Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Are acrylic bathtubs still so bad??

Hey all...
trying to make a decision...cast iron bathtub, or an acrylic? All I remember of acrylic products is the special care they required, and that they are very prone to scratching, dulling, and like that. Can someone enlighten me on this subject ? thanks!!

I'm by no means an expert on this but I think the main problem with scratching or dulling is from the use of the wrong type of cleaners.

Porcelain on cast iron is stronger, more durable, and heavier than acrylic, but care must be taken to avoid the use of abrasive cleaners on both tub finishes. Minor scratches on acrylic can be buffed out, whereas they can not on porcelain. Porcelain on cast iron is usually at the upper end of pricing.

We had an acrylic liner installed over our old cast iron tub
It's great-I wash it w/ my car brush w/ dish soap-any small scratches buff out w/ plastic cleaner or polish.No more rust or
disappeared porc.

We are currently redoing the kid's bathroom. We bought an acrylic bathtub, because you could get one that is 17" deep. Well, we got it home and it had a wierd flange that stuck out past our wall. My husband had a plan to deal with that, when I noticed the back corner was cracked. We thought the tile would cover it, but the more I looked at it, the more I knew it would bug me for the next 20 years. I would always look for a crack there. We took it back to HD and got the steel tub. I plan on being careful with the porcelain, but in my opinion, it looks like a much, much nicer tub. And, no wierd flange to deal with either. Plus, the acrylic tub needed a base of plaster of paris or something to stabilize it, the steel tub did not. It was heavy enough to stay put on its own.

In our second house, I put a steel tub recessed in the basement conc. floor--reason: kids.
They could do what they wanted & the water went down the drain instead of thru the ceiling.
Now that they are in their 40tees- wife & I can relax in an acrylic tub, which was installed over our first floor steel tub.

I'm trying to decide between a cast iron or acrlyic sink for my remodeled kitchen. My impression from this thread is that pots and pans may ding the acrylic sink more than cast iron??

I see that there's 9" deep versions of the acrylic sink, but cast iron not as deep. Probably won't know the 1" difference over time.

Decisions.decisions.. :)

Why not a pretty stainless steel sink?

Thanks guys, for the imput! I'm thinking I'll go the porcelain on cast iron way-sounds good to me!:D