It's all about quality when it comes to the bathroom. Im a fully qualified plumber (about 8yrs out of my time) and I now work in bathroom sales & design.
An Acrylic bath vs A steel Kaldewi Bath with a 30yr Guarentee
A Free Standing Cast Iron Bath Vs A Quarry Cast Bath
In the above example The Kaldewi Bath will cost slightly more approx €80 but looks better & will last a life time. Even if the acrylic bath is reinforced with corinite it will still spit if a heavy bottle is dropped in it.
A cast iron bath weighs a ton and most plumbers will not carry them up a stairs & a lot of houses would'nt carry the weight of them. The enamel often chips due to having a thicker backing and expand & contract more than a steel bath. A Quarry cast bath is made from stone and a resin. No expansion and no enamel to chip, plus when it gets marked after 20yrs you can get a 1mm layer flayled off of it and you have a new bath. It also weighs less !!
The quarry cast option would be cheaper than say a Roca Cast Iron Free standing bath but is much better value in every aspect.
A builder will typically kit out a main bathroom for €750.00 for the following: Bath, Bath Panel, WC, Basin, Pedestal, Mono Bloc Tap, Bath Mixer & shower hose.
All cheap and cheerful, all shires - which use a inferior ceramic to say Duravit/Catalano/Laufen and will look tarnished, faded and stained in about two years.
The above is fine if it's a temporary home or rented, but personally, for a room that gets used a lot, I would invest money into it as if it was the Kitchen Units or Wardrobes !!
