Nothing beats a solid surface shower wall. It's everything sintered is, but unlike sintered, it's inconspicuously repairable.

Does sintered have issues once installed on a shower wall like many with wintered countertops report chipping, cracking) ?

Ps. Just looked at iris by Maxfine colors. The Arabescato is out of this world beautiful….but I do have concerns with any sintered surface after reading many many countertop failure stories in these forums.

Did you ever decide to do this? I've just started looking at slabs for the long wall of my shower.

We did not hire anyone yet…price of everything is incredible right now…

@Kim I have had thin porcelain slabs in my shower and I love them. We chose them because slabs of anything else were so heavy, they would need super bracing. They are harder to install than smaller tile, simply because they are cumbersome, but you will not regret it. Unlike kitchens, what is the likelihood you will chip a shower wall. With what? A sponge?

Can any of you recommend a few companies that sell porcelain shower walls? We would like these but neither we nor our contractor can find a company that sells these. We are looking for a slightly lower range in terms of price.

@lexilord Home Depot and/or Lowe's carries porcelain and dekton in their countertop area. You might have to ask, for some stores don't display it openly.

Yes, you can purchase special order large porcelain tiles that measure up to 4 x 8 feet. We were on a strict time-line so settled with 4 x 4 porcelain tiles for our shower. There are some really cool options out there if you look and think outside the box. Good luck!

Oh, and P.S. We also have a bench and three built-in nooks, all tricked out with the same porcelain. No chips on the corners and edges after 8 years. Again, this is a shower, not a kitchen, mind you, different use.

@Keen B can you share a picture? And for your niches, what do those look like? We just ordered our porcelain slabs (Epic in Planet Moon) and our installers are recommending we do picture frame style niches. We're not in love with that idea but haven't seen many examples of niches. We're planning for our niches to be the same material as the slab. Thanks!

@B Good (That is brown grout and water beads, not mold, LOL) but here is how our niches were handled. Remember. we have had them for a while, so I get that using mosaic border design isn't on trend right now, but I still love my shower and the whole bathroom design, so do what makes those inserts prettiest. Your installer probably wants to picture frame the niche because the pattern on porcelain sits on top. You can see if you look closely, the grass look of the tile doesn't go through/show on edge. Perhaps he wants to camouflage that fact. It might bother me if the pattern was highly contrasted or the edge looked bad, but I don't think it does. We could have hidden those edges by placing the mosaic over the edges, but then the bumpiness of the mosaic and grouts would be vulnerable and hard to flatten. Oh, I forgot a picture of the seat, but it's very similar with porcelain on top, trim under edge of seat.

Just wanted to belatedly say thank you, @Keen B! Your post and photo were very helpful. We're moving forward with the picture framed niche. Our installer wanted to seam if we did a traditional niche (similar to the seam in your photo, I believe?) and it's on our longest shower wall, where we're trying to avoid a seam, if possible. I agree with you that we wouldn't mind the unfinished edge of the porcelain. I'm so glad to hear your shower has held up well and that you still love it! I'll post photos when we finish our remodel.

We're still in the midst of remodeling our condo but I wanted to share as seeing photos of other projects has been so helpful. We selected Epic Planet Moon porcelain tile slabs (5 ft by 10 ft) for our shower and our bathroom walls. For the floor we were worried it would be slippery so we had our fabricator cut it into tiles for added traction. The back wall of the shower is one piece and the slabs fit together with very minimal grout lines.

We are doing partial DIY. My husband stripped our shower down to the studs and carefully furred the walls out to within 1/8" over 8". He built our shower niches, bench and applied Laticrete Hydro Ban Board and sheet membrane. We're doing a fully enclosed shower - it's not a steam shower but is waterproofed as if it was! From there our fabricator handled the custom shower pan, waterproofing and slab/tile installation. We also hired out plumbing and electrical. I'll probably share more once we're done.

@B Good Gorgeous. Yes, mine was created before the full wall porcelain slab availability. I love the picture frame, though, and the cut floors idea.

@Keen B can you post pictures of your shower?
I am leaning towards porcelain slabs for our shower as well.

I wonder about these new sintered products.

I drop things in the shower rather frequently, like the bottles of shampoo, etc.

Do these stones ever crack or chip?

Especially if someone dropped a razor.

I'd love to see a video of drop tests of objects of different types and weights.

Also what would happen if you dragged a shower chair along a shower floor made of that stone, Would the floor scratch? And if so, what would it entail to fix it?

(We all might need a shower chair one day. )

We have had a nightmare experience with large slab porcelain for our shower. I do not recommned it. We are in the Seattle, WA area.

We are going on the 5th attempt to properly install. The material is very brittle and proper installation requires someone that is either certified or trained and knowledgeable in the very specialized techniques for proper installation to avoid future cracking of this brittle material.

Our vendor / installers first attempted to install just using dabs of silicone caulk. Big no no. they broke one slab while carrying it into the bathroom due to its weight and brittle nature. Then we learned that the other slab was installed incorrectly so they removed the other slab (which had other issues in addition to the type of adhesive).

Next install, they did not make relief cuts on the slab around the "nook" or "niche" and a week after install the slab cracked due to sress fractures on the nook.

This went on and on and on, with one problem after another, all with a big name shop in the Seattle area that in my opinion and best judgment apparently either did not know what they were doing or were taking shortcuts.

This has now been going on for over 6 months...initial install circa April 2023 and we still do not have a shower as of October with no schedule date in sight due to the difficulties of finding properly trained installers combined with the 4 failed prior attempts.

Finding a certified installer or firm with experience PROPERLY installing large slab porcelain is difficult. It is a newer product and in my opinion and experience Vendors try to get away with silicone caulk circles for adhesion but that is a big no no and will create hollow areas subject to future cracking. Just go online and do some searching on how to properly install large slab tile. It is very technical.

The above issues is why the material remains as expensive as quartz for an installed price. There simply are not enough trained people to handle the product, and it's very risky. That keeps the price very high, and the trained labor can ask whatever they want. It's not at all like installing 12x24's on the wall!

We will have porcelain slabs 12mm installed in the next three months. Yes, a fabricator with lots of experience with porcelain slabs. I read the horror stories on Houzz Hardest thing was to find wall and floor slabs available from the same company in stock versus months on slow boat from Italy. You want grade four so that your pattern does not wear away.