GROHE 34745000 Grohtherm Cube Shower Set with Tempesta 210, Starlight Chrome

The big shower head is rain shower not a lot of strength but the shower handle has jet power if you want or rain shower, it works great! The fixtures are beautiful!The only thing I wish it could have is the material to minimize the water spots for showing so much but could be related with the water in our city.....

I hired a licensed plumber with 20+ years of experience to install this unit. He was unable to install.I hired a second licensed plumber with 20+ years of experience. He was able to install it, but did not install it correctly. He noted that many of the parts were plastic.I was used to Grohe products that had knobs made of metal. On this unit, the temperature control knob and fixture switcher knob - the two main knobs - were BOTH plastic!As much as we liked the design aesthetic, it's complicated to install...and PLASTIC.I'd recommend you find another brand.

I've had this for a while now, in the box, waiting for the plumber to come and install it. I live in a very small town, in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico, where we have exactly one plumber in town. He's 70 something years old, has been plumbing since water was invented, and travels in an old blue Chevy pickup with his dog. This guy may be old and slow, but he knows his stuff. Unfortunately, he doesn't need the work, but knows he's the only guy in town, and takes on jobs between laying on the beach in Aruba, fly fishing in Montana, and visiting his sister 3,000 miles away in Maine. So, you make an appointment, and hope that in two months from then, he decides to come home. In any event, he did come back, and showed up at my door last week to install this GROHE Shower System. I've had the bathroom wall torn down to the studs since his trip to Tijuana, so all he had to do was change out the old plumbing pipes with new, hook up the new GROHE Rapido SmartBox, run a pipe for the shower head, and another for the Elbow, where the hand held shower fits. I figured maybe 2 hours tops, but between taking care of the dog, going into town to eat at the local diner, stopping to drink coffee with my wife, and telling me all about how Tijuana isn't like it was in the old days when you could ride down there on a horse, steal a Texas Longhorn or two (they did come from Mexico), and hope to make it back across the border alive, after a shootout with Mexican Banditos.At the end of the second day he finally had the job done, and gave me a bill for 16 hours labor, and the tab from the diner. Two days after that, I had the shower walls up, sealed, and ready to finally use this. This looks great. GROHE makes world class plumbing fixtures. Based in Germany, they engineer plumbing fixtures and accessories, and have it down to a science. This Tempesta 210 shower set comes with rainfall shower head and arm, a handheld shower that hangs from a sliding bar so you can adjust the height if you want to use it without actually holding it, and the elbow that attaches to the wall and where the hose for the hand held shower attaches for water supply, and the heart of the unit, the GROHE Rapido SmartBox, that controls water temp, and directs where the water is to come out at. The color is called Starlight Chrome, although it looks like regular old chrome to me. Apparently, the Starlight finish is 10x harder than the standard chrome finish, virtually impossible to scratch, and supposed to last decades and still like new (I'll update this is 30 years and let you know how it looks).The GROHE Rapido SmartBox has two round, sleek looking handles that work as smooth as anything you've ever turned on a piece of plumbing. The top diverter handle lets you control where you want water, and how much pressure. This unit has a hot water temp limiter, keeping scalding hot water out of the mix. The bottom temperature handle lets water get to the desired temp in a few seconds, and keeps it at that temp. The Radio Smartbox is pretty amazing, and will fit a multitude of different trim pieces from GROHE. Use standard !/2" pipe to connect. I was reading about the Radio Smartbox, and was pretty amazed how many configurations you can achieve with one rough in, some configurations require a different trim piece than the one that comes with this set. All can be purchased separately, no need to buy another smartbox. Showering with this is amazing, with controls that are so easy to use for exact water settings. Nothing even close to a standard bath/shower diverter you find in almost all homes. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to the standard plumbing for tub/shower, not after having this installed and getting used to it very quickly. This sells for $519.99 (as of this review), plus my plumber cost (I won't even begin to tell you about how much that was, but lunch at the diner was only $8.86). I know it may be a lot of many to many people, but if you own your own home, and need new plumbing in the bath/shower, this GROHE shower system is something you may want to seriously consider, or at least the Radio Smartbox. The Smartbox will be the last time you'll have this expense, as it should last for decades, standard plumbing hardware for this will most definitely not, and the cost of replacing that alone after about a decade will cost more than the Radio Smartbox. At the very least, take a look at the GROHE website and read about it, it's worth the time to do so. This is an amazing piece of plumbing hardware, gives an unbeatable shower experience at this price range, and worth every penny. Well done by GROHE

This Shower Set is a convenient way to purchase all the items that would be necessary for a complete installation in the Grotherm Tempesta Shower Set in Starlight Chrome. It includes:- Round Trim 24133000 $266- Rapido Smartbox rough-in 35601000 $88- Tempesta 210 8.25" Diameter Showerhead 26409000 $44- Tempesta 11.25" Shower Arm 28577000 $80- Tempesta 24" Shower Rail 27521000 $37 (there is a 36" version also available for $48)- Tempesta Cosmopolitan 2 Spray Pattern Hand Wand 26046002 $22- Wall Union 28627000 $51- Rotaflex 59" Hose 28417000 $30Grand Total of separate parts at current pricing $618. There is a potential to save $95 by purchasing this kit which is currently $523. Everything comes in individual blue Grohe boxes that are boxed in a larger blue Grohe box which is then shipped in a still larger Amazon Brown box. It is packaged and protected very well. The entire kit weights about 18 lbs.I really like Grohe and have installed it in several bathroom remodels performed over the past few years. It is a premium line of high end fixtures. I really like the silky smooth operation of the valves. It feels very premium in use. I also like the function of the Thermostatic valve as it maintains the temperature setting evenly thru out the volume flow control range. This is not always the case with 2 handle valves as some will have the water temperature become cooler or even cold if set to a low flow. This can be an issue if you are trying to conserve water and need to set it at a lower flow periodically thru the showering process but do not want to turn the water off completely. With this Grohe you can set the temperature and it will be maintained nicely.With 1/2" supply inlet and outlet fittings in NFPT this is pretty easy to copper pipe, PEX, or even Push fit to install. I use Rectorseal on the threads but Teflon Tape will also work. I do like the adjustable Trim feature as you don't have to get the rough-in perfectly plumb/level. The 6 degrees of adjustment in rotation helps tremendously. Others have mentioned that the Rapido Smartbox has a too thin and easily breakable rough-in depth ring. It is designed to be cut back after the finished wall covering is up and I haven't had any issues with it. It think it works fine and is a lot better than most rough-in boxes and is not a big deal to work with. The Starlight Chrome finish is uniform, flawless and looks great. It is a brilliant chrome finish that to me looks better than your average chrome. I think it is smoother, more polished and has more depth of shine when compared side by side. It is subtle but it is noticeable.I am glad to see Grohe offer this Shower Set and take some of the work out of acquiring components for a complete installation as well as the opportunity for savings. I would say that the possible weak links in this kit may be the Tempest Shower Head, Wand and Rail which are a lower series of theirs as well as the Wall Union for which this model has a plastic cover piece. You can get their higher end components and all metal versions but that would not be with this particular kit.4 stars for convenience, price savings and quality.

New item, came with a missing part and defective o-ring. Manufacturer says that new part not available until next year. For something Amazon labeled as "New" it sure seems like a return that was repackaged. I blame Amazon for this. My contractor already installed part of it so it is not possible to return in its entirety. Sometimes better to just go direct to manufacturer. I won;t hold my breath that Amazon responds in any way.