silly question about shower slide bars and comments about our shower to be built

we currently have a corner nook shower and are putting in a 6 foot long 4 foot wide shower with 8 feet ceilings.
Am I crazy for thinking that putting in 2 slide bars would be a good idea...a friend did that and they are happy.

We are putting in 3 kohler body sprays on the wall that the shower head (if we had one) would be on, either 1 or 2
kohler watertiles in the ceiling and a kohler steam generator(possibly install in the bench that would be built).

does anyone have any comments about materials used on shower benches?

Personal opinion...Kohler stuff looks and is generally built well, but they have been in the NIH syndrom forever...they like to do it their way, ignore history of what has worked well, and are changing designs constantly, so it can be very tough to find parts....yes, everything eventually needs parts. Plus, their stuff is designed by a engineers that may never have installed anything in the real world. Some of their stuff has all of about 1/16" tolerance - try getting that just right with a tiled wall!

A steam shower is a much more complex thing than a conventional shower. Make sure either you, or your installer knows the 'rules' and follows them exactly.

Benches require quite specific construction details so that they don't leak.

There are quite a few approved, tested ways to build one, and many more ways to mess up!

A handheld on a shower bar can be quite handy if the people using the shower are of various heights. I'm fairly tall, like the head high enough so I don't have to duck, but that might tend to be too high for 'normal' people to adjust. A bar helps in that manner. The handheld is nice because you can point it anywhere you want!

trader14 said:

... does anyone have any comments about materials used on shower benches?

Click to expand...

A shower bench can have many different materials and many different looks. Are you looking for a modern contemporary look or something more like a rustic Hammam? Will the bench be curved or flat?

I love a nice piece of slab material. Some of the ceasar stone type products would work great in a steam shower. Try avoiding natural stone if you can in your steam shower.

My current favourite bench is the 'Slumped Glass back lit one' !!! love this bench.

In my master one day I hope for a more curved look and most likely will use a 1"x1" material.


Keep that steam head away from your bench and away from the control pad. Try not to have it pipe directly below a fixture as well if you can.

What about sound and lighting? Every good shower needs Chromotherapy!

A recent ThermaSol steam shower we did. I like the ThermaSol self cleaning or self purging feature through the steam line. This can save you a couple of routine flushing a year. The sound is great as well.



JW