Hi, anyone from Vancouver Canada? I have been trying to find a source for a Corian solid surface shower pan but am having a difficult time finding one. I've called a few bathroom supply stores and went to a few Home Depot and they only have the ugly acrylic ones and only in white, Corian.com does not even mention this type of product so why is that? If it's such a great product why wouldn't they advertise it?

Like artemis, I used glossy (travertine-look tiles) on the walls of the guest shower and honed (calacatta-look) in the master bathroom - and I like both of them. The master bathroom has a lot of natural light and I thought that the glossy tiles would be just too much reflection of light. OTOH, there's something more "luxurious" or "elegant" looking about the glossy tile. I have one more bathroom to remodel and I will likely go with glossy. Maybe a white glossy tile with same texture or slight pattern to it.

Hi! All of your comments are helpful. We are currently shopping for a kitchen countertop and I'm ready to pull my hair out! Right now, there are 11 samples of quartz countertops in our kitchen. We really like a Caesarstone rough matte 'Airy Concrete' that seems to be standing up to our testing so far, but I'm not sure after reading many negative comments about matte surfaces on various internet sites. We also really like a polished quartz from European Aleanza "upper west side". Since we are getting high gloss white cabinets, were thinking of going with a more matte surface. Now I'm not sure. We really want low maintenance. We visited a European Aleanza showroom here in NJ, and it looks really nice. Anyone familiar with this company?

Interesting. So you do need to gut the shower. Can you clarify - The plan you have in mind now, call it plan A - with the shower in its current size and orientation, how much will it cost to do your whole bathroom? What has a contractor quoted you for plan A? If plan B is to turn the shower 90-degrees with the entry facing front as in your original inspiration pic and as Beth has suggested, what has the contractor quoted you for your entire bathroom with plan B? With plan A you are still going to have to demo, plumb, drywall, and tile. I can see why it might be slightly more if you turn the shower 90 degrees, but it doesn't seem like it would be that much more. Fear of grout - it sounds like you have a lot of water issues from poor installation of the drain and it is possible that they didn't water proof or install the grout correctly either. I have lived in bathrooms with 100 year old subway tiles and original grout and there was no deterioration at all. Also confused because your post title says subway tile. Regarding turning 90-degrees and overhead access to pipes: I'd plan the shower so the ceiling can be easily accessible. I live in a coop apartment building. Everybody's bathroom pipes run through the floor. So if the person above me needs bathroom work done, they will have to access their pipes through my bathroom ceiling. When we redid my bathroom, workers had to cut a hole in the shower ceiling of the person below me. The trick - Don't tile your ceiling nor all the way up the wall. Leave a gap at the top. And, get a shower door that can come off the hinges, or be removed in some other fashion for work to be done. Here's a pic of my bathroom ceiling mid-construction to accommodate ceiling water pipe access if needed: