I don't have the answer but just wanted to say that I feel your pain. I'm spending hours upon hours trying to find the perfect shower fixtures for my remodel.

These are all high quality brands so get the one you find most aesthetically pleasing.

unkess your budget is exceptionally tight, I wouldn’t worry over a relatively small price differential if you like the more expensive. When I was shopping for my remodel, the style and finish were factors in the prices even within the same brand.

I did this too! It was excruciating! I saw this site (Starcraft) recommended a lot here as a good source for independent assessments of various brands. I also obsessively searched the archives (to the extent possible, for some reason the search function here is terrible) and looked at reviews from online buyers. Also talked to salesmen at a plumbing shop. Honestly the whole thing left me super confused. I wound up buying about half Delta and half Hansgrohe fixtures. Nothing is installed yet so I can't say if I chose right or not. But I don't think any of the brands you're looking at has an objectively bad reputation - in other words, you probably can't really make a wrong decision here!

omg that was a torture to put together..

I remember us going with Delta valve because only Delta valve had something -don't -remember-what-and DH-is -still-asleep...but was important to have since we are in CA. And there was some water-saving code pertaining to having both hand held and overhead, and Delta valve allowed for that better.

And overhead shower and hand held one they were of different brand..head one was Cohler, because they did thave the right size in right finish but we had to wait..and hand-held was.. don't remember.

And faucets on vanity sinks and bathtub fauchets and shower were yet by another brand. (Signature Hardware. Had to have style X-they were the only ones where style X didn't translate into thousands of dollars)

I also don't know what's so special about polished nickel, but a) it was more expensive b) not everybody carried it c) sometimes you had to order and wait for a long time. Much to my surprise.

It was insane process, like working on a complicated puzzle..now I think it'd be healthier not to try to save, and just go with something that would cost much more in money but not in time and nerves.

In short yes. .not asking for anything special can become a convoluted process. Can't give you precise advice, unfortunately. Do you have a contractor or somebody you can ask about the valve?

Do you think it's possible that you're setting yourself up by setting up a high price floor? You want *quality* and you want the look to be elegant/not-cheap/expensive, and you've set a relatively high price point that you think will achieve those things for you. It might, but it doesn't necessarily.

Have you ever seen the exact same item listed on Amazon - one listing has it for $2 and another listing for $28? Some people probably buy the $28 item thinking they're getting something better. I'm not in any way implying that cheap & expensive plumbing fixtures are the same - there is a correlation between price and quality - most of the time.

Just encouraging you to be a little flexible with the pricing. If you see something from a reputable company, with good reviews, and the look is elegant/not-cheap/expensive and you like it, that's what matters most.

(Aside) speaking of polished vs. brushed nickel. For many years, I’ve been a brushed nickel fan. I’m having my bathroom remodeled and decided to try something new - live a little! I ordered polished nickel fixtures. My lovely polished nickel faucet arrived and I removed it from the packaging with great anticipation. I took one look at the my very clear (but likely distorted) reflection in the finish and took immediate steps to exchange it for brushed nickel. So much for that.

The rough has to match the fixtures.

Decide whether you want pressure balance or thermostatic. Thermostatic is considered to be more "upscale" but will be slightly more expensive.

Decide on style for the fixtures.

When I was going through the process of remodeling I went down many rabbit holes in which I drove myself crazy obsessing over stuff that didn't make a difference in the end. There are things to obsess about and things which don't matter.

The finish in my bathroom is oiled rubbed bronze with some element of copper. The only stuff that comes from the same brand are the shower fixtures which are thermostatic; the bathroom faucet and the toilet paper holder. These are the same because they have a very distinctive style rather than needing the finishes to match exactly - they are so far apart that no one in normal use would be able to differentiate any subtle difference. Knobs and pulls are enameled rather than metallic.

Everything else comes from different manufacturers - hinges for the frameless shower; grab bars in shower; handle for shower door; large hoop for hand towel; towel rack; door knob and hinges for bathroom door. Sconces are vaguely oil rubbed bronze but closer to dark copper. I think the handheld was from a different brand

And then agonize about placement of everything LOL. All the years of using a shower but then someone asks you exactly how high you want it to be - or where the toilet paper holder should be installed in terms of exact placement. And so on. The agony is almost endless.

Love my Hansgrohe fixtures

about $1k

Hansgrohe wall unit 1 $123.00

Trim w/ volume 1 $595.00

Wallbar Unica S 1 $186.00

wall outlet 1 $69.75

shower head 1 $100.00

Thaks, all. Appreciate the sympathy, too. A couple of factors here.

Builder needs the shower valves ASAP so that means choosing a brand and features we want (temp and volume controls). The lowest-end ones all obviously have temp control (posi-temp valve in Moen-speak; single-function valve in Delta-speak) but I also want to control the volume (Moen’s older Moentrol, newer M-core; Delta’s dual function valve). I never figured out what Koehler calls their variations. We can choose and change the trims later.

Cost is a bit of a factor. We tend to be practical people, function over appearance, but it’s a high-end home and the builder won’t install big-box quality appliances. We’re seriously over budget in the kitchen, and due to structure, we’re now a couple of thousand over budget for the tub. ((sigh)). And I’m now unemployed, so we need to be somewhat careful. I don’t like any Kohler shower head twice as much as a decent Delta. I’m trying to figure out how a Thermador wall oven is $2400 better than the KitchenAid like the one we have right now that we love, but that’s another thread.

The finishes are making me crazy. We ended up getting Delta shower packages from faucet.com in stainless steel for several reasons. (One is that the Lahara line has a bunch of the really cool extra fixtures that incorporate grab bars, such as a toilet paper holder/grab bar - one of the bathrooms is fully ADA wheelchair accessible). I hoped polished nickel would be the closest to stainless but the showroom designer said brushed nickel is closer. I always think the brushed nickel looks olive-tinted. And I hate chrome - looks too plastic to me. Thank goodness I had a white option for the tub drain. Ugh.

Does anybody know if Hansgrohe has the lifetime warranty? We have Moen in our current home and have used the warranty many times because our water is so hard.

Hansgrohe warranty...

https://www.hansgrohe.com/service/producer-guarantee

I'd ask closely about warranty from the vendor. I prefer to buy from a local plumbing supply because of warranties.

Whatever you decide be sure the part that goes into the wall is good quality - that would be an expensive repair. You can get decent inexpensive shower heads - they're removeable. You can get a sample of finishes from Kohler (and likely others) if you have the time.

See the July 2020 Consumer Reports for oven ratings (or PM me your email)