jigs and it is not a difficult install but that is an expensive jig for a single kitchen install and could wipe away any savings and mistakes are still costly. I really hate that he was trying to work fast and didn't bother wiping off the front of the cabinets before installing hardware, but you get the idea.