Showers meant to mirror the experience of rainfall are still the rage. Every chain hotel that has swapped real keys for plastic cards has a rain-style showerhead. Clearly, these have become the only natural choice.
A rain shower’s gentle manner and wide, quiet spray are more soothing than the harsh, almost coarse, showers we grew up with. Lulling and mellow, they’re neither too weak nor too pelting. Which is why we pay our contractors to install in the bathroom what we use an umbrella to avoid outdoors. The forecast for more rain in our showers remains strong.
This spring, those showers are more authentic under Kohler’s Real Rain panel. This new system mimics heaven’s own rainfall in all its randomness, from varying shapes and sizes of droplets to the angles and velocity at which they fall. Real Rain even taps into gravity instead of relying on manufactured pressure.
Designers were inspired to emulate the cascading rhythm of a soft summer downpour. Behind the panel, a reservoir shapes individual drops with a geometry that lets them build in speed and strength until they splash down from above. Kohler attests that its new square panel with 775 nozzles sounds, looks, and feels like a warm and welcome rainstorm.
This full-coverage precipitation contains a rain-free center zone for easy breathing while immersed — unless you choose otherwise. With the touch of a button, invite the entire sky to open by activating the Deluge feature — you’ll be drenched with an invigorating, eight-second cloudburst.
“As one of the most unique rain heads on the market, the Kohler Real Rain shower panel is sleek and minimalist. Its design blends seamlessly into a range of interiors and is a showstopper with two installed side by side,” says Keith Villegas, showroom manager, Southern California, for Ferguson Bath, Kitchen, & Lighting Gallery in Rancho Mirage. “Its Rainfall function makes you feel as if you’re actually outdoors in the rain; its Deluge function will wash away soap and rinse the shampoo out of your hair. Now that’s luxury.”
You can customize your panel color and trim finish and pair your Real Rain with steam, water, and sound using a touchscreen. Literalists will jump at the chance to program the panel with a thunderstorm soundtrack. For your next trick, Kohler, how about some lightning on the horizon and a wafting of fresh desert creosote?
