"I could also just get a pull-down faucet for the sink and aim it at the tub to fill it." You could - but you won't like it. The most one of those will fill is 2.2 gallons a minute - some less that that. Divide your tub's capacity by that and you're looking at 20 minutes to fill +/- Not good. beekeeper - I have one of these and have placed more than half a dozen in projects over the past few years. What you get for your money is a machined brass body that mounts in the ceiling or wall and a plated trim piece. The body is a substantial piece of hardware and chrome,brass, nickel plating costs $$$ too. Whether that's all worth 500 + bucks, is up to you. Like davidro says, it doesn't matter what the delivery system is, this is just an opening for hot water to come out of, albeit one with a bit of engineering. GD & Spanish - the splashing is very much dependent on the mounting height of the unit AND the tub selected AND the location of the water column inside the tub. Mine hardly splashes at all. The ones I have seen that splash only do so for a minute or so until their is enough of a pool in the tub to counteract it. Flat bottom tubs with tall ceilings are going to splash more than one from 7' into a sloped contact point in the tub. Besides , we're talking water in a bathroom, generally tiled so what's the big deal ??? It's not like the amount of splash is the same as taking a shower and leaving the door open. 2. While you are correct in that "the water cools off much more than it would from just a regular tub filler", it's not as if it cools off enough for anyone without a thermometer to tell a difference, and a very sensitive one at that! Sure the air cools the water more from a stream falling from 8 feet than one falling from two feet. But bath water that is 100 + degrees is not going to cool down to 90 deg. in the xtra 1-2 seconds it takes it to fall from the ceiling- get real. Additionally , that filler produces a very dense column of water (laminar) that has little to no air in it, so one might argue it will be hotter and less prone to heat loss than a "regular" filler that introduces room temp air into it's stream - thus cooling it off on it's way to the tub. So don't worry Spanish -your tub will still be plenty hot with that filler if you choose it. IT'S A NON -ISSUE people. I've already alluded to the real issue for lower tub temps - FILL TIME. That's directly related to the delivery system ( valve). If your valve and accompanying filler will only deliver 5 gallons a minute it's going to take a while to fill an 80 gallon tub, and there will be some heat loss. Select a valve that delivers 20 gallons a minute and you can be soaking quicker that most people can undress. Here is a link that might be useful: laminar valve body - see page 2

Not sure what your options are, but that kit is set up that way to provide a secure mount to the floor. The length of those tubes will create all kinds of leverage at the floor connection. There are "stand-off"brackets that can anchor those risers to the wall. The faucet manuf should have them. By the time you develop some method to do this I think you will find that your best bet is to cut the access hole and mount it as you discuss, depending upon the location of that access hole. You can hide the treasure up there.

I was also going to suggest a hand-held shower and valve. I wish my dog could/would fit into a sink for bathing. Something like this: Delta Hand Shower. This one is a little more expensive, but seems to include more components (including the control and maybe the diverter): Delta Roman Tub Handheld Shower. I think it's fantastic to be able to build in a dog washing station that works for you. I would never put my dog in one of those Japanese dog washing stations you linked. She would be incredibly traumatized. When I bathe my dog, I'm right there encouraging her, scrubbing/massaging her, usually giving her treats, and keeping water/soap out of her eyes and mouth. She would be just as upset as that husky in the video to be put in an enclosed space, only to be hosed down from every direction. No thank you. This post was edited by pricklypearcactus on Tue, Sep 10, 13 at 17:11

Thank for your response aramendiadallas132. I'm doing a follow-up in case it may be helpful to someone in the future...I ended up doing a couple mockups using both PEX and 3/4" copper between the Kohler K-2971 (Hi Flow/Rite-Temp) valve and the K-922 tub filler. I did get nominally better flow with the 3/4" copper. I was filling a 5 gallon bucket and the difference in fill times was 48 seconds vs 52 seconds with the PEX. Most importantly I was able to get the solid crystal rod of water between the tub filler and the floor - no break up of the water column with either. Since I did meet the flow rate goal, I used PEX in the log installation. I brought the 3/4" pipe all the way to the point that the K-922 inlet pipe and dropped to 1/2" there. I had been concerned about installing the mixing valve in the exterior wall. The K-2971 is a nice piece of machined brass but it is 3 1/2 deep - the back of the valve was to be against the exterior sheathing. I ended up ripping 2 x 4s and packing out that wall an extra 1 3/4" which allowed me to install 1 1/2" of rigid foam insulation (approximately R-9) between the valve and the sheathing - not ideal but I'm comfortable with it. The piping extends into the log and the tub filler drops the water in a crystal column.