Our plumber recommended Symmons. We picked up a showerhead, valve, diverter and handheld set for a decent price. The valve looks like good quality. The rest is just average but when compared to a lot of the others I looked at it's not really any worse. It seems to be hard to find anything that his a nice substantial metal feel to it unless you want to spend a fair amount of money. I ended up buying a more expensive hand held to use. So I think I've ended up with:
* a quality solid brass valve and diverter
* an OK showerhead that I can replace easily if I end up not liking it
* a really nice hand held

All for less than I would have paid for one of the middle to high end systems.

i can't find reviews anywhere! that's the first thing i do and there's none at all that I can find. and since I cant find Symmons in a showroom anywhere, I can't really compare to Moen (which has most of the other things I like the look of). And if I was getting a separate showerhead, I'd have to match it to the Symmons trim anyway right? Seems like a lot of work, don't know what to do...

Symmons is a quality system I believe. I have heard it is often used in institutions. I will link a site that has some faucet reviews. It has backgrounds and other info on just about all the brands you will come across.

Here is a link that might be useful: faucet reviews & ratings part 2

this is why i'm questioning and double checking, quote from the link you posted enduring, "We have no idea how well the newer foreign-source faucet lines will hold up, because they don't have much history behind them. Importing rather than manufacturing components is a new direction for Symmons, and although the company seems to be selecting from mostly A+ suppliers, it's too early to tell how well Symmons will manage this venture. "

and in the absence of reviews online, i don't know if I should risk it for all the bathrooms..

I found a review of the Carrington widespread faucet that referred to the poor design of the supply hoses and that they leaked.

A review of the Winslet one handle that referred to the poor design.

A review of the Pelago one handle that was good.

Reveiws of the Naru and Oxford widespread were good.

I don't know if the Symmons designs are the same across the board - for example the same water supply hose design for all of their widespread hoses. It could be like Kohler where the designs differ from collection to collection. Delta and Moen have designed their faucets to have interchangeable top trims using the same rough in.

All the reviews I saw complemented the weight and finish of the Symmons faucets.

But even with Delta and Moen, you need to check up on the individual trim model - some of their designs are finicky.

I just don't think that you can choose a brand and blindly go with all of their models.

Tamuri, which Symmons collections or designs are you interested in so we can help you out?

Here is a link that might be useful: Symmons Bathroom Website

I think I like:

Degas
Oxford
Winslet
Lucetta
Sereno

Love the Naru faucet, but it looked like the showerhead was cheap plastic-y looking - can't tell from the picture on their website. i narrowed down to these only because the other shower heads looked plastic, i picked the ones where it looked like they were all metal. again, i looked for reviews and info on symmons website, but couldn't info on that. sadly, i only get a chance to do a lot of research on the weekends and their customer service is closed, otherwise id bug them for an hour and get everything i needed!

we have:
- master bath: rustic/italian look, thinking classic maybe bronze fixtures
- kids bath: something simple, easy to use, if it goes with the kohler brockway sink fixture that would be ideal, but I can't find that anywhere, so anything is fine
- guest bath 1: something modern, we have flunky blue glass tile, its near the pool (what i liked something like naru for)
- gues bath 2: classic/retro. we have black hex tile on the floor and white subway on the walls, so something totally classic would be perfect

the showroom lady recommended:
- moen weymouth/waterhill/felicity for the master bath
- moen branford or eva for the retro and kids bath
- kohler purist for the modern

Anna, where are you looking at reviews? when i google symmons degas reviews for example i come up with a whole lot of nothing.
you have done so much research! has your project started already?

OK, I'll get busy searching. Are you installing new shower valves or just replacing the trims?

What I have picked up about the bronze finish is that some manufacturers are better than other. Also, if you are really picky about absolutely matching other hardware in the room, then you need to stay with the same manufacturer for everything. But if you look at Houzz, most designers are mixing finishes up - nickel faucets with bronze cabinet hardware. There is a neat article on Houzz that has a list of which metal finishes to put group together. And some of these bronze finishes don't hold up well long term - I'm looking at some of my friends and relatives bathrooms and I'm not impressed.

For contemporary fixtures, I see the Kohler Purist as being highly recommended. The Kohler shower valve is reliable too and cartridges are readily available at Home Depot. Hansgrohe and Grohe are very popular. You may have to order the cartridges, but it will be few and far between.

From design perspectives, I just find the Delta and Moen stuff sort of hokey with a lot of their models. They aren't classic traditional nor classic modern. Their proportions are off too.

I had decided on a classic traditional bath - oval tub, oval sinks - I started out going with what my plumber recommended - Moen. Well the plumber and I didn't see eye to eye - he had some strong preferences - no pex, only Kohler tubs, only Moen, only AS toilets, etc. I wanted to use Symmons faucet, a Mirabelle tub, Toto toilet at the time. I reacted by researching even more.

Since my builder tub has held up so well (I am replacing it because it is 6 feet and I am 4'10"), I decided to visit the manufacturer's showroom/plant in January. It was fun sitting in tubs in their warehouse - better than trying on clothes. I ended up selecting a tub with armrests so that changed my design plan for the sink. They have a large variety of sizes of shower pans. They also told me how to install a larger pan without moving the drain in the concrete. They gave me lots of ideas and options if I wanted to remodel the shower/bath area even more. So that will save me on having to do a custom tile shower floor. Their acrylic is really nice and has a heavy fiberglass backing. I got more practical advice from the bathtub manufacturer than any tradesman so far.

I have found that the other places for good advice are the clerks who work behind the contractor counters at the plumbing, lumber and tile supply houses. I also like to buy my paint at store that has a large commercial business. And the latest at the tile supply house is that even though I will use an acrylic shower pan, to still use an epoxy grout for the tile walls.

nycbluedevil got me researching Jado faucets and I really like their classic line. I will end up with a narrow shower and like their components for a shower system, especially the classic cross handle makes the diverter valve good looking. Jado looks are nice with an affordable price. Even though it is owned by AS, it is a separate level of quality - specified and assembled in Germany.

The more I researched (I have learned that one needs to know best practices even though you hire the job out), I decided that I am going to do the work myself - plumbing, tiling. I am going to have someone come in and do framing, electrical and help me install the tub. I am single, have 2 baths, am detail oriented, have the time, and am cheap. I also tend to drive contractors crazy! So right now, the shower is torn out. I just whelped a litter of pups in the tub 4 weeks ago and they have been moved out to the dinette. Royal Baths needs one week to make the tub and shower pan. So I'm ready to get started on the bath again. I just had the vanity knee area filled in with drawers.

So if you want to do a remodel the right way, it is a process. I know of folks that went the keyhole route with a GM and realized after it was all done, they could have done thinks differently for the same price - they just weren't aware of all of their options - they expected the GM to present all of their choices. Designers tend to give more options, but they can get stuck in their own set of choices. If you can find contractors that work for a variety of designers, they many times have seen lots of variety. But then it comes down to your personal time - the single ladies that I know that are remodeling tend to get very detailed and involved. Maybe because we have the time.

This post was edited by Anna_in_TX on Sun, Feb 23, 14 at 15:10

Symmons Naru looks like something out of the Jetsons cartoon. It could go as contemporary or mid century modern. cool.

I looked at the Symmons widespread faucets in detail. They all use the same rough in.

When I looked at the Symmons Winslet widespread review, it came from the Home Depot online site. I suspect that there may be a different model for the big box stores - like Delta and Moen. The review stated that all the supply hoses leaked and the faucet stem could not be screwed on to where the hoses could be attached to the left & right sides of the rough in -- hummmm user error maybe, Home Depot quality?? The Symmons model number at Home Depot had an RP at the end, even on the installation pdf. At the Symmons webstie, there was no RP on both the catalogue and installation pdf. Even if the model numbers are the same, the quality can be different at the big box physical and online stores. I would only buy from a plumbing fixture online store and not amazon. www.chicagofaucetshoppe.com looks like the best online store.

I found this about the Symmons Winslet single handle lav faucet from Home Depot
"This is a gorgeous faucet, elegant and refined. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. But then I moved the handle...and was immediately put off by the engineering. At the base of the handle is a small dome that tops the center post. To allow for moving the handle back and forth and sideways, it has a spring inside (under the curved dome part) Not a big deal except that every time you move the handle back (as you would to operate the faucet), that dome "clicks" and moves, depressing to allow for the movement of the handle. Water will easily get down inside the fixture, which might not be a big deal, but it truly cheapens this faucet and doesn't justify the high price. Much as I love the way it looks, it's going back. "

The Sereno collection does not have a widespread - a wall and a single handle lav faucet. So I would stay away from the Sereno single handle because it looks similar to the Winslet single handle mechanical design. And I'm not sure about the commercial collection Symmetrix single handle faucets. The Symmetrix collection has 2 styles of single handle faucets - one similar to the residential collections and a traditional commercial looking faucet. This would be a topic worth calling Symmons about their mechanical design and your concerns, especially if you are going to deck out 5 baths with their product. (And I would get a personal Symmons customer service contact name too)

Very few shower heads these days are metal. Most are plastic. Even a lot of tub spouts are plastic (like Moen and Delta). Most of the shower valve escutcheons are plastic.

So at this point, I would go for it as far as Symmons widespread, wall and shower faucets.

OK, it's suppose to get to almost 70 today and I need to get out and train some police pups. Got to go.

Kids Bath:

Kohler Brockway sink K-3202-0 at www.homeclick.com and www.homedepot.com and www.build.com

Kohler K-8892 Cannock faucet everywhere www.build.com www.faucet.com etc.

These are listed under Kohler's commercial service section of their website. The sink has a hole for a soap dish so don't forget that.

Kohler has a cool looking industrial exposed shower but it is not pressure balanced.

Select a Symmons shower/tub set to match the handle of the Cannock faucet. Look at the commercial Symmons collections, even Safetymix or the exposed Hydropipe collection.

If you have a bunch of boys, I could even see a urinal in this bath - really go industrial or jock lockerroom bathroom!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kohler Brockway sink with Cannock faucet

This post was edited by Anna_in_TX on Sun, Feb 23, 14 at 19:38

you're awesome! i'm an obsessive researcher too, just have too much on my plate right now, so this is exactly the help i need, thank you thank you thank you

our fergusons has symmons, and i looked at a couple of grohe options and still liked the overall look of the symmons stuff i picked. so we're basically sticking with a symmons line for everything. i did make sure i picked widespread faucets for everything though, i had a couple of single ones and one wall faucet as an option so i made sure not to pick that.

mine are all girls, so no urinal required, but i adore that sink so so much :) can't find anything sufficiently industrial looking that would go with that cannock faucet, so ill just go with something simple in a chrome finish for the shower and not try and get super matchy.

all i need now is one of those free standing tub fillers, ill make a selection as soon as i get over the $$$$$$$$. im actually going to post a separate thread about that, need some plumbing advice there too.

and oh. totally agree about the moen designs, it feels like they're trying to set a precedent where you should update your faucets every few years.

Tanuri,

You could go for an early 1900 - 1920's period look for the girls bathroom. Or a whimsical farmhouse or contemporary country look.

What did you like about the Symmons versus the Grohe? How are the Symmons handshowers?

My research was also for myself because I first was going to go with Symmons Allura. Then I got sidetracked and started looking at the Jado Classic and the Grohe Seabury.

I need a deck mounted Roman faucet. I guess I don't like the hand shower that comes with the Allura, The Allura is an older model and doesn't have flexible hoses - it requires soldering copper for the rough in. (I'm doing the plumbing myself). The Allura also has a separate diverter knob fot he hand shower that does not match the handles and is very large. The Canterbury Roman faucet has a nicer hand held but still the same issues with the mismatched diverter knob and no connection hoses. These models are out of date and need to be revamped like the Naru Roman faucet.

The Symmons shower sets are nicely priced. I really like the Canterbury square escutcheon.

I could always go with a Symmons shower set. But I really want the shower hand shower to match the Roman faucet hand shower. And the Roman faucet and lav faucet need to match because they are right next to each other.

its not that i did not like Grohe, it was more that none of the designs were that much more exciting than symmons, and the price difference was significant. we're renovating 5 bathrooms, it adds up.
i haven't looked at symmons for any roman tub fixtures, but it would massively annoy me if it didn't all match, you'd see it on the tub right next to each other too, what were they thinking?! it works out in just the shower/hand shower combo, almost looks like they designed the roman tub faucet later, and haven't updated the rest of the collection yet.
i picked degas for the master bath, and its the only one that doesn't have a roman tub filler, not sure what i am going to do about that, new thread coming up..