The Jacuzzi Cetra 60x32 soaking tub is 16.3 inches to the overflow valve. The 17 7/8 is to the top of the inside of the tub. The Cetra is 20.5 inches high on the outside, only 1.5 inches taller to step over than the Archer. Jacuzzi has a lifetime warranty. The Kohler Archer is 15 inches to the overflow valve. It only has a one year warranty, plus I have read many reviews about the Archer cracking. Why gamble with a Kohler, when they only back their quality with a one year warranty?

i emailed the jason rep to find out what exactly the lumbar thing means for $200 more, and haven't heard back yet, but now my husband said i had to choose between white and bisque UGHH more decisions lol. i definitely think i want to stick with the jason because compared to the other tubs in the showroom it was amazingly quiet. to answer the question-i think mainly it will just be me in the tub. my husband has not taken 1 bath in the 15 years i have known him and i don't see him starting. we were supposed to do this project 2 years ago but right before starting i was diagnosed with cancer and had to go through chemo and radiation which left me with arthritis in my hips, and all over body aches, this the reason i really want to make sure i get the right tub, it is definitely for therapeutic reasons. i have a very good prognosis, and am excited we have the opportunity to work on this again, and i just want it all to end up cozy and warm and inviting, and i am struggling with the floor plan, the color of the tub and shower etc, the fixtures color, the trim color, and i don't have very long to decide!! Scary!! p.s. i really think the chromatherapy thing is neat. i know it may seem silly to some, but i think i would enjoy that. It is $200.00 more, do many of you have it and do you think it was worth it?

marie-louise, after agonizing over the decision for months, and having as recently as last week been sure that I would order cast iron, I am about to order the Archer (soaker; no jets) tomorrow. You are lucky to have a place like Tubz. I have dragged around to more than half a dozen bath showrooms, and each had only a few tubs for me to try. I tried the Archer on Friday, and went back and tried it again on Saturday. It is, as you say, very very comfortable. I have found that I don't usually like lumbar support (strange lump at bottom of tub slope), and the reason I went back was that I saw the drawings and noticed the lumbar support. I went back to make sure that it was comfortable. Somehow the lumbar support doesn't bother me, maybe because it is minimal. For those who are wondering, I am 5'8" tall, and my feet don't quite meet the end of the 5' long Archer. The width is something like 32" and that is plenty for me (and I am not, alas, thin!) I was, at one point, on the brink of ordering a 24" deep tub. Then I learned how difficult it is to get in and out of. The Archer is a good compromise - the high overflow slit means that it fills up more, so you get a good DTO with a low tub height. It is also very inexpensive - I was quoted under $300 for 5' long. Oh, and I somehow became sold on acrylic in the last week - a combination of reading posts here, looking at the tubs, and learning from salespeople. Hope your reno goes well, marie-louise. My contractor started Friday, and demolition is almost done.

I've chosen the Kohler Archer soaking tub. 60 x 32. Reasonably priced (especially on line) and nice looking. There's also the Kohler Devonshire in the same size and price range. The Archer is more rectangular and an inch deeper due to a neat slotted overflow. The Devonshire has an oval basin and is a little more classical looking. I'm paying about $420 shipped for my tub. If you can find a local retailer who doesn't need to special order it, you might be able to pay even less. We had an American Standard Americast tub (regular 60 x 30 shallow type, the Princeton) in our last house and I liked the solid feel of it, but if you poke around here and on other forums you'll find a lot of people who really hate the Americast product. We only lived with ours for a year and it was fine but I have heard they can chip badly... That said, if there'd been one a soaking tub in the size/price range I needed now I would consider it, but I didn't find any.