I've never had to pay for a bathtub on its own, so I actually have no idea what the average tub costs. But, I do know that the ones found in Dubai's XXII Carat vacation villa complex are well above average, given that they cost enough to pay for an entire more modest residence: A reported $1 million.
The XXII Carat bathtubs are carved out of an imported Brazilian precious rock, cut in half and sanded smooth in a process that takes hundreds of hours – which is part of why the tubs end up with such hefty price tags. Of course, if you're shelling out between $14 million and $32 million for a vacation home, you can afford to splurge on a bathtub, and each of the 22 XXII Carat villas now being completed by the end of 2017, have their own luxurious features and amenities, including swimming pools and a personal 24-hour concierge service. Then there are the panoramic views of the city of Dubai and the surrounding Persian Gulf – which residents of the villas can enjoy during those rare hours they're not relaxing in their ridiculously expensive bathtubs.
There are three tiered categories of villas on the XXII Carat property, each one named after a precious stone: Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire. They're located in a gated beachfront community called Palm Jumeirah, and almost a third of the villas have already been sold, million-dollar bathtubs and all.
