bathtubs, Bathtubs, BATHTUBS!

They're all the same, right? You turn on the water, watch it fill, slink down into it, and feel the heat relax you after a long day of work or a hard workout... right?!

Wrong.

Bathtubs come in all shapes and sizes, and they definitely do not make them like they used to. Most older tubs, as I've come to find out, are cast-iron. Now, companies have everything from acrylic to fiberglass to porcelain enameled steel to cast iron to something they created (see Americast, here), OR any mixture of the above!! WHAT?! And to make matter worse, it's hard to find the size you need or want in the material you'd like, with the waste overflow depth that'll keep you submerged! Why? Why all this madness? Why can't there just be a 60" x 30" tub that's 14" high, one that's 17" high, one that's 21" high, then have each of those three heights made in cast iron, acrylic, fiberglass, or steel. Then, each company could make the same 12 tubs in 72" x 30" and 66" x 30." Done. 36 tubs, all fit anyone's tastes. Why is this so difficult? Why don't catalogs have everything sorted out like this?

To make things worse, no one asks you, "Do you want a tub that you can use and will last you forever?" They ask you questions like, "Do you want a warm or cold tub?" "Do you want a colored tub?" "Do you plan on using the tub?" Well COME ON! If I wasn't planning on using the tub, I wouldn't be here looking for one!

I've thought three times now, that I found "the" tub, only to have had my hopes dashed, three times now.

The first one was the cast iron Kohler Villager - turns out, you have less than 9 inches of water before it starts to overflow.

The next one was the American Standard New Solar - it's so new that no one carries it! And, it's just porcelain on steel. Supposedly, it's steel isn't great material.


The third one was actually ordered then vetoed by the contractor. It's the American Standard Princeton. It's made of Americast, which as I was told, is pretty much plastic. With a little Googling, I found that extended periods of high temperatures (not defined) do cause this material to warp! It's so bad that American Standard had to do a recall on sinks made of this material.

Great. 3 bathtubs that had the potential to be awesome have all been smashed. What now?