Yes, w/o the tile lines, which eventually would gather soap, etc....in my bathroom, that is. ;-)

Patricia Colwell Consulting, you bring up a good point. We had initially looked at plain panel solid surface. A lot of what we were seeing in pictures looked somewhat "hospital" like and lack luster, but that could have been based on the fabricator or largely because of color. We are planning on brining tile into the space through the vanity backsplash and jetted tub surround so maybe a plainer surface won't look so "blah" with the other elements. So far with all the research I have done about shower materials, the only negative I can find about solid surface is the lack of design feature...hence why we were looking at the subway tile option. Maybe I am overlooking more negatives of a solid surface in comparison to a tile shower?

doing a large format porcelain tile with small grout lines, will bring you almost the exact benefit without the horrible look. sorry, but that is awful looking. If you must do solid surface, then do a solid wall.

or, thin porcelain panels

but these large tiles are so easy to clean. what exactly are you worried about? grout lines? they have stain proof grout that is almost bulletproof.

Porcelain is nice, but one mis-drilled hole from your shower glass guy and you've got an un-repairable crack. Check out some of Corian's latest, please.

Once again, solid surface (Corian etc.) can be routed to accept a band of tile. A "channel" is cut into the surface, just deep enough to accept the tile and adherent. This must be discussed in advance with your fabricator.

I have had grout for thirty YEARS, in white. It is still bright white. What exactly is the grout issue??? You couldn't give me phony tiles. Turn a darn fan on, and clean the bathroom weekly. At least. You need to do that no matter what is where.

Mold and mildew can live on grout. They can't live on solid surface.

As mentioned good ventilation and proper cleaning and a squeegee used by all showerers after every shower and I have never had mold or mildew in any of my bathrooms

I have solid panels in my shower ..so much easier to clean

Cultured marble is NOT solid surface. One mistake with an abrasive cleaner and you are through the gel coat. Real solid surface will be twice the price of cultured marble. And be worth every penny.

Snaggy, do you mind sharing some photos of your solid panels? What brand did you go with?

chiflipper, I have contacted a couple of local fabricators and haven't had much luck hearing back from them as to whether they can do the channels as you mentioned before. I am really hoping they respond back yes!

Whether you get mold on the grout is dependent on how good of a job your contractor does on making it waterproof. The mold comes from behind and no matter how much you clean and squeegee it comes back. We were at a Hotel with the solid surface subway tiles look. IT LOOKED WAY MORE EXPENSIVE THEN OTHER SOLID SURFACE SHOWERS I HAVE SEEN. Unless you see it in person, don’t judge. It looked great!

I have that white tiled look wall from Swanstone. I can tell you that it is not swanstone - it is called swan tile and is just a typical glue up type of system. It is not flimsy at all. And it has been very durable for the last 10 years. I am just staring to see some slight crazing in the finish though. And I can tell you it is as much a pain in the a#$ to clean as subway tile is. The soap gets caught in all the grooves that look like grout lines. I won't do again. The next shower for me is is a flat surface of Swanstone or Corian or porcelosa or deckton or arquitex... one of those full SMOOTH sheets...

Just noticed this was an old post... wonder what they did??!