You need either a natural stone tile or through body porcelain that the cut edges can be polished. The deck has to be built very carefully to the correct height where the installed tile barely hangs over the lip of the tub and then that joint is caulked with the sanded caulk that matches your grout. Or you pick a tile that has V-cap trim.

It's a PIA for the contractor/carpenter and tile installer way and will cost you more in labor. It might be enough labor difference to pay for a solid surface deck. You should check out a Corian deck. No seams to collect gunk, and it looks nice and smooth for an undermount. You could coordinate it by using the same material for your shower walls and vanity top.

Corian has a lot of new colors with movement that are yummy. I'd love to see Elderberry used in a bath. I think it's perfect for someone! Here it is used as a vanity top with a custom "wave" sink out of the translucent Blueberry Ice and then backlit.

Corian Rain Cloud

Corian Rain Cloud (used above)

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Thanks, Green Designs-- that's kind of what I was thinking, that it would be a pain to manage all those grout lines to make them look good. A solid surface might be the way to go, but I was hesitating to introduce another material that is not anywhere else in the house, since it is a small house.

We plan to have Richlite in the kitchen, (we have it in our current bathroom), but the material itself is not cheap, so it is hard to think of cutting out so much of it! The tub deck itself will not be very wide, so it's mostly "hole" if you know what I mean. It might be a large enough hole to provide the material for the vanity top, though-- I will have to check the measurements.

I totally agree that you have to look at both the labor and material costs to avoid getting trapped in a false economy decision. I just have trouble figuring out what the labor difference is (materials are much easier to look up.)

Anybody else want to weigh in on this with photos?