8.25.2006

Looking for fixture suggestions

The plumber told me this morning that we need to have our bath and shower fixtures as well as the bathtub picked out sometime in the next week or two. This is normally the kind of thing we would obsessively research for months before coming to a tortured decision. Can anyone help accelerate this for us? Erwins, I'm looking squarely at you!

James, does the company that makes the knock-offs of highend faucets have a website?

Update:
This shower is nice looking, however I'm sure it's a bit on the pricey side.
dornbracht_xTool

7 comments:

Tim said...

We used fixtures from Hans Grohe in our bathroom remodel--and subbed in some relatively high end but still inexpensive American Standard for some things (like faucets) that didn't need to be as fancy. I think Heaven has Grohe showerheads; I recommend their stuff highly.

SmilingJudy said...

Grohe or HudsonReed (http://www.hudsonreed.com). Stay away from Kohler.

John Edgar Park said...

Have you had a good experience with Hudson-Reed? That name was on the list from Ka at Leanarch. They hadn't tried it yet but noticed that they do nice reproductions of Dornbracht.

Anonymous said...

*Christiane hides behind the couch and points squarely at David*

Don't pick me! I mainly just seconded David's plumbing picks.

Anonymous said...

Long story here..

We have Hans Grohe Interaktiv (yes with a K and no E, ugh) thermostatic shower valve. The plumbing supply, or the contractor, or the plumber lost the showerhead that came with it, so I can't vouch for it's heavenliness.

The interaction design is elegant. A small knob in the middle controls the temp and the lever controls the volume. Push to the left for shower, right for tub.

I think this is better than the Kohler, which has identical levers for volume and temp.

I really can’t conjure a strong opinion about it. It looks nice but not gorgeous. It’s a little chunky and blobby for my taste. I have no idea about long term reliability. We had a heck of a time getting it past the safety block for temperatures above 100 degrees, but that’s good for the kids’ bathroom.

I can vouch for the stability of the temperature. Every day I throw the lever, take a shower and turn it off. I haven’t adjusted the temp in two weeks. Same thing with the kids baths. That rocks.

Anonymous said...

I am using kohler products. Looked at hansgrohe and grohe, but did not care too much for the style (other than hansgrohe citterio). I really like waterworks, ann sacks and jado, but for what we wanted they were too expensive for our budget. I looked at hudson reed as well because they are a bargain, but I have read reviews were some have trouble with the installation.

SmilingJudy said...

Sorry, just checking back....yes, installation on the Hudson Reed can be a bit of a pain since they're not North American. They send adapters where needed, but what if something happens to one of those parts 5 or 10 years from now? Do I have to hop a plane to get a replacement? If you're not doing the installation, do you care how difficult it is to install? Your plumber won't like you, but how much do you care?

So, if you can't tell, I used Hudson Reed in a recent bathroom remodel. I installed the fixtures myself and cursed myself many times for buying something 'foreign'. But in the end, it's a good-looking product for a decent price. And they had the features I wanted that are hard to come by in North American products.

Their website is plastered with raves about their customer service. On that, I'd have to agree. I got a little careless with the torch and ended up with a small leak via the shower valve. I reported it and had a complimentary new valve in my hands within 3 days.