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High-Tech Bathrooms Know How Hot You Like Your Shower

The Wall Street Journal Online
By Vauhini Vara

Jevto Dedijer believes the toilet is the last thing that should pop into your mind when you think about bathrooms.

Mr. Dedijer is marketing director for Québec-based BainUltra Inc., one of several companies that are selling high-tech products meant to enliven this unsophisticated household space. The market is ripe, they say, for programmable showers, television screens that appear to float in mirrors and toothbrush holders that zap germs with ultraviolet light.

"You spend a lot of time in the bathroom; it can be a place to relax. And electronics are such a big part of our life today," says Kevin Sossin, vice president of Blackman Plumbing Supply Co. Inc., whose New York state showrooms sell a full-length mirror that pivots to display suntan lamps.

Bob Whitman, an electrical engineer in New York City, owns BainUltra's Ayoura tub, which uses special lights to change the color of the water. "I'm an avid boater, so I usually leave it on blue," Mr. Whitman says. Bryan Becker, another New York City resident and owner of a real-estate company, also has the BainUltra tub, along with heated bathroom floors and a shower that warms instantly with the turn of a dial.

Interbath Inc.'s Electronic Shower System remembers the favorite settings of each family member -- down to the temperature of the water and the pressure from each of several showerheads. In the technology lab at Accenture Ltd., the consulting firm, researchers are trying to develop a medicine cabinet that would remind users to take their pills and order refills when prescriptions run out.

"There was a time that electric windows were kind of novel. Now, who's got a car without electric windows?" says Rob Larson, a vice president at Interbath. "I think that's what will happen here."

Then again, electric windows never cost this much: Interbath's shower has a list price of $4,500 to $12,000, depending on features like the finish on the shower parts. (The most expensive model is coated in 24-karat gold.) For the thriftier, the company also offers an Electronic Shower System Tub, with similar features, for $4,300 to $8,000.

Such eyebrow-raising price tags have some companies searching for new ways to target the customers who can afford the products. Kohler Co., the Kohler, Wisc.-based maker of plumbing products, recently chose New York's Fashion Week to launch its Purist Hatbox toilet, a tank-free cylinder that runs on electricity and costs nearly $3,000. "We thought it was a leading-edge design" that fashion-conscious consumers would appreciate, says Vice President of Marketing Mike Chandler.

Other high-tech upgrades are cheaper. Hartsdale, N.Y.-based VIOlight LLC sells a toothbrush holder that zaps germs with ultraviolet light for $49.95. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is testing the product in some of its stores.

Meanwhile, San Francisco's Brondell Inc. says it is trying to convince the American masses to try a product that is popular in Europe and Japan: the bidet. During business trips to Japan, the company's founders became enamored with that country's high-tech toilet-bidet combinations, which shoot out a spray of warm water followed by a puff of dry air. Brondell calls its U.S. version the Swash.

High-Tech Bathrooms Know How Hot You Like Your Shower - Continued

"You wouldn't wash your face or your car with a dry piece of paper," says Scott Pinizzotto, chief executive of Brondell. Toto USA Inc., the U.S. division of Japan's Toto Ltd., sells a similar product.

The rise of high-tech bathrooms has forced architects and home owners to use design tricks to hide ugly wires or boxy speakers. Mr. Becker loves his BainUltra tub -- between he and his fiancée, they use it a few times a week -- but he had a hard time getting used to its loud motor at first. So he stuck the motor in a nearby closet and wrapped it in sound-proofing material. Now, he can barely hear it, he says.

James Paragano, an architect in Madison, N.J. who likes to stick to "historical" styles, says he has found a way to conceal speakers by planting them in walls and then coating on a layer of spackle. (It hurts the sound quality a little, he admits, but looks much better.)

Mr. Paragano is also a fan of mirrors embedded with television screens, which his clients use to watch the morning news or check the weather before work. When turned off, the screen seems to disappear, leaving the impression of a traditional mirror. One such product, manufactured by Green Bay, Wisc.-based Séura Inc., sells for $2,799 to $4,999, depending on the size of the mirror and screen.

Chris Kangis, who owns a Hopedale, Mass., company that integrates technology in homes, has fitted bathrooms with television screens that double as touch panels that control the temperature of the floors and the sound level of the music piped into the room.

High-tech products pose a challenge to "integrators" like Mr. Kangis, who often have to find their own ways to fulfill their customers' requests. Mr. Kangis remembers designing a customized tub four years ago that automatically filled to a certain level, at a specified temperature, with the click of a bedside button.

As more manufacturers build stand-alone products, Mr. Kangis says it is a challenge to break into their systems so that they can be integrated with the rest of the home. A high-tech shower might heat itself in the morning, for example, but what if a client wants to change the temperature from downstairs in the kitchen?

"We are constantly imploring manufacturers to understand that their products are not islands unto themselves," Mr. Kangis says.

Some architects, meanwhile, say they would rather altogether avoid the design nightmare that a high-tech bathroom can present: "Bathrooms, at some level, should be very primitive," says Alex Gorlin, a New York-based architect who designs upscale homes. "Water and high-tech don't mix."

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