Luxury Marble Tub Decks and Surrounds... Should I or Shouldn't I Install One In Our Home?
If you’re a bathing enthusiast you may have seen undermount alcove tubs surrounded by marble on both the front apron and the top deck. And you may have thought like myself “I need that luxury in my life”. Perhaps you’ve wondered about the functionality or considered what it must feel like bathing in such a set up. Well much like how I over think everything when it comes to design, I have spent a lot of time thinking (perhaps overthinking) this whole situation and whether or not I should install a marble tub surround in our home.
As part of the initial design of our main bathroom, I included a marble deck with an apron front for our alcove tub. The tub we have is designed so that you can have it set as an undermount or drop-in with a tub deck and apron, or on its own with just an apron and surrounding sides to create the alcove look. Stylistically I prefer an undermount tub with a stone deck. I do not like the drop-in look, so that is out of the question. However, I do find the standard alcove (not a drop-in) to be totally acceptable and attractive but it just is not as luxurious looking in my opinion as the alternative option is.
The Bowery Hotel in New York City. The bathtub features a marble tub surround, wet under a window overlooking the city!
Bathroom designed by Meet West Studio featuring a Calacatta Viola tub surround. Photography by: Rett Peek Photography
The Very Particular - Hôtel Particulier Montmartre designed by: Pierre Lacroix . This bath features a rosso lavato marble tub surround.
An undermount tub with a marble deck and tiled apron designed by Studio Duggan
The one major hang up with doing an undermount tub with a stone deck is the cost and at this point, we’re well over our desired budget and timeline for the bathrooms, so I’m trying to find areas where I can save some money. The marble deck would be an easy cut for multiple reasons and it would be a large chunk of change if I were to make the cut.
With that in mind I decided to post a call out to my IG followers and ask people who actually have these styles of tubs, what their thoughts were on the look, functionality and their overall opinions of them. As usual, opinions were mixed, but there were some trends amongst the answers. Since so many others in my audience asked for me to share this feedback I decided to write a whole blog post on the topic!
Okay, so let’s dig in!
Design by: Gilles et Boissier, Photography by: Michael Paul Photography
Design by Landed Interiors, Photography by: Haris Kenjar
Bathroom Design by: Victoria Von Westenholz
Aesthetic
100 percent of the feedback from the audience was that they love the look. It’s sleek, timeless and makes the tub itself look a little more luxurious than the standard alcove style tub does in and of itself. I honestly think, anything flanked in marble will look more luxurious.
Functionality
This is where the opinions differ and for the most part lifestyle differences are the main reasons as to why they’re different.
The main factors and considerations were whether or not you have children and if the tub was strictly for bathing or a tub/shower combo.
If you’re a person with kids, plan to have kids or plan to rent your home to people who may have kids, this tub design is not the best choice.
These types of stone (especially lighter stone) tub decks require daily maintenance, which means after each use the best practice is to wipe down the deck surface. You also cannot use harsh chemicals for cleaning and must use gentle, non-toxic products for cleaning, which means a lot of elbow grease when cleaning. If you do not maintain the deck, you will risk stains from bath salts, oils, water pooling, and/or various toys. Even worse, you can risk rust stains from products with metal containers that will ruin the surface.
If you’re in the latter demographic of adults without kids, but plan to use this as a tub in combination with a daily shower, this tub design is also not the best choice.
Water doesn’t drain very well from the deck into the tub and tends to pool on the top of the deck. As a result, it can be very slippery and not only can you slip and fall but falling on a stone deck sounds less than pleasant. People mentioned that this was an issue getting both in and out of their tubs. The solution for this situation is to set a towel on the lip of the tub and to use it as a sort of grip. Additionally, with the water pooling on the deck, we have to think back to one of the earlier points of feedback, which is that daily maintenance is required to keep the tub deck from staining or gathering soap scum.
For the most part, I found that adults without children who used this tub as a tub only and not in combination with a shower, found this to be a luxurious choice.
The majority of the “pro stone deck” commenters loved how they could rest their wine glasses and drinks on the surface while bathing. They also loved the coolness of the tub deck surface when taking an extra hot bath, because it helped with cooling their body temperature a bit.
Design Flaws That I Must Mention
There were some miscellaneous points from the feedback that I found interesting. Though some of these were outlier comments and perhaps may have been due to design or installation flaws, I still feel like they’re worth mentioning.
If the edge of the tub is not cut so that it has a heavy bullnose/curve then it feels too sharp and uncomfortable on your neck when resting your head back. Many people mentioned that they needed to have neck pillows for their tubs because of this flaw. For those that made a point to have a nice curve, there was no issue. Also, for those that had too subtle of an eased edge, they said that the edge can feel sharp and cut your legs when getting in and out of the tub. Yikes! That definitely sounded like an installation/fabrication flaw to me!
Water leaking underneath the tub deck and into the body of the surrounding alcove was mentioned by one or two people. Without proper care and attention, it seems easy enough for water to get underneath the tub deck and cause issues down the line. On the contrary, some mentioned that they had no issues with water leaking but disliked the large amount of caulking required to keep the seal of the top of the tub and the deck watertight. Not only is it unsightly when you’re laying in the bath, it can also very easily gather mildew and get dirty.
One person mentioned that the tub deck cracked during an earthquake in the LA area. I feel like that would be something that I would never think about and perhaps it only happened because the deck was not properly mounted on the tub. If this were a common occurrence, wouldn’t we hear about more kitchen and vanity countertops being cracked during earthquakes?
I was concerned about the coldness of the deck and my arms resting on it or sitting on top of it when getting into the tub. And for the most part people mentioned that their tubs were too deep for this to be an issue with the arms. However, some did say that that was a problem and that the deck was ALWAYS cold and would never warm up to match the underlying tub and this made the bathing experience unenjoyable for them. On the contrary, while others agreed that it was cold, they enjoyed that they never felt too hot in their tub. This is definitely a “to each their own” sort of instance.
Alternate Options
The alternate option that I mentioned above would be to install an alcove tub on its own, without a stone tub deck. By doing so you can still have marble, tile or even a wood paneling on the front apron. This option although not as sleek looking is still a sophisticated look. Also, depending on the materials used to flank the apron, can be far more affordable. This look is perhaps far more common, and would mitigate a majority of the installation issues that people mentioned about the stone deck. Additionally, you could still add a marble shelf at the end of the tub as a place to rest your glassware or bathing products, which was one of the most favorite design details that people enjoy about having a stone tub deck.
Drop-in Alcove Tub with a shelf at the end for storage. Design by: Rita Konig
Design by Harriet Sale
Design by Studio Duggan
Design by: Meghan Eisenberg Photography by: Haris Kenjar
The Final Decision
With all this feedback, what am I now planning to do? Well, I had to think of the main function of our bath and how that will ultimately affect the design. We will be using the primary bathroom for our main shower and this bathroom will be used mainly for bathing. I’m also designing this tub to be in combination with a shower and expect if we were to sell this house for it to be the kids bath that would get daily use as both a shower and a bath. Also, we have considered renting our house out someday, so if that’s the case I wouldn’t want renters to damage the surface of the tub deck. These considerations along with the fact that I’d really like to save some money has brought me to the decision to go without a stone deck for this bathroom. I think I’m going to have to save that for our forever home when we have the space to separate our tub from our shower. Thoughts?