Shower

Your fifteen-minute at-home spa experience

It’s a part of everyone’s morning routine – we hope! Showering is probably the second most common reason to use the bathroom. When you’re remodeling your bathroom, choosing an appropriate shower is just as important as choosing the floor or the right color of paint for the walls. Your shower shouldn’t feel like a routine – the whole point of redecorating your bathroom is to create a better experience for the people who use it.

Editorial Review

American Standard Shower

American Standard manufactures a wide range of shower products, from shower doors and shower enclosures to accessories like massaging shower heads.

Pros: American Standard products usually live up to their name. They are exactly what most typical homeowners are looking for. For example, the Pivot Shower Door features out-of-square adjustment, which is perfect for those who own older homes. When it comes to shower heads, American Standard makes so many different models that there’s undoubtedly one that’s right for you. Options include massaging shower heads, removable hand showers and wide shower heads that mimic falling rain.

Shower Types and Choices

Bathroom renovation sparks excitement in nearly every homeowner, but before you go to pick out a new shower, you should take a few things into consideration:

• Calculate how much space you have in your bathroom. Are you replacing an existing shower or are you building a whole new fixture? This will make a difference in what you buy and how much your whole project will cost.
• Decide what type of shower system you’re buying. You can buy a kit, which comes with shower walls, a door, a shower head and a shower base or pan. If you choose this method, then make sure that your home improvement store provides detailed instructions. If you’re going to go with a contractor, be sure to get an estimate first before going ahead with the project.
• Decide how your new shower will use energy. An electric shower heats only the amount of water that’s going to be consumed, while a power shower uses a pump to boost water pressure. A solar shower uses the power of the sun to save on energy.

Shower Designs

Depending on the style of your bathroom, a shower can really set off its design and add to the comfort of one of the most important rooms of your house.

A luxury bathroom is full of spa-like facilities, so a jet shower or massage shower is a good option for this design. Think sumptuousness – include lots of gleaming chrome and dark slate with a large rainfall shower head. A seated shower allows you to stay in much longer than you normally would! A steam shower lets you experience a sauna in your own bathroom. All of these options are perfect for a luxury bathroom.

Country bathrooms are soft, pastel-colored oases with lots of different textures and gliding curves. Consider a curved corner shower or a bath tub and shower enclosure so that you can relax as well as get clean.

Art deco bathrooms have a lot of black, white and chrome – choose a shower with exposed chrome hoses and a large shower head with carefully arranged tiles. Or, you can use black-and-white patterned shower panels to create that ’20s look.

Does a shower even fit into an antique bathroom? The answer is yes. If you’ve got a clawfoot bath tub and an old-fashioned pull-chain toilet, find a shower that mounts on the wall above your tub. If you don’t have room for a bath tub, a glassed-in shower will be unobtrusive and classy.

Lastly, modern bathrooms use a lot of white porcelain and chrome. Try a square, glassed-in shower with several jets, or a square tub with a shower attachment to really get a modern feel.

Whatever shower you choose, you can turn your 15-minute experience into something great, and blend in this necessary fixture with the style of your bathroom. It’s all in choosing the right one!

Read our Editorial Review on American Standard Showers

Cons: The main drawback about American Standard seems to be that the company churns out so many different bathroom products that they can’t (or perhaps choose not to) take the time to truly specialize in one particular area. The end result is that American Standard products are good, but not great. While American Standard certainly makes some good shower heads, there are better (though more expensive) shower heads on the market. Likewise, it’s not too difficult to find better shower doors.

Overall: If you need a part for your shower, there’s a good chance that American Standard makes it. The company is a giant when it comes to bathroom fixtures. Products include shower enclosures, shower bases, shower doors and shower heads. For consumers looking for products that are a bit cheaper than top-of-the-line, American Standard is a great choice.