Alternative to Kohler Cube tub?

3 years ago

We planned a bathroom in a new house around the Kohler Cube 48" square, 27" deep, soaking tub. The builder hadn't yet placed the order, so I was checking Kohler's site tonight to look for a replacement for another tub (recently discontinued) and found that the Cube was also discontinued. Panic ensued.

The house is designed for aging-in-place and will have an insulated slab on grade foundation. Given the foundation type, it's rather vital that we don't make any significant changes to the plumbing once it's been completed. We need to find another tub - yesterday.

The space allocated to the Cube tub's alcove is 5' wide and 5.5' deep. The deep Japanese-style soaking tub aspect is what's most important. While I await the opening of the plumbing supply company tomorrow, can anyone recommend a similar style and size tub?

I've run across some ofuro tubs made of Hinoki wood, but would prefer cast iron, cast stone or acrylic.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

kudzu9

3 years ago

JP Haus- Glad you have planned so well. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t end up with an unexpected surprise... ;-)

Comments (7)

S Melt
3 years ago
https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/k-1968-0-kohler-underscore-48-x-48-drop-inundermount-soaking-bathtub-koh15986.html?refid=GX455476066766.~b&position=&network=g&pcrid=455476066766&device=m&targetid=dsa-438168092290&channel=GoogleIntent&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgomBBhDXARIsAFNyUqMDoTeha-YYIPADeq1RdAgkubUMBt42r9TVH4GSCUtHJ87SVOPW_04aAtryEALw_wcB

does this work?
JP Haus thanked S Melt
kudzu9
3 years ago
Whatever you decide, make sure you have an adequate size hot water supply. Many larger soaking tubs require more hot water than a standard sized water heater can supply. For example, the one linked to in Sheridan's post above has a volume of 171 gallons. Now you wouldn't fill it to the top, and you would mix in some cold water from your hot water tank, but a large home water heater might be 75-80 gallons, and that might not be enough to fill that tub to the height you would want. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I am suggesting you look carefully at matching your hot water supply capacity to the specs of the tub.
JP Haus thanked kudzu9
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I would not give it up at this point. Ask the plumber to get his wholesaler into it again - they likely have more pull than a single person buying a single tub. They were willing to replace the entire tub for him, at the very least they should be willing to do what they said they'd do before. I would question the wholesaler as to whether or not this tub was actually brand new and not a return. The first thing I thought of when you said there were spider cracks around the drain is that someone had overtightened the drain (my shower base manufacturer warned me that if you get a "gorilla" for a plumber this can sometimes happen). If you're sure your plumber didn't inflict the damage, I would suspect that the tub had been installed somewhere before. Alternately the tub could have been damaged somewhere in transit - again this should be an issue the wholesaler should be able to take up with their shipper. I'm half wondering if the wholesaler didn't even take it up with kohler but rather was going to do the swap for you just like that because it's easier. Ultimately you will decide how much effort you want to want to expend to get whoever is responsible to pay for the fix. It could be the wholesaler, it could be the shipper, it could be a manufacturing defect. Everyone is going to want to pass the buck on it too, but I'd keep after the plumber and wholesaler because I think it is more likely damage than a defect. At the same time you might want to tell Kohler that you want someone out there to SEE the defect (be careful not to say the word "damage") and actually make a determination about whether it is a defect or not - because surely they can't do that over the phone. Ask to speak to a supervisor if necessary. It sucks that you are dealing with this with your brand new tub though :(.
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dan1888
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I'd call Kohler for info on any remaining stock. You only need one.
JP Haus thanked dan1888
S Melt
3 years ago
a gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds, and the human body is mostly water, so you can figure out about how many gallons you yourself will displace by dividing your weight by 8.3. that's at least some water you don't have to heat up! (this was just a fun little calc I did for my own soaking tub to see if my water heater was sufficient!)
JP Haus thanked S Melt
kudzu9
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Sheridan- Good point! But you have to not include your head, which accounts for about 1.5 gallons ;-)
JP Haus thanked kudzu9
JP Haus
Original Author
3 years ago
Sheridan Meltsner, thank you so much! I don't know why Wayfair doesn't use the "Cube" name, but that's the tub. It says 6 - 8 weeks for delivery, so I wonder if they typically order from Kohler and have it shipped directly instead of having it in stock. I'll ask our builder to follow up.

Kudzu9, our builder recommended two NG tankless water heaters, one on either side of the house. We think that arrangement will be better than the two 75 gal. NG water heaters we have in our current home.

Our current master bath tub is a large Kohler Vintage and we had to add additional support beneath the floor when it was installed. I guess that's one benefit of doing an insulated slab on grade at the new house.

Alternative to Kohler Cube tub?

kudzu9

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S Melt

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Alternative to Kohler Cube tub?

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