My parents have Polished Bottocino Fiorito 12 x12 floor tiles and shower wall tiles and slab counters, tub deck, and shower bench seat,
It has held up well for 8 years. A good seal job is important and maintaining the seal

The first job seal job on my dad's side must not have been done as well, as it got water rings from his drinking glass. Their housekeeper also set a product bottle on the counter that must have had the product dripping down because a circle was etched in it. A repolish job and reseal took care of it and it has been ok.
Only stone cleaning products so they don't damage the seal and polish. They are also very meticulous.
It is a beautiful stone and I love all the bathrooms done herein.

may_flowers, I have a honed carrara vanity top in my guest bath, installed in June. I take all my showers in there, wash my hands, but do my hair, personal product stuff in my funky master bath.

No etches UNTIL my dear daughter spent the night a few weeks ago. There are a few small drop-like etches in front of the sink, probably some facial product. No biggie, I have to look for them.

The marble was sealed on-site by the installers. Water beads up like you wouldn't believe. I clean them with a little spritz of water + a few drops of Simple Green and I have to rub like crazy to dry them.

Love my honed marble.

We considered marble for our master bath renovation when we thought we weren't going to be able to get our first pick (quartzite). We had sealed and unsealed samples of the marble and put toothpaste, mouthwash, and contact lens solution on both. Nothing really stained, but all those things etched; the contact lens stuff and the mouthwash were the worst. Interestingly the sealed sample showed etches more. We might have gone with a marble anyway, but luckily were able to get the quartzite after all.

I guess it depends on the type - we had polished dark Emperador on the vanity and shower bench, and neither stained or etched in the 8 years we lived there post-remodel. We didn't seal it either.

Three years ago, I remodeled two bathrooms with polished Botticino Fiorito on walls, floor, shower, bath deck, shower seat--exactly the same as zookeeper's parents as a matter of fact.

The marble is amost perfect. There are a couple of etches here and there but they are barely noticeable. There are no chips at all. I don't even think the marble was sealed. (I learned about sealing later when we did the kitchen counters in marble.) But sealing doesn't prevent etching, it only prevents staining, and we don't use any bath products that would stain. I guess hair dye would stain, but I can't think of anything else.

I think that using marble in the bathroom is a wonderful choice if that is what you like.

I was initially afraid of using polished marble on the floors due to slipperiness, but it has not turned out to be a problem at all. They are really no more slippery than my old matte ceramic floors. We use a mat outside the shower and tub and it is fine. We don't even have any shower doors or curtains.

Thanks all. Seems like my main concern will be etching, though we basically only use soap and toothpaste.

I'm a little lost on where to begin on this remodel, and marble seems like an easy countertop to design around. Or maybe I've seen too much Houzz. I do like Calacatta Gold and Emperadora marble because we have warm tones in our home.

M_F, I wish I had marble in my kitchen. Whether it would be a wise choice for me, I don't know. But I figured I could pull it off in the bathroom and so glad I did. Quartz it ain't. I can't keep my hands off.

I wouldn't use quartz in a bathroom because I would be afraid of someone putting a curling iron down on it. Love it in the kitchen though. We put a light colored granite in our guest bath and it is nice to have a natural stone. I'd really love quartzite in the MB.

The nice thing about marble is that you can always find a "Treb" to come over to fix it. In an hour I am going over to the stone yard to order my marble (honed Carrara) vanity top. I am half excited and half scared! I hope I don't chicken out on the way!

jerzeegirl, don't chicken out. You will love it. It will look even better close up as a vanity top, than a big old slab sitting in the stone yard.

M_B, I also have quartz in my kitchen and it's great. It's incredibly easy to take care of. I'm not in love with it, but that's okay. I don't know if I'd like marble and quartz in the same room, even if the quartz didn't try to look like real stone.

linelle: I did it! Now I get to wait 5-7 weeks... :-(

The one thing I know for sure about marble is that if it gets a patina you can just declare it part of your wabi sabi style.

Patina would bother me in a bathroom more than a kitchen. I also saw estimates of $500 to buff out etches. I believe it because my fabricator charges a minimum of $150 just to fill a small chip, which covers getting the truck and equipment out more than the actual labor.

My contact lens solution etches my marble.

My contact lens solution doesn't etch. I think it depends on the marble.

jerzee, you go!!! Did you take any pics? I thought mine was kind of meh when I saw it at the yard. In my bathroom, I love it. It's unique markings are mine.

And thanks for introducing me to wabi-sabi, which I had to look up. "Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection." Yep, that's me, all right.

you know, linelle, I didn't take a picture. I didn't even look for more than a minute and could only see the slab sideways. But there was a vanity counter top that had just been fabricated from the same lot of honed marble and it was beautiful.

I am trying not to obsess over this marble and so it's probably better that I don't have any visuals until the templating is done. lol!

Thank you, springroz and nycbluedevil. We don't wear contact lenses but good to know in case we ever give up the MB for guests. We had a guest bleach out our best towels with benzyl peroxide, so you never know what could happen.

My bathroom has a marble vanity that was installed in 1971. No etchings, no scratches, no stains, nothing. Pretty well looks brand new. We've spilled hair dye on it, hair sprayed it, spilled just about anything you can name on it. About once or twice a year I polish it with some kind of marble polish and the rest of the time just use Simple Green to clean it.

I guess we got lucky on the type of marble or sealant originally used?