Partner Products

Over the last thirty years, there has been an amazing shift in what American homebuyers expect when it comes to baths, showers, faucets and fixtures. To test this theory, just visit any mid-range home that was built in the 1970s or earlier and check out the master bath. The chances are very good that you'll find a very small room, by today's standards. The master baths of mid-range homes built in the late 1960s and early 1970s often came with only a tiny stall shower - or perhaps a tub-shower combination, a toilet and a single sink.

Fast-forward to today, and you'll find a completely different environment - in virtually every range of home - even smaller "starter" or tract homes.

The bathrooms are larger, often with skylights, vaulted ceilings and other space-enhancing features. Most noticeable are the upgraded expectations for the showering and bathing experience. Showers are larger than ever before, often with multiple water-jets, hand-showers, and overall versatility that allows for a much more pleasurable experience. Tubs, too, are larger. Whirlpool features are common. Faucets are more stylish, and more effort is being made to match the faucets with other bathroom décor, like towel racks, mirrors, and even cabinet pulls.

Kohler in the Project House

Our Project House has six bathrooms - the Master Bath, the Guest Bath, the Kids' Bath, a Cabana Bath, a Playroom Bath and a Powder Room. We teamed with Kohler in this year's Project House to come up with a design for each bathroom that would showcase the latest, most innovative features in the areas of showers, baths, faucets and fixtures and overall design.

Of course, the Master Bath is the showpiece of the house. Both the bath and shower are designed to offer the ultimate experience available with today's bath and shower technology and design.

The bath is a Kohler Riverbath Round 66 whirlpool that measures 66" x 66" x 25", and is designed to mimic all the natural elements, sounds and sensations of a river. There's the cascade of a shoulder-wide waterfall, the rush of whitewater rapids, and the tranquility of a gently babbling brook, with underwater eddies and currents - all controllable by the pressing of one of three control buttons. The Riverbath also comes with a floating remote control device, which allows the bathers to shift the functions without having to shift position.

The Master Bath shower is a Kohler Waterhaven showering system that centers around a shower tower with two arched, telescoping showerheads. The system also has a hand shower and four bodysprays that slide up and down the tower to accommodate users of varying heights. Using the Waterhaven's adjustable and variable showerheads and bodysprays, our homeowners will be able to customize each showering experience to fit their needs or moods at any given time. The tower can be installed separately in a custom shower, as we did in the Project House, or use integrated components to create an all-in-one shower system for a corner or alcove configuration.

Steam in the Guest Bath

In the guest bath upstairs, we've installed a Kohler Sonata® bath/shower enclosure with a Steam Generator, to bring steam into the shower in an attractive and affordable way. As we demonstrated in the story in the show, the Steam Generator has a built-in aromatherapy well. By putting some aromatic oil into the well, the steaming experience can be further enhanced.

The Steam Generator was designed to be safe and unobtrusive. When the generator heats up, it extends from the wall housing by about a quarter of an inch. When the generator cools, it automatically recesses to the flush-with-the-wall position.

Iron Works Suite in the Cabana Bath

Another exciting new concept in bathroom function and design is the integration of decorative themes throughout a "suite" of fixtures. In the Project House, we went with Kohler's Iron Works Historic™ and Iron Works Tellieur™ suites, which showcase ornamental ironwork, reminiscent of the 19th century work that first made Kohler famous. The Iron Works Historic™ lavatory sits atop an elaborate wrought-iron three-legged pedestal. The toilet bowl and toilet tank are also from the Iron Works Historic suite. To complement the ensemble of classic fixtures, we added Kohler Iron Works Tellieur™ storage cabinets and base cabinets. The Tellieur bathroom furniture suite employs solid select maple frames in Black Forest finish to accentuate the cast iron in the Historic series.

Contact Information:
Kohler
1-800-4-KOHLER
Visit Kohler's Website