IMO 2 things come to mind first black in a shower ? You better have very soft water and be diligent about the use of a squeegee after every shower.The other is the number of grout lines . I would have stuck with the large format tile for shower walls at least. I am not sure why you want a dark shower but this is my suggestion.

You will have immediate soap scum and hard water spots. Better try letting water and soap dry on your samples. Mix in a tiny bit of flour to resemble the dead skin flakes. Wet it down. Let it dry. If it's a problem for you, you'll need to squeegee after every use, and get water treatment.

Real marble on the shower floor will absorb water and look like it is stained. And you won't be able to use acid type cleaners to remove mineral deposits. Will need tons of added light if you shave your legs in the shower... And miles of grout to clean :-(

my grout on the black floor is charcoal. almost black. Mapei FlexColorCQ. the parts that receive the most water have turned grayish white from hard water deposits. the marble tile is fine.

I love that black shower. I'd just be afraid of the grout turning white. I would suggest you use a water softener if you want this design. it will eliminate the spotting and deposits. and if you use marble, you can NOT use those Lime/Scale remover products.

They do make beautiful black porcelain tiles like what you want. look into those.

my marble floor in the shower is honed. my marble in the water closet is polished. It shows every dust mote, and every water spot or urine spot etching! So, keep that in mind if you want polished black marble! I used black grout w/the basketweave tile. it's fine since it doesn't get any water. (with my cement tiles on the wall, I used the black grout. charcoal for the floor)

thanks! we def are doing a honed porcelain for the wall

ok, well, whatever you use to clean the walls is going to wash down onto the floor tiles. so if you have a marble floor, then you're stuck using safe cleaners for the walls too. and those stone safe cleaners just don't work well for lime/scale deposits or the pink stuff that accumulates on the grout lines.

The pink stuff is a bacteria called Serratia marcescens.

Calacatta is the marble. Calcutta was a city in India way back when. (Kolkata now)

well, they almost got it right. they have calacutta on the name. trust me, it should all be calacatta. Even the porcelain. Calacatta is the name of the city in italy where that marble is mined.

sometimes people who name products are also misinformed.