Weedy - I wanted to thank you for posting these photos whenever someone has a question that your baths can help answer. We (as mentioned in some other thread and similar to this thread starter) have to do an unplanned tear out and rebuild of our master shower due to a cracked shower pan. Unfortunately this discovery came on the heels of a planned re-roof and re-paint of our home, so we're in budget mode. I have a friend who used swanstone in her shower and was talking favorably about it, but I've been waffling because I wasn't sure if we should spend more and do something very nice tiles wise (though I'm tired of cleaning my existing tile shower I'll admit). After seeing your swanstone shower numerous time, and then in this particular comparison, I think I feel realy good about going that direction and getting the savings to boot. Our shower is a "germ cave" as another poster put it, and I think if we open up the dropped ceiling, put in a halfwall instead having just the glass door, the shower will really be a great upgrade over what we have. We don't have a luxury vanity area at this point (and funds won't permit a remodel there yet). I think the swanstone shower will be great. So long way to say thanks! This is our shower (with demo just beginng). I think we'll do a half way on the left (you guys call it a pony wall I think) with glass above, a nice new glass door, and get rid of the dropped ceiling.

I would do what ever you need to do to insure an adiquate location for the TP. Whether you build a pony wall or have a free standing holder is up to you. But I vote for installation on a wall if at all able. The function of the pony wall can be improved by adding a pullout in the end, for storage. I've linked a thread with an example of Mongoct's pony wall with pullout. Here is a link that might be useful: Mongoct example of a beautiful pony wall w/pullout & TP.

Before you commit to casing the openings, keep in mind how it may impact the cabinets on the kitchen side, the aiready installed floors and the already installed wainscoting in the room with the fireplace. And keep in mind that the opening from the kitchen to the butler's pantry will be much more narrow.... because the cabinet placement leaves you no choice other than reducing the width of the opening. Reduction will be approx. 2 x the width of the trim, plus. So, if you use 3-4" wide trim, the opening will end up being around 7-9 inches more narrow. The opening is a nice comfortable width now. Squeezing it down significantly may not be what you want if you envision going thru there with serving trays, etc.

Thank you both for confirming my suspicion. Skippack - the 12X24 is plain white. I looked at a few other tiles in a longer bullnose but their white looks different. It is amazing how much variation there is in "plain white" tile. :O I will look into the Schluter edge that I think will look better than 4 bullnose tiles per every one 12X24 tile. I agree that it would be too "busy" vs the simple, clean 12X24 shower tile look I'm going for.