We have Grohe and Delta in current house. We had them in our previous house as well and we were happy with them. We had to contact Grohe for the shower which was dripping after about 10 years. Customer service was great. They just asked for a receipt which we still had and they sent a new part. We had to contact Delta for the kitchen sink sprayer and their customer service was great as well.

but know that all the sparkly pictures I see on Houzz don't show the reality of every day living with these doors. What I hear you saying: I am a realist. I want something practical that will work with the minimal upkeep I'm actually going to give the shower door/curtain. I have glass doors in my hall bath -- it's not something I thought through at the time; I just went with doors because it's what's done today. I neither love nor hate the, but it's always a mistake to skip analysis. I should have CHOSEN rather than just ACCEPTING. Have the glass made with Showerguard so the soap scum, etc rolls off If you go with doors, this is a must-do. If you don't have that "built in", you can use Rain-X or other products, but they do require re-application every couple months. Glass will require you to squeegee after every shower. Speaking only for my own household -- ain't gonna happen. why spend money on an expensive beautiful shower and cover it with a curtain. Part of the question is, do you intend to spend money on an expensive, beautiful shower? If you know you want to go with glass, then splurge on the lovely tile ... but if you know the goal is a shower curtain, you can lower the cost /amount of grout to clean by choosing a large-scale white tile. Glass shower enclosures allow much more light but may obstruct the control handles. I absolutely hate reaching under the shower head to warm up and getting that blast of cold water - ugh! If you block your controls with glass, ensure there is a cut-out for reaching inside! I agree that the blast of cold water is bad ... but you can request that your controls be placed in convenient location whether you go with a curtain or a glass door. 1. Shower isn't curbless but curb is as low and narrow as is functional and permitted by Code ... Grab bars are critical and need to be installed during construction as they must be attached to the studs ... Agree. After reading about so many poorly installed curbless showers (and the cost!), I decided to give up on that ... who knows whether I'll ever need it anyway? Instead, I'm going to build a minimal height curb, which is only 2", and I'll have a grab bar right there in place. I don't think I'd want a minimal curb AND a small shower, but in a larger shower, I think it'll work out just fine. I think it's the "happy medium". Yes to grab bars ... if you're concerned about aging in place, skip towel bars altogether and choose grab bars all around (on solid plywood). The only negative: Price. I say skimp somewhere else ... bathrooms are one of the biggest deals when it comes to aging in place. Pay attention to grab bars in public places. I actually measure /sketch such things in my little book. 3. I installed a bench at the end opposite the entrance. I love my bench - don't anybody tell you different :-). I disagree with this. The bench is what it is ... you can't move it /can't change it. So you install a handheld shower that can be used while sitting ... but later, if you need someone to wash your hair for you, the handheld is in the wrong position; if you have a stool, you can adjust its location, and it's easy for your helper to use the handheld for you. Likewise, if you later need a shower chair, you can move a stool out /bring a shower chair in ... it's much harder to move a built-in bench. Yes, you must clean around a shower stool, but with the handheld showerhead, this isn't a difficult task. With some planning, you can even have an alcove into which you can tuck the stool /shelves above. Don't forget, a third option exists. My mother has a lift-up wooden seat attached to the "back end" of her shower. Attached to the wall, it doesn't require storage space and has no legs to clean around. I don't particularly love it, as I think it lacks the moveability of the stool and the solidness of the bench ... but she adores it. I don't like that the soap, shampoo, conditioner, body puff, etc is for all to see. It looks messy. All the commercial pictures you see of glass showers they have nothing in the shower. What do you take everything out of the shower after your done? I am not into cleaning a shower everyday just after cleaning myself. Yes, the people who take pictures of large glistening showers behind lovely glass doors don't want you to imagine their product filled with a variety of plastic bottles, a couple dead razors, and dripping washcloths. A shower curtain will hide a multitude of sins; however, in all fairness, you can plan your shower so that your necessities are hidden behind a pony wall /the shower can appear to be empty except for your beautiful tile. I have never had a shower curtain clinging to my body, but of course I don't buy cheap plastic shower curtains. Confession time: My college daughter recently moved into a new apartment, and the two of us did buy the cheap plastic shower liner /covered by an equally thin shower curtain -- literally from the Dollar Store. It's awful; as you say, it clings to your legs while you're showering. Of course, her shower is tiny too. Heavier shower curtains are absolutely the way to go ... heavy plastic liners with magnets in the hem. I always feel a curtain makes the room feel smaller by blocking the view. This is a fair criticism, but I've never been in favor of minimal-sized bathrooms. My above-mentioned college daughter's bathroom reminds me of WHY I feel that way.

Out pet door will be accessed on the inside from built in cabinets that are actually the pet crate. So critters cant really get too far :) Sounds like an excellent design. A skunk's influence reaches great distances. Tell me about it. We have a significant skunk problem in our neighborhood, and I'm talking about a suburb with big lots, not the country. Do you know that skunk stink can wake you from a sound sleep? I worry most about my dog tangling with a skunk -- She's a wild puppy (Husky mix), and she has no sense of danger -- I think that's the most likely problem. In reality, skunks don't want to come into your house -- your porch maybe, if you've left out food, but they're afraid of a place where people are around. I have heard of a few people in my city having racoons come through the door at night to raid the kitchens and dog bowls. Yeah, raccoons have little fear of people -- they'll show you their teeth and let you know their plans for you. Last summer our chimney cap blew off in a storm, and a raccoon mama "set up shop" with her babies. For a couple days I thought I was hearing a bird trapped in the chimney. I climbed into the fireplace, stuck my head way up there, opened the vent and YIKES, I was nose to nose with a teenaged-racccoon. You know those guys are the #1 rabies-carrier, right? Let me tell you, I moved FAST. I ordered some male raccoon urine online ($30 + shipping for a tiny bottle & ultra-smelly) and shoved a soaked rag up into the vent. I waited until early evening so mama would be comfortable taking the babies out in the twilight -- they evacuated quite quickly, and we got busy fixing our chimney cap. Once a skunk came in through the dryer vent. We had a mama chipmunk come into our dryer vent (that's what we get for having ivy growing up the side of our house). We ran the dryer and baked her and the babies. We just about died from the smell. This is a very good reason to insist that your dryer is placed on an exterior wall -- because our dryer vent was so short, it was easy/cheap for us to replace the vent and "throw away the problem"; had it been on an interior wall, we would've had to live with the stench until we could get a pro out. Trust me, the skunk smell is evil, but it is better than something dead. I have seen ones that only open with a special sensor on your dog/cats collar which prevent critters from getting in. I have no experience with these, but they sound like a great idea.

Servicers hate boxed-in laundry appliances and may charge more for repair jobs. Some may refuse to do service unless the homeowner removes the appliance for access. Keep in mind that proper diagnosis/testing to determine a problem and post-repair testing to confirm the fix requires the appliance be connected to power, and often water supply/drain for a washer. The machine would need to be taken to a garage or patio with water and electric available or to an off-site location if the boxing-in impedes power/water access in the laundry room with the machine pulled far enough out of the boxing for service.