What you are looking at is porcelain tile with the appearance of slate. I believe this brand of porcelain is Porcelanosa (the homeowner purchased this is why I'm not positive). They are the predominant producers of porcelain tile. As this is porcelain tile it is well suited for bath and kitchen applications, while slate itself is of a porous nature it would not be suitable for areas such as showers due to it "holding" residues. That is, unless the slate was finished with a sealant like a clear coat, and even in this case one would have to be fairly vigilant with the upkeep and re-coatings or the appearance would suffer. Might want to go with the porcelain tile with a slate appearance. I feel you would be happier with the results in the long run. Hope this helped.