Yes! I love our gray porcelain 12" x 12" tile. It's imported Italian tile: Granitogres from Casalgrande (distributed by Daltile) in an oddly named color they call "Arizona," I believe. But it's a very hue-neutral gray--no brown or beige tones in it at all, contrary to its "earthy sounding" name. It's a beautiful, concrete-looking color with flecks of grays and white. Very modern-looking. If we're successful in matching the grout color, it'll look like a continuous, concrete-like floor from a distance. And, yes, I was initially attracted to solid-surface materials for the same reasons. Low-maintenance! It's a tough call, but I'm so happy with the Granitogres porcelain. I'm not a big fan of grout lines either, but we're jumping through hoops to match the tile color as closely as possible in the grout to achieve our desired aesthetic effect. If your heart's set on solid-surface, then by all means, get it. But, I think you have enough of an idea of what you want that you're likely to be pleased with whatever material on which you finally decide. Good luck!

Thanks for all the replies! This is our first house, not our "forever" house. We are planning to finish the bath update so we can put our house on the market within the next 8-10 months. Then hopefully we'll be in our "forever" (or at least for a long time) house. :) The tub in the master is somekind of old, original cast iron tub. So I know it will be a pain in the butt for our GC to remove! I'm not much of a bath person except for occasionally, but my hubby likes to take them a little more than occasionally. Really this update is to make our home more attractive to potential buyers and hopefully secure us a fast sale. The master is one of the only things we haven't updated in our home, and we're not planning on spending a fortune. What I DON'T want to do is spend this amt of money period, and then wish I had done the tub. It's in really good condition, but it's so narrow and shallow. I wanted to potentially put in a deeper, wider one, but the walls are an issue. The non-plumbing side is my husband's closet, which is the same size as mine (not very big, but a "walk in," which is the plumbing side.) Moving a wall is an expense I'm not willing to undertake, so that's why I was wondering if we could hack into the wall just a bit where the tub is against my husband's closet. I havent talked about this with my GC yet. I'll do that this week. But y'all have seen that done?? Removing the tub and taking the time/money/effort to create a big walk-in shower is not what I wanted to do. We do have another tub in the hall bath, but not having a tub in the master might make someone not want our house. It's all about resale at this point! At the lowest remodel cost. :)

> We would love a tub that allowed us to face the same direction as well as each other, but in terms of freestanding tubs, that just doesn't really seem to be an option. Now this is more like it: It's freestanding (though I don't care for this particular surround) and the backrest is what I find the ideal shape for two people side by side, with good back and shoulder support for both. Most tubs with this shape are like 5 feet wide which is not what I want; this one is just wide enough for two. The taper at the other end helps preserve water without getting too crowded, but is still wide and sloped enough to lean against when you want to face opposite directions. Still, it's the side by side configuration I like best. Two-person tubs where you face each other look great in pictures and in the showroom. Then you use one in real life only to find you have to SCREAM AT EACH OTHER to be heard over the roar of the jets. Although air jets may be a bit quieter than the water jets I've used. I could do without the huge ledge at the end of this tub though - what's that all about? I too can't find a tub that gets everything right.

For a jetted tub used as a shower, it has to have an integral tile flange. That allows the wall cladding to overhang and any water that hits the wall to not go behind your walls. There aren't that many in that size that are inexpensive. It will need a specialized drain, and, if you want to spend any time in the tub, a supplemental heater so the water doesn't cool off so fast. Since it's a tub/shower, the wall cladding will need to be redone to be waterproof into the tub. It's possible, if the build is recent, and it was done with the proper vapor barrier behind it, that only one row of the tile would need to be pulled in order to replace the tub. But, I wouldn't count on that. I'd count on having to replace all of the wall cladding in the alcove. That can be as cheap as a plastic surround for around $100 or cheap tile with the proper vapor barrier for probably $150 or so. The first is the easiest and the least chance of leaking. The second will read as more upscale, but you have to be sure your contractor understands about the vapor barrier and correct materials to use to tile this (NOT mastic.) And since you have that torn out, it would be foolish to try to keep your current control valves for the bath unless they are also very new. New safety standards are in place for anti scald mechanisms. So, you will need a new shower/bath faucet and valve. Then you will need the electrical line run from the panel to the location for the whirlpool pump and supplemental heater. That location is usually opposite the drain side of the tub. You will need to be able to site an access panel that is removable to be able to get to the electrical innards here. That can be from an adjacent room, or from a hidden panel on the tub itself. All in all, you might be able to get all of the needed materials for 2-3K if you shop the box stores carefully and find some bargains. The danger to that is that if you are inexperienced, you don't know if you're buying quality or crap. They sell both. And that's one reason that it would be simpler to let the pro pick the products after you tell him the features that you want. Then you've got to pay the contractor labor to install all of that. The electrician's price will depend on how difficult it will be to access the panel and run the wire to the location. For that, it's a really good thing you are on a crawlspace! That makes it cheaper for both the electrician and the plumber. On the whole, I'd expect your project to cost between 5-7K, depending on location, and if you have no DIY skills to bring to the table and have to hire professionals for the whole job. And be sure that you hire someone that is licensed and insured to be in your home, and will pull the proper permits to get the job inspected with your code office. Some handyman guy isn't licensed to do electrical of that nature, and while he might be able to do the demo and get the tub in place and glue on the plastic surround, it's unlikely that he'll have the right insurance to deal with a large job like that, and thus probably wont' want to pull permits and be inspected. They are usually limited to smaller jobs like simple fixture replacements like a faucet or light. Which this isn't. Just remember, you are doing a project that combines electricity and water. You really have to know what you're doing here! A small General Contractor should be able to do the complete job, and also carry the needed papers. And he should have no problem with the code guys coming in to inspect his work either. If he does, then he's not the right person for the job.