Check out Symmons for your tub/shower. I can't say enough about their quality or their customer service. Really impressive.
Delta is nice, too - and not ultra expensive.

We're in the same boat, want a hand shower w/fixed shower. I'm familiar with the Moen I believe your talking about. The shocker is that if you think the faucets are expensive, wait until you see the pricing for the valves! Just one valve (and you need 2 or 3) for the Moen with 2 handles, one for the shower, one for the handheld is 350.00! I found the Kohler Forte series that has both the Shower Head and handheld for 550, which uses a diverter instead so it only requires 1 valve which is about 65.00. All in all though for chrome you're looking at over 600.

I know of nothing "wrong" with Moen or Kohler. In fact Moen has an unbeatable warranty, but Im of record as a Grohe fan, well worth the money. All you have to do is hold a Grohe shower wand in your hand or a pull down kitchen sprayer to see the difference. Their styling is impressive but if I just wanted styling at a cheap price I'd go for Danze.
Best of luck

I'm a Honda girl!! --drive a Honda Odyssey and proud of it!). I have the Danze Opulence kitchen faucet in brushed nickel in our farmhouse-style kitchen. Would I have liked a Perrin & Rowe (was that the name?)? Absolutely! But at my price point, Danze seemed to fit the bill. Have had it for over a year, and still LOVE it! Especially the finish and weight of it--feels REALLY sturdy. And the brushed nickel finish is fabulous!! It's matte but has a great sheen to it...hard to describe, I guess.

I liked it so much, I bought the Danze Fairmont faucet for our bathroom reno ($123) and the shower/tub combo for $147. Considering the Delta faucet I liked at Lowe's was $144, I think those prices aren't too bad!!

Good luck--it's tough being on these forums and having a modest budget...you learn a lot, but I wouldn't really say that you save in the long run--your list of MUST HAVES just gets longer and longer... :) (terms/brands that were foreign to me before gardenweb...Rohl, Insta-Hot, Vent-A-Hood, Grohe, Miele, Danze, Rev-A-Shelf, Walker-Zanger, toe-kick drawers...and the list goes on and on!)

Sarah from Albany, NY

Faucetman886, Personally, I think to pay that much money for a darn faucet is nuts and would not even ever consider it. I don't care how much "Quality" it may have it's not worth the prices they charge and there are too many other things I'd rather spend my hard earned cash on. Because you're obviously in the business of faucets, I strongly suspect you don't spend that much money on them either!

Thank you for posting, I too am trying to pick out a bathroom sink faucet and shower faucet. Planning on a rain shower and a handheld with a sliding bar. I too am seeing so many names for faucets I have never ever heard of. I like the contemporary styles but I too am on a budge. I was just introduced to Altman's/ Germany, Aqua Brass/ Canada, Jado and Danze. I love the styling of the Danze but was warned by a rep that they have terrible customer service and the quality was not that of the Hansgrohe. I wonder if that was just scare tactics to push me to a higher quality Hansgrohe. I would love feedback on these and suggestions too. I have tried to search the Internet and consumer reports on any reviews and I find nothing zip! It would not be so bad if I had to replace a faucet in years to come (who wants to do that?) but the thought of ripping into my new shower yikes! Just a note that the Altmans was a really nice heavy feeling faucet and had a ton of options for color combos if that is important to you.

I too have hard the same information regarding Danze, so I'm avoiding them altogether. I've heard a lot of good things about Hansgrohe but I don't think their prices are budget friendly. I've been looking at the Kohler Forte and like you have not been able to find any reviews...

We are about to install our fixtures so I can't tell you about anything but design and pricing - we are going contemporary Asian Zen. We chose a Hansgrohe Showerpipe single unit for the shower, which is an all-in-one unit that has all we wanted - thermostatic valve, rainhead, and handheld, as well as roughin valve. It doesn't have body sprays but we wanted to skip those anyway. We got it for about $760 at Home and Stone. I was stunned by the cost of our fixtures but when I comparison shopped I think we got a really good deal.

The rest of the faucets in the bathroom will be Danze Sirius. I have heard that their quality control can be a little inconsistent (they are made in China) but that actually their service is really good and they really live up to their product guarantee. Altogether we spent about $1800 on faucets & etc. for our bathroom (2 sinks, separate jacuzzi tub with handheld sprayer, and shower).

The thing someone told me once is that you should spend the money on things that go in the wall like shower valves (and the trim, unfortunately, since it has to be the same brand). But things that can be changed out easily, like faucets, can be less expensive.

I did Hansgrohe for my shower, but used a brand for my sink faucet that I'd never heard of.

(If you mix brands, make sure the finishes match well enough - chrome is easy, I think, but brushed nickel doesn't always look the same, and ORB can be very different from brand to brand. Chrome's the cheapest, too, so you can save some bucks there as well as not have to worry about the matching...)

thanks for the responses y'all. Here's a bump so maybe others will chime in with their experiences.

Has anyone installed a shower valve/head that you found to be not user friendly, especially from Moen/Kohler? We are still planning for a simpler setup of handheld and fixed shower.