We absolutely love our onyx shower! It was so much easier to install than tile. plus, we were able to get matching countertops with sinks. It’s the only way to go, in my opinion.

chellefnp, in my opinion, the only Onyx options that work (especially in glossy) are those in the solid white realm. For example, the darker grey with flecks reminds me of old 60/70's linoleum flooring and that is exacerbated in the glossy version. The larger the expanse, the more this applies.

Hi Jeremy, congrats on the new bathroom! Can you give an idea of how big your shower and countertops are? Can you upload any pictures?

My Mom has a dark grey Onyx shower pan and dove grey Onyx shower walls. She uses a plastic shower mat that has suction cups on the bottom to anchor it to the shower pan, which she used to habitually leave in place. About 6 months after her Onyx shower had been installed, I lifted the mat and discovered that the shower pan had discolored (faded to paler color) in perfect conformation to the shower mat. Each suction cup clearly distinguishable as slightly darker spots in the faded area where the mat had been. I assumed it was soap scum, but it was impossible to scrape off with a fingernail, and no cleanser (including Kaboom and CLR) would remove It. We left the mat off the shower pan for a week and gradually the faded area returned to its original color. This happened twice over a one year period, so now she hangs the mat after every shower which prevents the discoloration from recurring. Obviously the Onyx material is reacting so something when covered by plastic over time. Oxidation? Anoxidation? Something in the plastic itself? No idea. But Onyx definitely discolors in certain conditions. Still, it’s a beautiful solid surface material, easy to clean and keeps its gleam with no special products needed.

@Tim Allen Your second picture from the top: did you build a bench seat and cover it with onyx slab you used on the wall? I can see a corner of it and it looks good. Any chance you have a picture of that straight on? Thank you. I plan to do onyx shower in gloss white. Thank you.

Thanks for whoever liked my comment yesterday about taking a chance on the gloss white Onyx color last year - possibly you @luke1910? You reminded me to come back for my promised update. So far, so good! No staining, fading, yellowing, marks, streaks. In case it matters, there are no windows in this room allowing sunlight to affect the color. I did use bright white LED lights making the color contrast gorgeous. I couldn't be happier with the color and my new aging-in-place master bath.

I did not install a bench. Instead, I bought a teak shower bench, which will come in handy for my upcoming knee replacements.

@HU-32657108 The textured pan is somewhat slippery, but I don't want to risk using a mat that could stain. It has been good enough to use my two Onyx grab bars frequently during the shower - one at elbow level going the length of the shower, and the other short vertical one at the front left edge for safe getting out. These placements turned out to be just right. See photo in my above post.

OK, OK everyone! I'll get a temporary mat!

@recoveringcondoowner I'm so glad you updated on the onyx collection. I am currently looking at that exact style for an upstairs bathroom. I am new to renovating things and want something that will last not something that will have to be replaced in a year. Do you have a ballpark figure on the cost of the project? Thanks! Looks great!

Would you believe, I sold my 1903 condo and moved out to the country, 3 weeks after double knee replacements and during a pandemic! My new house has a bathtub - not OK! t's a 1974 bathroom. Materials for a new Onyx walk-in shower and vanity top arrive this week. This time, I ordered Alabaster, stunning! Be sure to ask Onyx for their samples so you can make a confident color choice.

@Kris, I went to the same reliable bathroom supply company here in Saint Louis, MO, Henry Plumbing. I paid $400 for a double vanity top and $2835 for the shower (surround, grab bars, corner caddy, sliding glass door, delivery charge). I did have to wait 3 months for the order, due to pandemic-related increase in demand.

Note that this price is only for Onyx and does not include any hardware or medicine cabinets, which I am also buying. If you are going to go to all the trouble and expense of remodeling, you might as well do it right and update other items. However, to save some money, I am keeping the newer chair-height toilet, vanity bottom, walls, floor, and woodwork.

Total materials = $6346, labor = $6500. I think I paid closer to $15,000 for the 1903 condo bathroom update at the end of 2019, but that was a complete remodel, down to the studs.

Note above my rave review of my independent contractor, Rob Brugnone. This time he is driving all the way out to the exurbs to help me out. His price is very reasonable and he is quite the perfectionist, working very quickly!

Can't wait to hobble straight into my gorgeous new shower without having to hoist my fake knees over that tall tub! I'll come back with before/after photos.

Thanks so much for the update! I just keep going back and forth as i do for any other update to my house. It's nice to have a ballpark figure to start with. That's great too that you can use your same contractor. Hope it all works out well for you. Speedy recovery to you too.

We will be installing a custom Onyx shower on our second floor. Several comments mention the weight of the bases and panels. Our house is over 120 years old and I'm wondering if we would need to reinforce below this new shower?? We currently have a tile shower there, and would not be making it bigger. Is Onyx a lot heavier than tile? Thank you.

Jill, I don't know if reinforcement is needed, but yes, Onyx is heavy! I'd say definitely heavier than tile. We had a large base (probably 3'x6') and it took 5-6 guys to carry it up and place it. And they were straining and working hard!

Jill.. your question can‘t really be answered without knowing more about your floor joist construction. A deflection calculation can be done to determine the strengh for different flooring materials; see link below.

I converted an attic to living space, including a tiled bathroom and tub, and the joists had to be reinforced. We didn’t use the calculator because it was an obvious requirement to my experienced contractor and architect.

https://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/deflecto.pl

I should change my handle to 1974RaisedRanchDweller! Here is the completed master bath, with Onyx Alabaster shower, tower, grab bars, and vanity top. The shower doors are also Onyx. My contractor likes them much better than other brands of shower doors.

Before:

After:

I do not NOT like Onyx showers!

Thanks for coming back for an update on your new bathroom. It looks great! And I laughed when i saw you do not NOT like Onyx showers. Glad to have a point of view from an actual consumer of the product. Thanks!

A question for folks with glossy Onyx shower pans—are they slippery?

And one other question, has anyone paired a matte pan with glossy shower walls?

@janem27442, I was worried with my first Onyx shower, all white subway tile design, that the pan was too slippery. See all the advice I got above to add a non-slip bath mat. This time (2021), i got the Alabaster, which I believe is glossy, but the Alabaster pan has a rough feel to it and some attractive diagonal ridges. I am not using a bath mat. I don't know if they changed something, but I feel a lot safer, even with my wobbly legs and balance.

Thanks much for the reply! I went ahead and ordered the glossy after seeing a display model that didn’t look too glossy and felt like it had a non-slip texture

While the onyx may not be as "pretty" they are so much easier to maintain. I have had both and found it a breeze to care for while I found tile grout a monster.

ONYX is very, very unlucky. Can I see your hands?

Maersk GIngus, it is a good thing, then, that the Onyx Collection showers that are being discussed have no actual onyx semi-precious stone in them.

Has anyone had a problem with their onyx wall bowing?

Hi. not at all. we’ve had ours installed now for six years and still look good. they are warrantied for life, so call the person who put it in and it should be taken care of for free.

Glad to hear everyone likes theirs as ours has been installed but not used yet.

This thread is probably dead by now but here goes

The picture of the tires is pretty much my pet peeve with the onyx shower. Somehow or another we are supposed to know what an onyx shower will look like from one small sample. There other thing is that there are very few ways to dress it up a bit.

are you referring to tiles and not tires? whats wrong with them? we love ours.

Does anyone have a picture of stone look onyx shower walls? We are considering having one installed in alabaster. Thanks!

@Melissa Little Yes Thank you...It would be nice to see what some of the small tiles samples actually look like when the shower walls are done with one sheet.

PlatPlatinum walls concrete strip

We had our Onyx shower installed last year. It's was the best decision we made to our bathroom remodel. Removing the tub to shower conversion gave us more room for a larger shower. We had a certified Onyx installer that did a really good job. It's expensive to get it done right with less worry in the future. Low maintenance was a must have. Tile over time just didn't work for us anymore. Onyx product is good substitute.

I am just finding this thread. I am looking into onyx collection showers for a master bath and guest bath. I am loving all the photos that people have shared. Wondering has anyone had issues with mold/mildew or anything collecting in the little grooves of the subway tile or shiplap? Also any issues with the grout on the added tile strip? Any comments or additional photos are much appreciated! Thank you!

Our bathroom remodeler was very against a a tile shower floor. He thinks it’s only a matter of time before there are problems, so we went with the Onyx shower pan for our otherwise tiled shower and have been very happy!

Super happy with ours. it is very easy to keep clean.

I'd recommend Tyvarian. Same install and benefits as Onyx but with a more updated color selection. Over 100 color options and made in the USA. check out Tyvarian's Instagram

I highly recommend using BCI for your bathroom remodel, it’s an easy installation process and the product is 15% acrylic and 85% ABS (like legos, and helmets) with a LIFETIME WARRANTY.

We really like The Onyx Collection shower systems because it allows us to offer folks something as durable as tile, easier to clean, with less downtime from demo to installation. Of course, you only have an option between granite and solid colors, but it's a great option for most people. Our customers in North Dakota really appreciate the Onyx since it doesn't get as cold as tile in the winter time!

Valley City ND Onyx Shower · More Info

I have a question. I am thinking about getting our shower remodeled with Onyx materials. I cannot get over how the gloss panels look like cheap plastic. I am worried I will hate it after it is installed. They don't make the matte finish anymore. Also, did most of you got with a darker base than the walls or the same color?

Look at Swanstone or Corian. You may like their surfaces better, and theirs are repairable with 3M pads. The color goes through-and-through and there is not any glass finish to ruin. Just be sure you are seeing actual Swanstone and not their Vikrel material. Onyx is not stone, it just uses the name of a stone. It IS plastic. With a gloss finish on top.

Chase, thank you for recommenting Tyvarian! I really like it, and the new colors are very realistic. Deciding between Tyvarian and porcelain panels now.

@recoveringcondoowner I know this is an old thread but I’m about to move forward with Onyx white glossy subway and wondered how yours is holding up. It looked beautiful in 2019!

We finally completed our primary bath remodel and love it. We did NOT use Onyx (the man-made material, not the natural stone) and for our likes (modern/contemporary) and budget, I think it was the right choice.

For the shower walls, we used 12x24" porcelain tile stacked and oriented horizontally (ie, continuous horizontal and vertical grout lines) and quartz for counter tops and shower bench top. We did a frameless glass shower with no curb and low entry threshold and found and had them use a special man-made composite shower pan. We have engineered floor joists, so cutting down into them to get the 0.75" threshold from floor to shower pan wasn't an option. We did the 3/4" instead of 0" because we wanted the shower door to be able to swing out and still have a normal bath mat. That was a very good call.

This was a complete gut that included moving walls, structural engineering beams for long transom windows, etc. and ran around $70K in a relatively modest cost of living city. The vanity and storage cabinets were custom made in solid wood and we did a number of other high finish touches. In my humble opinion, glossy Onyx and even matte Onyx would have looked down-level.

Guru congrats-it sounds beautiful! can you add pictures?

ntguru - What was the brand of shower pan you ended up using? Would love to see a photo. Thanks !

Jane, it was Wetstyle Feel collection. In our case DFL 4848C. Our shower space ended up basically 60" wide by 48" deep, with the floor/pan being 48x48 and the bench being the rest. We really wanted the look of a linear drain, but I think with our largish pan size, they couldn't get the required slope for water drain plus maintain the super thinness required for engineered floor joists. It would have been able to sit essentially flush with the tile floor, but we decided to have it intentionally offset about 3/4" above the tile top so the glass door can swing out with a bath mat there and believe this was a million times the right choice. You don't visually notice it's not technically flush and it's so little difference it's not a trip hazard years from now when we're older. The texture is very nonslip without looking cheesy. The alternative was to continue the floor tile, doing an envelope type cut but it had some downsides.

There was a decent lead on it -- I think they are made to order -- so keep that in mind.

We also did flush-mount Krugg medicine cabinets that have lighted and heated (no fog) exterior mirror, plus lighted and powered (120V and USB) interior and LOVE them. Gets razors, electric toothbrushes, and other crap off the counters. Same with the 120V+USB powered upper drawer for her hairdryer and flattening iron.

I will try to upload pictures of the bath in general in my next post in a moment.

Thank you for the quick response. Looks lovely - beautiful job !

Gorgeous!! Congrats!

Can anyone comment about how slippery the Onyx shower pan floor is? I am used to a tile floor in shower... Now it needs a total re-do (it's over 60 years old LOL) but the Onyx seems like it would be really slippery!

Selected onyx for my elderly mom’s bath reno because I was impressed with its durability and cleaning ease.

Sorry sent to quickly. I specifically selected the floor due to its nonslip feeling