Dwell

At Home in the Modern World

Dwell › Products

Dwell Reports »

Showers Likely

Whether you want to replace your drizzly dud or indulge in a decadent deluge, these showerheads will wash your ills away.

showerheads expert koren leonard

While apartment hunting earlier this year, I developed a concise system for evaluating potential units. Any apartment I moved into needed only to possess the following attributes: hardwood floors, a natural light source, and a bathtub. The first was merely an aesthetic preference, but the latter were essential to the life of my plants and myself. This may be why, when the broker first showed me what would become my new home, I didn’t notice that the showerhead was placed, rather awkwardly, beneath a window or that it fell slightly below eye level when I was standing in the tub. This meant that anyone exceeding the height of five feet four inches (which is perfectly average, I might add) would have to engage in some serious contortionism to rinse and repeat. But I ended up living with this weak-willed, temperamental Halfling of a shower, because for me, a dedicated soaker, a shower is not the sine qua non of everyday hygiene, but rather a stopgap measure.

For most people, however, the daily drench is what gets them out of bed and off to work in a timely manner. And while many are willing to tolerate quirky plumbing and flaccid streams in order to get clean, it is undeniable that a good showerhead can be life-altering—what was once conceived as a utilitarian, more efficient alternative to the hedonistic bath has now become a luxury item in its own right, embellished by modern manufacturers with assorted permutations on the massage, the downpour, and the pulse. All these bells and whistles can be confusing, so Dwell asked Leonard Koren, “anti-hardware” author of Undesigning the Bath and founder of Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing, to help us get back to the basics of getting well and truly soaked: “I might not know that much about towel racks,” says Koren, “but I’ve actually taken many showers in my life. When it comes to showerheads, I’m somewhat of an authority—as are millions of other people, I suppose.”
 

  • 28568780 mem dornbracht showerhead

    Dornbracht MEM (28 568 780)

    Expert Opinion: Despite its being mounted at an angle, this delivered the most vigorous and satisfying stream of water. I’d say it maximized the water pressure. In terms of being an object, it’s okay. It’s not too pretentious. This one seems to be the best engineered.

    What We Think: Dornbracht sets the industry standard for attractive, functional hardware. A ceiling mount is not an option for everyone, and this showerhead, despite being designed to be ceiling mounted, works well in the more common 45-degree configuration. Its utilization of standard water flow makes it a clean, sophisticated addition to any bathroom.

    Add your review

  • 816082 jado wynd showerhead

    Jado Wynd 816/082/150

    Expert Opinion: This one is okay. It has three modes: one that’s basically the water coming down full force with very little alteration in the stream, the fine stream, and then the massage stream. It’s your basic—if slightly fancy—showerhead. It’s not so attractive to me, but that’s a personal matter. It’s very bulbous. For people who are totally unadventurous, it comes with these pictograms that demonstrate the kinds of streams you’re going to get, which seems pretty redundant.

    What We Think: We can’t help but feel the various modes are a little gimmicky, and we’d rather leave the massaging to real hands. The design leaves a bit to be desired—or, rather, we desire that it be a little less present in our shower.

    Add your review

  • raindance royale 350 air hansgrohe showerhead

    Hansgrohe Raindance Royale 350 AIR

    Expert Opinion: This feels nice because it builds up pressure from being squished into a small cavity. When I was doing a book about Japanese fashion, I was talking to Issey Miyake and he made a very good point: “Price is part of the design.” Meaning that if it does a superior job, but costs 80 times as much, then it might still fail as a design.

    What We Think: Hansgrohe makes beautiful products. The way that this is engineered, with the air pushed into each water droplet, the stream does feel especially pleasant coming down. The size of this product suggests indulgence, and they’re asking a lot of a 2.5-gallon-per-minute flow rate with so much surface area to cover.

    Add your review

  • ps45 barber wilsons showerhead reports

    Barber Wilsons & Co. Ltd. PS 45

    Expert Opinion: This is appealing aesthetically and philosophically because it’s really just a glorified bucket with holes in it. At first glance, it looks like a very high-end, fancy thing, but it’s so low-tech that it’s appealing, especially if it’s mounted from the ceiling. There’s something that is attuned with natural principles; it’s not a technological marvel.

    What We Think: We agree: There’s some-thing sort of transcendental about this showerhead. The stream feels very natural, like being caught in a pleasant rainstorm. Because it’s an empty chamber that fills with water and trickles down, pressure doesn’t affect its force. That said, since the water pressure is a constant, the stream is perhaps a little too gentle.

    Add your review

  • Grohe 28 373 000 showerhead

    Grohe 28 373

    Expert Opinion: This has a very satisfying, gently rounded stream of water. Because it’s on this 45-degree angle [instead of mounted on the ceiling], some of the water tends to bead up and fall off the edge. But it’s very well engineered, and I really like the thinness—it’s kind of nice that it’s so skinny. If one chooses to mount it on the ceiling, it would be perfect.

    What We Think: Though the logo disrupts the clean look of this showerhead, it remains an undeniably sleek design. Operating on a half-inch valve, this showerhead maximizes water flow—one doesn’t feel the need to remove flow restrictors, which is good for the user and even better for the environment.

    Add your review

Dwell Cover
Don't Miss a Word of Dwell
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Subscribe Today

Don't Miss a Word of Dwell

$19.95 10 Issues / a Year

Dwell Cover

About Dwell | Contact | Advertise| Privacy | Jobs | Magazine Customer Service | Submissions

Copyright ©2004-2010 Dwell LLC. All rights reserved.