Lenore, who is installing the granite slab shower? Start there and make your priority be hiring a VERY experienced tile professional - one you have vetted carefully to insure that their qualifications meet your design requirements and product selections. Stone slab installations are not for the B team, and especially in a wet area. Can it be done? Yes, depending upon the structure over which a solid surface stone is installed and the methods used. We install solid surface shower walls regularly, but from an empty cavity which we build to meet all specific design and installation specifications, including the pan. A solid stone slab cannot be supported by the pan (it is not meant to support a slab wall). A slab wall is pinned and tied so it is self supported, not supported by a pan. This is a very complex installation. A LOT to consider. As one example, the thickness of your slab? 2cm. 3cm? (effects the weight load on the space). And I could go on. After you have carefully vetted the qualified tile contractor, have this conversation with them. If you question or want to clarify their recommendations, check back or seek professional advice from other qualified sources. Please consult with a professional onsite. Good luck with your project.

I put the Hutton double vanity with carrera from RH in our MBA/dressing room, as part of a minor redo to put our house on the market. I too was worried about quality. We've had it a few months, no issues, looks really nice (I also copied RH for the size and placement and selection of tile backsplash, mirror and sconces). I will say that the drawers feel kind of cheap when you open and close. My suspicion is that it wont last as long high end vanities (but then the stuff that lasts forever just makes you feel bad when you ditch it for being out of date!). The RH Hutton is really well priced and looks great.

Threeapples, I live in Philadelphia but found the tile online at a granite and marble slab wholesaler in Jamesburg, NJ (EGM). The company had a section on the website called closeouts, or something to that effect, with various lots of remnant tiles including photographs and lot size. I went up to see it and told them that I saw online that they had some remnant tile. They looked puzzled, and I told them where I saw it on their web site. The impression I got was that they don't ordinarily sell that product direct to customers and that section of their web site has since been removed from public view. Regardless, they were very helpful in going through their electronic inventory to find a size of calacataa gold in a honed finish that would work for my application--a remodel of a bathroom in a 186-year-old house. They had it shipped from their Brooklyn location so that I could see it in person, and I then bought 200 square feet of it and packed it into a rented SUV and drove it back to Philadelphia.

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.