I bought a Hansgrohe hand held mounted to a bar along with the tub spout. I bought: Wall bar Handshower Wall supply Hose Tub spout Thermobalance II TRIM KIT Thermobalance II ROUGH IN VALVE (the II means two options for the water: handheld showerhead or tub spout, or fixed shower head or handheld) I bought the one with service stops, which you may not really need. If you only need a single shower head and no tub spout you would want the Thermobalance I. There is also a Thermobalance III if you want a fixed shower head, hand held, and a tub spout. I LOVE the thermobalance valve. There is one knob or lever for temperature and a separate one for volume. I like to be able to turn on the shower every morning and get the perfect temperature every time without fiddling with it. I highly recommend it. Also, you can't get scalded if someone flushes the toilet. I bought all of this from Faucet.com. I got the faucets there, too. They had the best prices, service, and helped me figure out what I wanted. If you talk to someone, they can sell you any combination of parts. You are not limited to the combinations on the web site.

thank you all for your honesty. and therenee, thank you especially for your feedback, b/c it's nice to know i'm not alone in this. yes, breezygirl, i think the plumber already installed the valve. thanks for finding the arzo diverter, but the additional factor was that hubby didn't want another hole in the wall, and the HG valve trims have two handles in one and the whole shebang controls the volume, temperature and diverter. i do have to have one other hole for the handheld supply and he wasn't happy about that, so he was insistent we not have a third hole for a separate diverter. anyway, back to therenee...the other thing is that hubby REALLY wants a open channel faucet. i really want a single handle (i'm not old either, just lazy, ha ha). the talis c line has one, which would go with the talis s trim, but we both didn't love the faucet. at this point, i'm kind of feeling like we should get what we love in the shower trim and the faucet even if they don't match, just as long as they're similar in feel (i.e. not super victorian and a contemporary). if i have to stare at it everyday, i want to love it. there is this la toscana faucet i linked below, which i think actually would go with the metris trim, but it's significantly more money (as was the talis c) and i'm not sure he'll go for it. tell me what you think (the brushed nickel finish looks way different than the HG brushed nickel finish too). at the very least, it may be helpful to you if you decide to stick w/the metris... lastly, i'm thinking if i got a square showerhead that it might help bridge the gap between the squared faucet and the round trim base and handles. at least there are some straight lines in the handles, right? what do you think? Here is a link that might be useful: la toscana faucet

Master Bath Hansgrohe Shower on slide bar Hansgrohe Rain shower head that can be used at the same time Thermostatic valve Grab bar Fixtures for a clawfoot tub MASTER BATH I'm guessing that the shower and the clawfoot tub will be separate entities? The links are simply for reference, I'll stay within the Hansgrohe family if able. 1) Hansgrohe Shower on slidebar: You can buy items separately or as a kit. But in whatever combination you'll need: 1a) wall bar 1b) hose to connect handheld shower head to supply outlet 1c) handheld shower head 1d) wall supply outlet/elbow 2) For the Hansgrohe Rainshower head: 2a) Shower head 2b) Shower arm for out of the ceiling OR wall. 3) Thermostatic Valve: 3a) to get the water to the handheld and/or the rainhead, you'll want a thermostatic with built-in diverter to keep things simple. Hansgrohe has the Hansgrohe iBox that will do the trick. For an alternative choice, Hansgrohe has the Thermobalance III valve. It has three outlet ports, you only need two. The extra port can not be capped. So what your plumber can do it to plumb port "A" to one shower head, then loop ports B and C together and have them feed the other shower head. Additional instructions are in the installation manual for the valve. 3b) You'll need a trim kit for the valve to make it all purdy. If getting another valve, you'd need a trim to match that valve. In general, trim kits are not universal. Though they come in different styles, they are matched to the specific valve they are mated to. So always make sure the trim kit will fit the rough-in valve that you have chosen. 4) Grab bar: 4a) You'll want blocking behind the walls for the grab bar. If not, then consider Wing It anchors. 4b) For grab bars and, take a look at grab bar specialists. 5) Clawfoot Tub: Depends on the tub, but you can have faucets that mount on the tub rim, the bathroom wall, or freestanding faucets that come through the floor next to the tub. 5a) Pick your poison! 5b) Now that you've filled the tub, you need to drain the tub. You'll need a drain/overfill mechanism. SECOND BATH: Shower on slide bar (goes over tub in an alcove) Tub spout, stopper etc. Thermostatic valve Divertor? Grab bars Wall mounted fold down seat (one of the users will be my elderly mother. Not sure what to look for here) You can get a complete trim kit for this through Hansgrohe, or again buy the items individually. Complete trim kit but you'd also need the iBox valve listed in the master bath description. The iBox valve and the listed complete trim kit would take care of everything but the grab bars and shower seat. If you wanted to break things out individually, then for the handheld you'd need the same stuff as above: Wall bar, wall outlet, hose, handheld head. For the valve, you'd need the iBox valve and the iBox trim kit or your choosing. Or if using another valve like the Thermobalance II, you'd need the TBII valve and a TBII trim kit or your chosing. The TBII is an "A" or "B" diverter, which is fine for a shower/tub combo. For the tub spout, you'd need to pick out a spout that DOES NOT have a diverter built in to the spout since the iBox valve already has the diverted in the valve itself. The spouts with diverters are usually used with pressure-balanced valves. For the tub, if the plumber is not supplying it, you'll need a drain assembly. Any generic one will do. Grab bars are the same as previous. Shower seats, it's a personal reference, but I like a large shower transfer seat. Sit down, swing your legs into the tub, then bathe while sitting or standing. A lot of links, hopefully they all work. Best, Mongo

Masco is a huge, multi-national holding company. Just because they own Delta and Hansgrohe does not mean they are in any way the same company or producing similar products. Because Hansgrohe was acquired by a larger company like Masco also doesn't mean they just cut costs and now make a cheap, commodity product. You didn't exactly say that, but it seemed to be implied. So here's some of my research... ;) Hansgrohe remains a German company; three of the grandsons of company founder Klaus Grohe are executives with the company, with one the deputy chairman of Hansgrohe's Board of Directors. The company is still about one-third owned by the Grohe family, and the Board is nearly all Germans. The company is still headquartered in Germany, and has six of ten manufacturing plants in Germany. There is no sharing of employees, management, or production plants between Hansgrohe and Delta. I think calling it "just another brand" owned by "guys in green eyeshades" is truly a misrepresentation. Masco owns other plumbing companies like Newport Brass, cabinet companies like Kraftmaid, Behr paints, Ginger bath accessories -- probably close to 40 different companies in total. It's similar to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway owning Benjamin Moore paints, Johns Mansville insulation, and Shaw floors (not to mention GEICO insurance, Fruit of the Loom underwear, Helzberg Diamonds, and a few dozen more companies). By the way, I have no connection to any of these companies beyond buying some of their products; I just wanted to respond to the comment above so readers don't come away thinking Hansgrohe is an old, high-quality name slapped on a now-mediocre product. -- Eric