Would you do it again - bench, no; body sprays, no; two shower heads, yes; one handheld shower, yes.

We rented a house a few years back that had 6 body spray heads as well as the overhead one. We never used the body sprays - they weren't very effective and actually seemed silly in practice. I prefer the one over head with a hand held shower head.

We also decided not to do a bench.

I agree with the others.

I'm against built-in benches but fully recommend a removable bench.

I'm against body sprays. Personally, I think they're just plain silly.

When you start adding more than three shower heads in a shower (every outlet counts as a "shower head"), do understand you may need to up-size your drain to remain code compliant. With four or more heads you may need either a single 3" drain (instead of the standard 2" drain), or two 2" drains.

I love our bench. We have one shower head and one hand held that's on he wall, but almost opposite. My husband just discovered that if you point the handheld and the regular showerhead at each other and stand there, no part of you ever gets cold and it's a really awesome shower! We didn't do body sprays. Also, I never understood the rain shower thing. It's way too light of an output for me to find comfortable. We like strong pressure from our showerheads. Below is the only picture I can find where it shows both water sources and the bench. Our shower is 3x6, by the way.

Air jetted tubs are not worth the money. Body Jets will need a lot of water so with six you best have twin tanks or an on demand that can handle the flow.

Sounds like you need a 3" drain line or double 2".

Why not add steam?

After the first two weeks, the novelty of the body jets and the rain head usually wears off. Not to mention that if you are located in a drought area, you are not likely to be able to implement any of that as a simultaneous usage output. Only a single use per output, and then try to recapture that as greywater for any plants.

We never use our side sprays. We have no dedicated shower head, just the hand spray, on a slide. We use it as shower head, then detach it to rinse the shower. You need a LOT of hot water to run many sprays simultaneously.

Rain showers don't appeal to me; I want a power-adjustable spray.

I know two people who were injured sliding off shower benches.

How big a shower do you want to clean? Channel Goldilocks!

I'm putting in a fixed showerhead for me with an arm mounted diverter for a slide bar mounted handshower for the wifey, that way she can keep it at the level she wants when she's sitting.

Thanks for all the great "points to ponder". After reading all this starting to think strongly about ditching the body sprays as over kill - will not only save on water consumption but keep me from having to purchase an additional expensive multi-port valve. Thinking now just going with the dual shower heads (and keeping the rain tile - I have been known to sit in a shower under one and just well, sit there) along with a side wall handheld near the removable bench.

Think I may investigate some of the savings to look at sound in the shower - and maybe even steam (but I know that will eat up the savings and then some) - but maybe be a bigger bang for the buck.

On that front - does anyone know off the top of your head if say a Thermasol steam unit can be controlled by the Kohler DVT+ interface - or do you have to have the Thermasol specific control unit?

You might want to consider making your shower smaller too to keep the heat in. My shower in my place in FL is 3' x 6' with an overhead rain shower in the center and a hand held on a slide bar on the 3' wall. there is more than enough room for 2 of us to shower together comfortably and I believe if you do a 4' x 7' instead of it being comfortable while showering, you'll be freezing your bums off.

Oh, I wanted a steam shower, but not for our master bath. So, I bought a completely enclosed unit from Kohler for a guest bath and added the steam gizmo in the basement. Guess what? It can get so hot in that enclosure *without* the steam on that I get faint. (Another waste of money like the side sprays in our master bath shower.)

This quote by mrspete: "Pony walls rather than glass all the way up (because glass can't support a grab bar" just convinced me to ditch the all-glass shower idea, thanks!

I just remodeled with a built in bench and it's one of my favorite parts of the shower. I don't know why one wouldn't get it. Years ago, I had an operation and needed a shower seat and got one of the movable ones. They are a real pain - take up a lot of room - hard to clean around and where do you put them when you aren't using them.

In terms of configuration, I have two handhelds - one is by the regular shower head and one is on the opposite end near the bench so I can use it easily while sitting.

You should also have grab bars installed because you don't have to be old to take a slip in the shower. They need to be attached to the studs so you might as well do it while the shower is under construction.

I'm in California so I can't comment on the water overkill as one is only allowed to have one water fixture going at the same time so I have a three way diverter.

Our shower is 5' x 7' and we have never had any issues with it being too cold inside and we live in the PNW where cold is common. Our glass is 8" tall so perhaps that helps with keeping the warmth in even with a 10' ceiling. We have two shower heads with a handheld on one side and three body sprays on the other. I can see where the body sprays may be useful if you want to take a shower but not get your hair wet but that is not us. We would skip the body sprays next time.

I noticed that in a hotel shower that the handheld on a side wall acts like a body spray, so I situated mine that way, too. What I really love in my shower is the drenching I get from my Hansgrohe 10” rain head. I never use the traditional side shower head. Hubby does. My contractor put thick plywood panels between the studs in my shower, so we had a wide range of possible placements for the grab bars. You may want to do that if you don’t want them now. But get them now. They can look quite nice.