Big sprays for a big shower experience

The wimpy showerhead is all wet. Washed up, if you will.

In a never-ending pursuit to transform home showers from a douse-and-done situation into "just-give-me-a-few-more-minutes" full-water luxury, homeowners are installing big and brassy shower fixtures. Manufacturers, too, have pinned their hopes on reinvention of the staid showerhead.

Think big -- mega showerheads, multi-head body sprays and more nozzles.

From rain-shower pans as large as 14 inches across to flush-mount rain panels and swirling showerheads installed in minutes, homeowners can immerse themselves in in-home jet streams of soothing water.

"Do-it-yourselfers have never had so many options to make their shower seem like their own personal space," says Ed Detgen of Danze. Detgen equates the European-inspired, spiffed-up shower as a continuance of bath overhauls. "People love the ability to carry a style and finish all the way through to the shower."

The kings of shower stalls are dish-shaped showerheads sometimes known as "sunflowers." These range from 4 inches in size to a 16-inch with several dozen individual nozzles, sold by Grohe.

Sunflowers once operated best when suspended directly above the bather to create a gravity-fed waterfall. This meant re-plumbing the shower to accommodate the longer pipes the big disks required. Thats no longer the case.

Paul Flowers of Grohe says new self-pressurized technology forces water at an even rate through the nozzles. Thus, sunflowers can be attached to standard shower wall fixtures. Esthetically speaking, however, it's still nice to have water cascade directly from overhead.

Sunflowers are available in polished stainless steel, brushed or shiny nickel as well as copper and bronze.

Variations on the dish motif include square water tiles and ceiling panels. The panels are fixed to a wall or ceiling. In some cases, the panels swivel for personalized water direction.