NO!
In all the bathroom showers I have torn out and rebuilt, Slate has been the worst performing material followed closely by Travertine, then Marble of any type.
Slate, will begin to split and small shards peal off. Slate is very porous and I would not recommend Slate in a wet area, even a walkway particularly outside. Slate takes more work and material to install. We have to seal it, before grouting to keep the grout from changing the color of the Slate and getting stuck in the rough texture. It takes more work to grout. Slate is fine for interior walls in a dry environment. Porcelain in a slate design would be OK.
Travertine is a beautiful, warm. interesting earthy material and is porous like Marble and must be maintained unlike say Porcelain or Ceramic. I have built many showers with Travertine but a Travertine design in Porcelain would be a better choice in the shower. Having said that, Travertine is the shower material I have ripped out or re-grouted and sealed largely because of mold growth in heavily used showers.
Marble is used exclusively in many tile showrooms for display and comes from many parts of the world and offers many gorgeous design ideas. Marble has advantages in that we can grind down and mold Marble and Granite to whatever shape or size needed in different situations. Marble is great for Mosaic Tile for design elements on 12x12 sheets we can use in different applications. Marble demands more regular care and attention with careful cleaning and sealing.
Granite, although a very hard material I prefer to use in features and or Mosaics in showers for design ideas like 2x2 shower floor tiles etc. Granite we can also grind, shape, and polish to fit certain uses. I like to use Granite as shelving and bottom tiles in niches. Here is an example of one I did a couple years ago where we used Granite as a shelf base for the two niches. There are a couple reasons why this is a good idea. It looks great and you can cut, grind and polish this to fit. Frequently, standard trim pieces of tile are not wide enough to fit around a niche as trim on the inside of the niche. You end up with a small thin tile strip in the back of the niche. With Granite, you eliminate that. You can also extend the Granite out slightly to offer more shelf space as you can see here.
Granite, although a very hard material I prefer to use in features and or Mosaics in showers for design ideas like 2x2 shower floor tiles etc. Granite we can also grind, shape, and polish to fit certain uses. I like to use Granite as shelving and bottom tiles in niches. Here is an example of one I did a couple years ago where we used Granite as a shelf base for the two niches. There are a couple reasons why this is a good idea. It looks great and you can cut, grind and polish this to fit. Frequently, standard trim pieces of tile are not wide enough to fit around a niche as trim on the inside of the niche. You end up with a small thin tile strip in the back of the niche. With Granite, you eliminate that. You can also extend the Granite out slightly to offer more shelf space as you can see here.
A lot of folks don't like to hear this but it's the truth and hope I can help remodeling homeowners from regretting their choices. I wouldn't put this out here if I didn't feel strongly about this, and tile construction is an expensive outlay of money. Get the best you can for the money and long haul, your mileage may vary. Suntango
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