Porcelanosa Calacatta clashes with Kohler Almond

Back when I was looking at Porcelanosa, I wasn't looking for Calacatta.  I was still looking for Crema Marfil, which I later determined to generally not work with Kohler Almond color.

Also I didn't know their little trick, the Porcelain tiles are under "floor tiles."  But those are what you want for everything in a bath.

Sure enough, Porcelanosa has a wonderful Calacata Gold in porcelain.  I thought I was saved, this was it, perhaps even more engaging than Rex, and probably far more attainable.

Unfortunately it doesn't match Kohler Almond at all, on any monitor, and especially on my near calibrated 34XBR960, the best CRT TV ever made, which has far more accurate colors than most LCD monitors (regardless of whether the light comes from fluorescent or LEDs).

In fact, few colors by Porcelanosa work with Kohler Almond at all, and especially not most beige like colors, which are far to pink, and strongly clash with the slightly greenish yellow.  The I Bianchi di Rex is a remarkable exception whose basic coloration is something like gold, itself a more saturated greenish yellow.

But Porcelanosa's "gold" is a tad orange and pink, like most of their beige colors.  You have to go to the olive type browns to find something that matches.  The color has to have bite to match Kohler's boldness.

Roble Cognac is a nice contrasting brown, with it wouldn't make for a good single tone shower.  It would have to be used with another tone that is more like the Almond itself, and what color is that???

Recife Gris also works, and is somewhat lighter.  But this looks like some abused boulder found at a construction site, ugly, compared with Calacatta, the Marble of Kings.  Which would you prefer in your shower?  It's amazing to me how many these days are choosing the turds when they could have the jewels for the same price.  (Recife Gris is particularly weatherbeaten looking and ugly.  Roble Cognac is better, quite nice for a refined liquor keg, but too dark for the whole shower.)

I'd seen the Rex at a website sold for $8.xx, down from $10.xx, with list price of $25.00--higher priced than quite a bit of real Calacatta.  It's better looking than most real Calacatta I've seen too, much of which doesn't actually match Kohler Almond.  The mismatching Calacatta has background that is too pale white, or veining that is too black, tending toward navy black instead of brown black.

That website with the $8.xx Rex seems to have disappeared.  Anyway, I was not counting on getting mine at a gray market price.  Most tile seems to be sold online at about half of suggested retail, and that maybe something I could hope for through a tile installer.  I think it's best if they can obtain the tile.

That would still be hugely expensive relatively speaking.  But I'd feel lucky to have it all.