I don't know why you couldn't except I would think larger tiles would be slippery (although I imagine you could get some kind of finish on them.) FWIW, I specified small black mosaic tiles with dark grout. I find showers the most challenging thing in my house to keep pristine, and while I clean it several times a week, and the cleaning lady deep cleans it once a week...I am grateful I don't have to worry about stains! :)

It may be easier to cut the mosaic sheet around the drain. It's certainly possible to use big tiles for a shower floor.

Everything has to slope down to the shower drain. The traidtional way to do this is to have the shower pan shaped like a bowl. You can't bend a tile to be bowl shaped. Only small tiles can follow that contour of the bowl.

The only way you can use larger tiles on a shower floor is if you have an X cut shower with the drain in the middle and each of the sections being flat with an angle at the cuts. Or you can do a trench drain, but that's considerably more money and time to get done correctly because it alters how you need the structural elements done at the construction phase. For a budget build, I wouldn't recommend either as very budget friendly. They need a tile expert, and will cost you a lot more than going with a standard mosaic. And, you'd have to have a textured tile for the floor if you did choose to do this. Otherwise you've created a slip hazard. That's another reason that mosaics work better in a shower. The smaller tiles have a lot of grout surface for traction. You can use a polished mosaic for a shower, but if you did larger tiles, they'd have to be honed, and even then, it might still be too slippery.

I used a linear drain from Schluter which was not expensive. Lots of tiles come with a non slip textured surface. I would not compromise to save a few hundred $ if you don't like mosaic tiles.

I'm confused, the sample you provided the url for looks like a mosaic tile to me. I.e., it is made up of small tiles stuck to a fabric grid background. So I can't imagine why your contractor would have any trouble using it for the shower floor.

Or, did you give the url in order to ask if we thought this particular mosaic tile would go well with the rest of the shower. I think it would look terrific.

If you have a round drain, the floor slopes to the circle of the drain.

Large tiles can't do that without cutting and fitting and even then they do it poorly. Smaller tiles can lay on the slope's angles better. I did my shower with 12" square tiles around the edge of the stall, and had a small "rug" of 2x2 tiles in the center and it works nicely.

Also, small tiles have more grout lines and better traction - that's a serous issue in baths. Wet polished marble is like ice.

thanks everyone.

bevangel, that link was to see if y'all thought that would work. i think it could be tricky to get the trellis pattern to fit perfectly in the shower.

i found 2" hexagons in athens gray vein cut, so i can use those on the floors of the shower.

but now i'm wondering about polished marble in a bathroom at all. i found a great deal on this particular tile and i really like it, but will we be falling on our rears??

I'd not use polished marble on the floor of a bathroom anywhere where wet feet might be unless it was interrupted often with grout... Use it other places, but I'd caution against the floor.

Yes, you will be falling on your rears ... a lot.

The coefficient of friction for polished stone is really low ... look for a floor and shower floor tile that is slip-resistant. You want a COF of 0.6 or higher.