It really comes down to aesthetics. If upkeep is a major overriding factor to looks, then go with the acrylic because if you can get an acrylic, one-piece unit into the space, it will be easier to clean than the tile. There is nothing porous about it. Years ago, I put an single piece Aquaglass unit into a rental apartment, and my tenant loves it--no grout, no caulk in the wet area. But I'm wondering if you can get a one-piece unit in the configuration you describe. You mention a half wall on one side? When I remodeled my own master bath, I installed ceramic tile with glass accents on the walls because it is prettier than acrylic and will definitely make a difference when it comes to resale in this area. As a concession to maintenance, I chose to go with an acrylic base that matches the garden tub next to the shower. In either case, to make cleaning easier, make sure to include a hand shower among the fixtures or as the showerhead if you are only installing one.

I certainly considered white granites and other white surfaces too -- just not tile (I've had it, don't like the guk that settles in the grout spaces and wanted a solid surface for working with doughs, etc) or Corian (my mom had white Corian in one house and the stains and issues with that were worse than marble). I couldn't find any white granites that weren't too busy or didn't have too much of the wrong colors. I found one when we considered a grey with blue inclusions -- but that stained terribly even after one or two coats of sealer. DH and I both decided that what we wanted was that well-used and possibly somewhat worn look of a honed marble -- something that looked like it could be in an old bakery or ice cream parlor. We didn't settle -- it was what we had to have for the look and feel we wanted for our kitchen and to keep the feel we wanted for our home (it isn't an old home, but it has some of that feel and character, which is one of the things we love about it). I never really liked most granites in most kitchens. The shiny polished look was not something either of us wanted, and while we loved some of the woods we looked at, for us, butcher block was more of a headache than marble. I'd have a harder time not having the wood look great or having something called butcher block that wasn't a working surface than I ever would with an etched spot or ring on the marble. We have the marble on the perimeter and Cambrian on the island. The Cambrian is as close to bullet proof as I think a stone can be. It was so dense that the guy at the yard had a hard time breaking off a chip for us. I do have a chip on the edge though -- my son dropped a heavy trombone mouthpiece right on the edge, but nothing short of that or a hammer is likely to cause it any concern. Having it on the island means we can do a lot of prep there (tell my son to work there -- LOL) and not be concerned about the marble -- but so many things I thought could stain it have not. We saw the Cambrian slab and the texture intrigued us, plus we loved how it was calm but had subtle bits of interest and color with the "ice crystals" in it. I do agree that it pairs well with so many other stones or surfaces. Probably the only thing I would not pair it with would be another black stone, and that not because it would clash but more out of a concern that it would look like a mistake, afterthought or that we ran out of the right stuff if you know what I mean. It could be done, but would need some care in the planning and execution.

alinayuriy - Sorry for the delay in responding...I wanted to check on the type of roller we used before I commented. We ended up using Cabinet Coat, mixed at our local BM dealer, with Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze. They manually matched the color for us. We are using Satin finish. We chose CC for a few reasons, although they might not be the most logical :) First, it was what we knew. I've liked Satin Impervo for trim in the past but didn't know how it would hold up on cabinets. We read a lot of reviews on Advance and CC, including the ones in this thread and ultimately felt there was no real big push for us to switch from a product we had already sampled to a new one. If people had said CC was really hard to work with or didn't hold up, we would have switched but everything we have read is that it was really "user friendly" and good for newbies, like us. We also liked that it is self-priming. I know some people will say "prime anyway!" and we were going to but a test sample showed no difference in coating. We also looked closely at the SW recommended above, especially since we were going with a SW paint color, but since the project is already complicated enough, I decided to just stick with what was working, which was Cabinet Coat. We have coated the base cabinets and 1 coat on the lower doors, so far. I don't know how it would be for others with factory/builder-grade stained cabinets but this is our experience with custom built, pre-painted cabinets. We have cleaned w/ TSP-replacement, de-glossed with a liquid de-glosser/sanding product (I know some people hate this idea but it's been great, esp with the grooves and cracks we have in our cabinets), then sanded as needed, wiped down and painted with Cabinet Coat. We are currently using a brush and roller method. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, we didn't go with a sprayer although I have some great recommendations on one. Our reasons for no sprayer was #1: budget. It's really tight right now. #2: I worried about where we would spray. We live in the NE and we don't have a heated area to spray and I worry that the sprayer would spray too much. This may be a totally silly concern, the reality is that I just *think* that could be an issue and so I decided it was one. Paint sprayers may be totally safe to spray in a small, enclosed area...so really, don't listen to me on this one haha! We are using Purdy brushes to get in the cabinet grooves and do the edges and rolling after. Our assembly line process is for me to brushy and my husband to follow with the roller. We are using 2 different rollers - we aren't sure which we like best. One is the Whizz 4" roller with the standard foam roller that is in the package. We used this for all of the bottom base cabinets (with a brush too). Then, we tried some fancy Whizz roller that someone on a blog or on Houzz recommended as their favorite. I'll post a pic of the package. It's a bit bigger than we need and we worried about coverage but it all smoothed out nicely. We only used it once on the front cab doors, so we are going to try again today and see how it goes. The first coat is very much a base coat, whether we use a roller or a brush. One thing we noticed, not sure if it's b/c of my specific cabinet situation or b/c of the paint...I think it's the cabinet (high gloms painted, deglossed, sanded, no primer per CC instructions) but the initial coat has just "ok coverage". That being said, we could be just bad at painting b/c we are worried about drips so we are doing thin coats. When we go back over with the brush, it will leave streaks. I don't remember this from other paints in different situations (not cabinets). I'm sure it's what we are doing, not so much the paint itself b/c i haven't read this as being an issue for anyone else. I hope this helps!

Yes. It turned out that the Bona Tile cleaner had left a residue that built up on the tiles, just as one of the comments suggested. So actually, the "dull" spots matched the original finish on the tiles and the bleach cleaner had stripped the film off leaving the original finish (I have a box of extra tiles in reserve in case of need for replacement and I compared one of those to the installed tiles). I used Aqua Mix Heavy Duty Tile and Grout cleaner diluted 1:3, a scrub brush, a lot of "elbow grease", and many buckets of water to get the residue off the tiles. It was a lot of work, but the floor now looks uniform, and spots no longer crop up when we spill something. The solution to my problem was offered on the John Bridge Ceramic Tile Forum.