Do you mean to say three months of new work was just ripped out?

Anyhow, I'd suggest making an appointment with a tile showroom.

Yes, three months of new work was ripped out. It's a long story that hinges on the fact that our General is really good at some things, but not at others. The real "Tile Guy" that we were expecting never materialized and it turned out that what the "All Around Guy" was doing in the bathroom was critical critical stuff and he didn't know how to do it. When the tile started going up and looking crazy we said STOP.

Anyway--I've spent probably 100+ hours in tile showrooms. Yes, I'll go back, but I wanted another perspective.

-I'm dubious that it has to be porcelain. There's very little difference in how much moisture each absorbs.
-Even if it has to be porcelain, there's no reason it needs to be glazed.
-I have a glazed porcelain that looks like distressed wood. It can be made to look like about anything. Daltile has a fabric look called Fabrique, Crossville has both solid colors and some printed [similar to 70s wall paper] porcelains.

Thank you.

Someone else suggested Crossville. I hadn't realized they were porcelain (I assumed ceramic). I like their choices from a quick scan of the website. They also say the "new tile guy's" supplier is one of their dealers. Yay!

I would like to avoid textured surfaces because of cleaning. That's one reason I rejected the Fabrique etc. from Dal. I really like Vibe, but all those little grooves!!

I just helped a friend install American Olean St. Germain 12" porcelain tile in her shower/bath. It's gorgeous and NOT fakey Tuscan stone like virtually everything else out there right now. It's glazed with the tiniest of stripes in the finish, and is very hip and would fit with retro mod or contemporary styles. She used the dark gray.

(Although I too doubt you really need porcelain if there's some ceramic you like better.)

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: American Olean St. Germain

PS (seeing your most recent post) -- the St Germain isn't very textured; the design is mostly in the glazed color. It wouldn't be hard to scrub at all, it's pretty smooth. And man, it was SO pretty, I really had fun helping install it ... :-)

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, the John Bridge Tile Forum is an invaluable resource for all your tile questions. Plenty of really nice tile experts there to advise you on all aspects of your install.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile Forum

"-I'm dubious that it has to be porcelain. There's very little difference in how much moisture each absorbs. "

Search for the water absorption of tiles.

There are a number of categories, and while all may seem low, it starts to really matter when water and steam are present.

those tile places should know that - I'd call around to several tile shops and ask - see what the answers are. if they are mixed, keep calling more shops!

or ask on the tile forum - or do both of those.

I agree with you that smooth is better for cleaning - and the less grout the better!