I am 70 years old. 4" square tile (pink plastic) was in the 1949 house my parents built. After I got married, the first two homes we purchased had 4" tile in the bathrooms. Moved on to California from the Mid-West and this 1964 built model home had 4" (ceramic) tile in the bathrooms. We retiled one shower in 1978 and put in 4" ceramic. That was what was readily available and affordable at the time.

When we remodeled our master bath 18 months ago, we chose 12x24" porcelain tile for our shower and 24 x 24"d squares for the floor, with trim of 5/8 mosaic. in our master bath. The guest bathroom still has the 4" white tile that still looks acceptable.

In all our tile store visits when we were selecting our bathroom tile 18 months ago, I don't think we EVER saw the 4" anywhere. I live Silicon Valley and there are a lot of tile shops to visit.

Pick something different. No more 4" tile for me.

Here's you can see the 4" tile (old wallpaper)

Here it is now with new wallpaper. I really love those red sinks, and since nothing is leaking or broken, we're not remodeling this bath for now. But those 4" tiles do scream last century.

-Babka

I hate cleaning grout so I would upgrade the bath counters to solid surface -- or just go with pedestals (which is what we did). I like the squares, just not on counters.

(Babka, Daltile in San Jose has 4" squares)

I don't think if I was the only one seeing my laundry room I'd bother with the expense of stone or tile. I'd probably get laminate. But there are many pretty options for stone and tile. I wouldn't have 4x4 in my shower due to grout cleaning. I used epoxy grout in my bathroom remodel with 4x4's. I think it is a nice option for certain applications. Here's my wall and tub.