The Bath Unit

     At first, we thought we could get a custom bathroom we had seen on display at Toto, Yamaha and Inax showrooms, rather than those ready-made bath units. That's until we figured out the costs associated with custom made...  Dropped the idea altogether!

     Our architect then scheduled a vitit to Spiritual Mode, a Kyoto-based bath design firm, to select our bath unit options.  We initially chose Spiritual Mode because it was the only company out of four that could accomodate an inclined ceiling.  We met at their beautiful and highly sophisticated Aoyama Showroom where we were able to see sample bath units and discuss color options.

     However, we were extremely disappointed that Spiritual's Stella RX line had a counter, which we adamantly didn't want, and so did the NX Line.  Why so picky about the counter?  From experience with our current unit, we know that counters make cleaning difficult due to mold buildup in hard-to-reach corners.  Plus the counter went from one end of the unit right to the other, making the bathroom look smaller.  We did not like that at all.  We insisted on getting rid of the counter, but that proved impossible; the bath unit comes as a set, and most of the gadgets are compulsory, whether you want them or not.  So we left Spiritual an hour later rather discouraged that we could not make this work.

     Our architect then came up with a great idea.  He suggested we lower the floor of the bathroom by 20cm, which corresponds to my studio on the 1F, to ensure a flart ceiling, and we could then chose from other companies like Inax, Toto or Panasonic.  Since we were headed for Inax to pick our toilet, we decided to check out their bath units too.  Counterless units were not available in the popular LaBath Line, but there was one unit in the upgrade line LaBath Taste.  Great!  We started looking at options and realised once again that the boundaries were clearly defined.  The panels would have to be white, except for one with an accent.  But we decided to make it work because the price was reasonable and we could still get most of what we wished for.  Here's a picture Inax sent us after our preliminary selection.

     The turquoise bath was a hit with us, especially with the kids.  Color coordination was easy once we had picked the color of the tub.  We did away with the mirror, but selected dowlights and a nice slick-looking straight shower head.  Needless to say, we tried all of the shower head in the showroom, to get a feel for them.  Altogether, we met with our Inax assistant Senga-san three times and exchanged several e-mails just to get our bath unit options in order. 

     We definitely did not want to be stuck with items we didn't care for just because they were part of the package.  For instance, we realised that all units come with a bath cover.  Ours has been on the balcony for the past 12 years...  So out with the cover, and this translated into a 5,400 yen discount.  Note that some of the options cost extra, like the shower head we selected,  but some others entitle you to a discount.  Same thing if you decide not to take a particular item, like the bath cover, the towel rack or the mirror (minus 32,000 yen).  So it is wise analyse every detail if you mind the little things.