Key Considerations for Luxury Shower Fixtures

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Last updated: April 8, 2023

A traditional showering experience is washing off dirt, and grime built up through sweat and hard work. A luxury shower experience is enjoying the process. You want to stay long after the bathing experience is over.

Therefore, choose a modern shower system to lounge in after a hot shower. What makes it significant are the luxury shower fixtures. The showerhead is the special feature that makes or breaks the entire luxury spa experience.

Once you pick the prevalent piece, the rest of the shower system falls into place. A luxury shower system fits the existing wall supply or becomes a custom shower in a modern bathroom. Select the perfect type for your own home. 

Table of Contents

Key Considerations for Luxury Shower Head Faucets

Traditional showerheads stay in one corner of the wall, so to cleanse yourself, you move around. The wet surface on your feet causes slips and falls by moving around. In the luxury bath market, they outdid themselves with the showerhead.

The showerheads conform to your daily routine, not the other way around. While the shape, size, material, and finish provide visual appeal with unique designs, the features and types escalate the shower experience. The pressure in luxury showers pushes out more water to channel that spa shower vibe.

Shape and Size

Believe it or not, there are rectangular, round, and square shower head types on the market. While round shapes are more common, a square head rinses you off faster because there are more holes to produce water from the pipeline. The same is true for a rectangular head; it reaches the whole body and showers it with water at one time.

Besides water heads, the shape of bathroom faucets and handles matter for visual appeal. Laura Kirar’s Pure Paletta and Pinna Paletta collections show that a defined figure can be minimal or a focal point in the shower. The vír stil collection has a bit of both minimal and focal point pieces, and they do an excellent job with standout shapes but have better placement for luxury kitchen interiors.

With size, the showerhead of choice should fit existing shower pipes and outlines. Specifically, each showerhead piece must be compatible with the existing shower’s structure and makeup. That is easier and more cost-effective than rerouting wires and pipes to add the showerhead.

Size is also important for how large the showerhead will be. Overhead fixtures for body and head showers will have a larger shape than wall-mounted showerheads on the upper wall. Wall mounts may or may not have a more substantial head than a hand shower.

Luxury shower fixtures in a luxurious marble bathroom

Material and Finish

Because a showerhead is a water source, it needs durable material to handle water inside and wet steam on the outside. Luxury showerheads only use pure materials to construct the shape and operation. Stainless steel and brass showerheads are popular; plastic’s lack of durability is a distant choice.

Common choices are nickel, chrome, and brass. Less common options for finishes are matte black, graphite, copper, and bronze. Some finishes have a dark brown, gold, white, or black appearance, and those colors are more uncomplicated to match luxury and designer bath accessory sets than a metal finish.

One of the best examples of finishes is the online bath collection from Delta shower systems. DXV shower faucets do a fantastic job of highlighting metal finishes. Michael S. Smith and his collection mix luxury bath with metal finishes beautifully.

Luxury Shower Fixtures - Modern bathroom wit bathtub and washbasin

Types of Shower Heads

One type of shower system head is the wall-mounted version. These are fixed showerheads that screw into the upper wall. These are the frequent versions you see in most households.

With the right features, they can morph into luxury heads. However, luxury systems offer three more head options, so don’t feel you need to choose a wall-mounted version for your master bath. The catch is altering plumbing installation to accommodate these choices.

A rainfall shower system is a ceiling-mounted luxury shower faucet. The oversized rain shower head hangs from the ceiling to release water below. Another way to mount a rainshower showerhead is on a wall with a rod sticking forward holding the showerhead.

If you prefer to control where the water goes on your body, a handheld shower is a brilliant choice. By default, it has a wall-mounted shower base to store the shower head when not in use. Once on, you can keep it on the base or remove it and hold it in your hand.

The cord allows you to control where the water goes, giving you luxury rain showers up close. It reaches those hard-to-clean areas where ceiling mounts cannot. The showerhead may attach to tower or panel shower fixtures loaded with features.

While some are standalone, the handheld version is mostly part of a shower set. A shower faucet set has a wall mount or ceiling mount faucet, matching tub faucets, a tub filler, and a thermostatic valve for temperature control. Overall, the handheld version is a secondary way to self-cleanse.

The last showerhead option is a body jet spray. Around the center of the wall, the body sprayers cleanse the body rather than the face or feet. The concentrated purpose makes it a secondary add-on feature over a standalone choice.

There is rarely one jet spray in the shower, so expect one for the front and one for the back. It functions in unison to clean both sides without turning around, and some are adjustable to reach the upper and lower parts of the body. Like the handheld, the body sprays pair well with one or two of the three options above.

luxury shower fixtures in modern warm bathroom

Features

Complete shower systems go beyond a rainfall waterfall shower head, sleek lines, and body jets. They have high-end bathroom fixtures stuffed to the brim with new products. Testing all the system’s features will keep you inside the shower walls for hours.

Stress relieving methods like aromatherapy, chromotherapy, and a waterproof wireless speaker calm nerves. The first two use smell and sight to wake you up for the day ahead and wind you down for bedtime. Listening to music, talk radio, or a podcast on the speaker relies on sound to clear distracted minds to live in the moment.

There is also a water massage option using massage jets. A water massage soothes aches and pains in the body and relieves mental stress like a traditional massage. Unlike a full-body massage, no massage therapist is necessary as the water does all the work.

With so much water rushing through the shower holes to touch your skin, it’s a good idea to have water purification systems on standby. It filters out dirt and mineral deposits, so clean water touches your skin every time.

Most shower fixtures have a self-cleaning system removing dirty standing water from the shower. Some may include ventilation to dry the shower area to stop mold and mildew growth. Leave the shower curtain or door open if your system doesn’t have ventilation.

Luxury bathroom fixtures or panel shower faucets include a thermostatic shower valve. What separates this from traditional valves is the traditional two-tap mixer. It mixes the hot and cold water to avoid a shock to your system when you switch from one to the other.

Water Pressure

What makes water pressure a big deal is the flow rates. The flow rate measurement measures how many gallons of water should leave the showerhead per minute. The federal government mandates all water heads release 2.5 gallons of water per minute.

A GPM multi-function shower head will ensure that 2.5 gallons per minute (GPM) flow through. Compared to the 1980s or 1990s, the GPM today has decreased because of the rise of water conservation and energy-saving efforts.

Nowadays, homeowners are most conservation-focused and do not run their shower, kitchen sink, and washing machine at the same time, so low water pressure is never an issue.

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