If you are looking for the ultimate shower or bath experience, a steam shower is what will take you there. Many different types of steam showers exist – some built by hand, others pre-fabricated – along a continuum of prices. No matter the price or the type of steam shower you acquire, however, the result will be the same – ultimate relaxation.
Though I haven’t been fortunate enough to install one in my own home, I have installed them in some of our higher-end flip houses. I must say that just watching one work as a test run made me scrawl it onto my bucket list. My life and home won’t quite accommodate one yet, but I am happy to lend my knowledge and research skills to helping you find just the steam shower you are looking for. If you’re ready to add one of these incredible apparatuses to your bathroom it is important that you find one which best suits your needs and your budget. Let’s take a quick look at some of the differences among steam showers before delving into reviews of actual top-ranking products.
Buying Information
You know you want the ultimate relaxation space but aren’t quite sure where to start. No problem. We’ll take some time here to look at the different types of steam showers available as well as some of the interesting features you can choose from as you narrow down your options. If you are sure of what you want, feel free to skip this section and get right into the reviews I have written for you below.
Prefabricated Versus Do-It-Yourself – Before you even begin to look further down this page you should decide whether you would prefer to purchase a ready-to-install prefabricated steam shower or build the shower yourself. Of course, building the shower yourself will require some handiwork. If you aren’t familiar with plumbing, electrical work, or basic building, you may want to steer clear of this option or hire someone who is qualified. Trust me, when you are mixing water and electricity you want to be sure that the job is done right.
Built-it-yourself steam showers can be a little more expensive than prefabricated showers, since you have to hire someone to make them. On the other hand, they are completely customizable. They can be as large or small as you want. They can fit into oddly-shaped areas. You can choose all of your own fixtures, materials, and colors. You can even choose to add in many of the special features that prefabricated steam showers boast.
Prefabricated steam showers are much easier to install. They usually only require you to hook up a steam generator, basic plumbing, and basic wiring as you fix your unit in place. Some assembly may be required, but it is usually rather straightforward and comes with instructions. However, these aren’t as customizable as make-it-yourself steam showers and can be more difficult to fit into the general décor of some bathroom spaces.
All The Extras – This part of our discussion will focus mostly on pre-fabricated steam showers, since you can choose to add whatever features you would like into your build-it-yourself shower. I won’t go into major detail here about each and every possible feature – I will go into more detail about these features in the individual shower reviews. For now, I will just give you a general list of some of the most common features so you can create a list of your own that identifies how important each of these features is to you. Popular features include: multiple rainfall showerheads in the ceiling of the unit; one, two or even three stationary or movable seats; steam and shower or steam, shower, and whirlpool bathtub; glass walls; single wide or double wide doors; one or two handheld showerheads; aromatherapy; chromatherapy; digital displays; wireless speakers; hands-free phone calls; built-in televisions.
Best Prefabricated Steam Showers
Now that you have a better understanding of what sorts of options are available in the world of prefabricated steam showers, we will take a closer look at some of the best options available on the current market. Each of these options has received excellent feedback from consumers and ranks among the best in the world. Though not all of them would work well with the interior décor vision I have for my future, fantasy bathroom, I would gladly take any of these home simply for the relaxation each would offer.