I just finished reading posts on suggested brands. I was so disappointed with the responses that I felt I had to create an active account. So I can put my two bits in the arena.

First of all, I am no expert when it comes to plumbing so I'm sure all of you will frown upon my comments. Yes, I too want to know what is the recommended line I should purchase. My tastes fall towards Hansgrohe or Grohe...buy honestly I'm not quite sure which is the better brand. And currently my biggest struggle is figuring out which valve is compatible with the trim plate I'm going to chose. I want to cry.

Can someone tell me the difference between the two? And why was everybody avoiding the good brands when others asked who was the best brand? I.E. axor from Grohe. I love the look of this line. Am I the only person who likes modern, sleek fixtures?

Thanks...and I hope I haven't offended any plumbers.

hans grohe is a less expensive line than grohe.
grohe is not very installer friendly. hard to work with and expensive to repair.
for myself, i wouldn't spend the extra money for grohe but if you love the looks of their products then it is worth spending the money as they are a top quality product.

I speak for myself and each area of the country tends to lean towards certain brands. AVOID the big box store brands such as Glacier Bay and St Thomas in my opinion.
Toto is very respected as a toilet brand but I see no reason not to use KOHLER for their quality fixtures throughout and Price Pfister faucets which offer a wide variety of finishes and styles

The "best" faucet is the one YOU like, but very few are compatible with "trim plates" that they do not make themselves.

I am not a plumber but a DIYer.

I can tell you the difference between Grohe and Hansgrohe. A long long time ago in a country far far away was this guy Hans Grohe and he had three wives. The first wife's son Hans Grohe Jr and the second wife's son Friedrich Grohe were involved in the company business but eventually drifted apart into two separate companies with Hans Grohe making drains, shower heads, and shower-handrails, where Grohe focused on faucets and hot-and-cold-water mixers. Over time they expanded and became direct competitors. There is also another brother who started Hansa who also make plumbing products.

I use both Grohe and Hansgrohe products and I found them reliable and durable. However I noticed there are different Hansgrohe products. For example, there are solid brass Hansgrohe shower valve made in Germany for $250 and there are plastic Hansgrohe hand shower made in China for $19.95 at The Home Depot or Costco.

I think the main thing about professional plumbers not preferring Grohe, Hansgrohe may be related to repair parts availability. If you need something repaired, say on a weekend, or after hours, and your shower is a Delta or Moen, chances are you may find needed parts at any plumbing supply store, and even at the big box stores. However if it's a Grohe, Hansgrohe or other high end foreign brands you might need to order special parts. I have a Dornbracht Madison lav faucet and one time I needed a replacement faucet cartridge I had to call the place I bought it from (M to F 8-4) who then gave me a number for a local Dornbrahct rep who then ordered it and I got it four days later. It's free but it is more hoops to jump through. Imagine if you call a plumber to fix a faucet they may actually carry main stream US brand parts in their trucks but if you have a off brand they can only do so much so you might be looking at two trips and a lag time versus a possible instant fix.

The other thing I notice is on some Grohe products, they do not make a US version. So I have Grohe shower valves that have standard 1/2" or 3/4" connections, fine. But there was a Hansgrohe valve that's I bought that is different, the valve and trim are in one single exposed piece, and the tub spout and hand shower all connect to that piece. What I noticed is that valve was actually an European model with the connections in mm. They include two adapters with the US version to convert from mm to inches. So when I rough in the hot and cold from the wall, I had to take the adapter depth into account. Also the hand shower that comes in the box is a European version, which connects to the metric outlet on the valve. If you have to replace the hand shower in the future, you have to order from them, you can't just buy a standard US hand shower unless you want to do some retrofitting.



Edited 2 times.

My suggestion is that you consider a major brand made in America mostly because someday it will require repair which will very much depend on the availability of parts. Grohe is quality product however not as available as common brands. Delta, moen, pfister, kohler, am standard come to mind as quality products IMHO.