Our jetted tub was here when we moved in and seems to have been here a while, so I estimate it is at least 15 years old. The jets work fine and cleaning is easy. The previous owner told me to use a half a cup of dishwasher detergent and run the tub for 20 minutes with hot water to clean the jets and that has been all I need to do for them. I clean the inside of the tub by wiping as you would expect. We are looking to renovate our bathroom and want to fix the down sides to our tub with our next purchase. 1. The jets are loud. It bothers me but not my husband. I want soothing in a bath and they are jarring to me. They are great for mixing the water if it has been sitting a while and the top is hot and bottom cold. 2. The tub is acrylic and it slopes down from the inner edge heading to the wall tiles and seems to pull away from the caulk, making gaps due to the weight when the tub is full. I have tried caulking it with a full tub of water and letting it set that way, but that did not work either. I end up recaulking more than once a year and that is a royal pain. The area in the corner on the end by the faucet collects water after every shower and even as the water drips from the wall. It should be sloped the other way but isn't. 3. It does cool down but I do not see any insulation when I open the side panel so perhaps that was an installation issue. I think a heater may be a good feature to have to conserve on water. We have solar electric so would not feel too guilty using more power in that way. 4. The acrylic has not held up too well the past few years. There are some nicks in it and I do not know how they got there. We do not have the space for a longer tub but could do wider. I don't want super tall sides since I often rest my tablet on the side while in the tub and that stresses my shoulder. I also sometimes work on a laptop on a small table and have the same shoulder issue. As you can tell, I take long baths, lol. I'd love to hear about the sounds in the newer jetted tubs and the new air tubs. I'd also consider a plain tub with a heater if my issues with our current tub are inevitable. It would help if anyone went from a jetted to an air tub and can tell me the pros and cons. I think my hubby will want another jetted one but I am not sold on that idea. These are the early days of planning and I know I will be researching everything to death and reading old posts. Thanks for any advice you can share.

Donna, Um, every whirlpool I have ever heard of is also available just as as a soaking tub... If it's going to be your tub, go sit in the tubs (yes, the whirlpools! :)) and decide which one feels best. That was my criterion. Sit in them and then get your favorite one made as a soaking tub. (after checking step-in heights, since it will be used as a shower too) As I said, Maax Melodie and Palace felt the best by far to me, but everyone's different (I've heard the Palace is pretty popular with folks who can fit a 6' tub in). Also, if you can fit 6' in, try the Toto cast iron 6' tub. If after all that the Porcher Ardennes is the one that feels best, go with that. I'm sure they'd have a way to help you make an alcove situation for it. If the Neptune feels best, go with that (again, check the height wrt using it as a shower). So your assignment is to go to the stores in Chicago, step into the tubs, sit in them, and decide which one feels best entering and lounging in. Then report back :)

This topic couldn't be more timely! I am in the process of selling my NYC condo and buying a Loudoun County new construction home. To start with, the condo had marble baths - vanities, floors, shower tiles, wall tiles - the whole thing. I hated it! Looking back, I now know why I hated it. I hated it because I always knew that condo was not my forever home. I was always trying to keep it looking fresh and clean and pristine for "when we sell". That meant that I was always wiping up water from the vanities. If we had guests, I would take every opportunity to go into the second bathroom to wipe up whatever water was sitting on the vanity. This was a constant issue and stress for me and my poor husband who was an innocent bystander to my obsession. One day my cat peed on the bath mat on the floor and the etching in front of the tub freaked me out and I couldn't look at it without worrying about a potential buyer's complaints. One night I put my contact case on the vanity without drying it off and to this day there is an outline of a contact case on that vanity. All this being said, the first person who looked at my condo made me a full price offer with no mention of the barthroom marble! Now that we are building our dream home, I have decided to put in 150 feet of Carrara marble kitchen counters and am plotting for that day In the future when I can afford to redo the builder 4x4 ceramic tiles in the master bathroom our budget requires we get now with Carrara marble tiles and vanities. Long story short, now that I know that this is "my" house and whatever I do with it only has to please me and not some future buyer, I am doing exactly what I want. The thing is that I am a relaxed person who enjoys things that feel warm and homey and used but have an underlying elegance. Marble is perfect for me! I can't wait to have it and enjoy it and appreciate it's characteristics rather than fighting them. Marble boils down to this, if you are going to fight every mark and indication of use - DON'T GET IT it is not for you. Stick with granite or something else that will look brand new in 20 years. If you appreciate a patina and signs of use, then get it and love it.

We put a charcoal gray (anthracite) Blanco Silgranit sink into our last home (about 12 years ago) and after a few years of use, we were less than pleased with its performance, especially for the price tag. At first, it was amazing and we loved how it looked! Over the years, we used it for everything - normal kitchen/dish washing use but also occasionally to wash out paint brushes, soaking clothes, even washing show chickens in it. (No utility room sink, so the kitchen sink was the go to spot.) We kept it clean and well cared for. We believed all the hype back then that Blanco sinks were impervious to just about everything and I guess we should have been more careful. It basically started looking blotchy and losing its color on the bottom. It then started pitting on the bottom and was no longer a smooth surface, especially around the drain. And the blotchiness wasn't really stains but rather "burns", according to what we had read online. By the time we were ready to sell the house, it was pretty unsightly and we had to replace it. (Due to the less than helpful Blanco customer service folks who refused to honor any sort of warranty, we went with a Kraus sink.) But we only had the Kraus sink for a few months before moving, so not sure how that one will hold up. So now I'm trying to decide what to do with our new (but 15 year old home). I like how durable stainless sinks are and how cost effective they are but since spots and smudges on the stainless steel appliances drive me crazy and I'm CONTSTANTLY wiping them off, adding one more stainless item to care for in this kitchen doesn't seem like a wise decision. Anyway, thought I would add my 2 cents. I still can't decide if I want to do another composite sink (but do a more reasonably priced manufacturer like Kraus) or go with something else. If I do composite again, I will definitely go with a darker color and be super diligent about ONLY soap and water going into the sink.