Hello-

I am doing a master bath remodel right now as well, and from this forum and other research I decided to do a swanstone base and tile the walls. It is actually being installed today.

Here were my reasons:

It is actually not that much different in cost (particularly if you price shop the base aggressively)

It is much more slip resistant (the pebbled texture looks nice)

But the biggest reason for me was that I would not have to worry about constantly cleaning grout/tiles. The swanstone seems like it is much easier to keep up.

Also - if you do decide to get a swanstone base, you may want to go ahead and get it ordered. I had wanted Bermuda Sand color but it was 3-4 week lead time. I ended up changing my color to something I could get within 10 days.

Best of luck!

thanks desperado28 - its so stressful!!! what are you doing for your shower walls? i liked the pebbled texture too, think it looks nice. i am all over the road with this project. i want to move my toilet from next to small vanity to next to the shower (nervous that it will be hard to turn shower on and off since both on same side) i really want a big vanity going across where small vanity and toilet are now. any suggestions?

We've done a couple showers with Swanstone or Onyx bases and tile walls and have been very happy with them. If you're looking for leak-proof and easy to clean, it's the way to go.

I am doing the walls in 12 x 12 tile. The bathroom setup before was quite interesting - there was actually a tub in the master bedroom! I got it taken out and expanded the smallish master bath. I had the exact same problem as you. A small (25 inch) vanity. I decided, for budget reasons, to leave it and the toilet in place so as not to move that plumbing/septic line. I am replacing the vanity top and the toilet itself. I figure the extra space I created by expanding, I can put in a cabinet in between the shower and toilet if extra storage is needed.

This is a bank owned property I purchased and the list of things to fix is long, the reason I did not completely move everything in the master bath. If that was not an issue, I would definitely have moved the toilet to have a larger vanity.
I linked to the before photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bathroom Pictures

We installed a swanstone base over a year ago and love it. No slipping, easy to clean.

Swanstone is great, we put a white shower base in a previous house. It cleans up easily with a few sprites of Tilex. Another option, if you have 2 more inches, is a Kohler cast iron shower pan. They make one that is 36x48". We just had it installed in our bathroom reno so I can't comment on it, aside from saying it looks nice and clean ;)