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We’re returning to the 2023 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show on the hunt for new showerheads to test for this guide. One also-great pick, Nebia by Moen, has moved to the competition.
Swapping out an old, dribbly showerhead for a new model is one of the simplest improvements a person can make to their home—and to their overall quality of life. After we took more than 150 showers with 18 showerheads, we found the one we’d be happiest using every day: the Kohler 22169-G-CP Forte Multifunction Showerhead. We think this is a worthwhile splurge—the satisfaction-to-effort ratio of a showerhead upgrade is off the charts, and completing the job is surprisingly easy.
Of all the models we tested, this elegant, three-spray showerhead offered the fullest, most powerful rain-shower spray, with huge, soft drops that felt gentle on skin.
The Kohler 22169-G-CP Forte Multifunction Showerhead has the best rain-shower spray of any showerhead we tested: It produces a powerful, dense full soak that envelops your entire body. The Forte aerates its stream, creating larger, softer water droplets, which make the spray feel fuller and warmer. This three-spray model has two other excellent settings: a pummeling massage function and a silky-soft fine spray. The showerhead installs easily, and you can adjust the spray settings smoothly with one hand. And the Forte’s brass ball joint securely pivots the head to hit the far corners of a tub or stall.
This efficient and versatile showerhead has six distinct settings. And it offers both a rain-shower and a handheld head, providing every possible experience you could want.
The powerful Moen Attract Magnetix Chrome Rainshower Combo 26008 pairs a handheld and a rain-shower head, along with six spray patterns, to produce an exceptional variety of great showering options. The handheld unit’s magnetic dock snaps securely into its own dedicated socket—which is far easier than maneuvering a handheld shower into a narrow holster within the main showerhead (as is found on some competitors). The 26008 is almost as easy to install as a fixed showerhead, and it includes a pause button, which allows you to halt its 1.75-gpm spray without losing your temperature setting.
This showerhead features a unique, 360-degree rotating design with pivoting heads on both the rain-shower and handheld base, providing a customized shower with a total of 15 different spray combinations.
The Kohler Freespin Bellerose 3-Spray Dual Showerhead Combo offers supreme versatility with a clever design that allows you to maneuver the two showerheads—one fixed, the other a detachable handheld—in a complete circle. When it’s not detached, the handheld nestles in a pivoting cradle, just like its attached counterpart, allowing you to adjust both water flows in all directions and hit different areas. So this pick is ideal for households made up of people with varying body types and spray preferences (there are 15 to choose from).
At just 1.5 gpm, this exceptionally low-flow showerhead has one of the fullest sprays of any model we tested. But there’s only one (strong) setting, which may feel overwhelming to some.
The High Sierra 1.5 GPM High Efficiency Low Flow Showerhead is a low-flow model that feels luxurious. It’s the most powerful low-flow showerhead we tested, spraying heavy, drenching droplets that felt more powerful than the 2.5-gpm settings on some other showerheads. We also appreciated its sturdy, all-metal construction. The High Sierra has just one setting, making it less versatile—especially if its strong spray pattern feels too overwhelming. It’s also not as attractive as our other picks.
Of all the models we tested, this elegant, three-spray showerhead offered the fullest, most powerful rain-shower spray, with huge, soft drops that felt gentle on skin.
This efficient and versatile showerhead has six distinct settings. And it offers both a rain-shower and a handheld head, providing every possible experience you could want.
This showerhead features a unique, 360-degree rotating design with pivoting heads on both the rain-shower and handheld base, providing a customized shower with a total of 15 different spray combinations.
At just 1.5 gpm, this exceptionally low-flow showerhead has one of the fullest sprays of any model we tested. But there’s only one (strong) setting, which may feel overwhelming to some.
This guide builds on the work of Sabrina Imbler, who spoke (on the phone and in person, at the gargantuan Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) with product managers (the folks who oversee every aspect of a showerhead, from design and engineering to materials, manufacture, and quality control) at Moen, Kohler, Delta, Toto, and High Sierra. It also builds on the work of senior staff writer Tim Heffernan, who spent months testing showerheads for the 2016 version of this guide and met with industry reps at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS). The guide’s longtime editor, Harry Sawyers, has written about how a home’s shower works, and he has interviewed lots of people in the bath-fixture business on trips to KBIS and to the International Builders’ Show over the past 15 years. He returned to IBS/KBIS in January 2020, on the hunt for new showerheads to test for this guide. Editor Joshua Lyon met virtually with industry reps at IBS/KBIS in February 2021, interviewed Moen’s director of industrial design, and spent four months showering with our previous picks and testing new models.
Renters can and should upgrade a showerhead—just save the old one and put it back in when you move out. (Homeowners, you already know you can upgrade.) Here’s a video on how to install a showerhead, which is a job we believe you can do even if you’ve never picked up a wrench.
Investing in a showerhead may seem like a splurge. But a good showerhead, with a gushing, steady spray of evenly heated water under any pressure, will significantly improve your daily routine. And any good showerhead is likely to be an upgrade over what you inherited when you moved in. You may not know how bad your showerhead is. As this guide’s original author, Sabrina, put it, “Before writing this guide, I didn’t realize I’d been living with an uneven and sparse spray and a ring of cold mist encircling a too-hot center. I hate that showerhead now.” Our picks will probably make you hate your old showerhead too.
After testing 15 wrenches over the past three years, we’ve determined that the Channellock 8WCB WideAzz 8-Inch Adjustable Wrench , with its comfortable handle and wide jaws, is still the best for all-around home use.
Beyond the basic categories of fixed and handheld (the former being the one mounted up on the wall, and the latter the one with a hose that you can pick up, aim, and spray where you need to), the world of showerheads presents an abundance of aesthetic choices. Showerheads take multiple forms (rectilinear, curvilinear, exotic) and styles (traditional, transitional, contemporary), and every brand advertises unique spray technologies with obscure trade names. But all showerheads should, at the very least, deliver a satisfying, consistent spray using any water pressure or showerhead height. We set out to present both fixed and handheld options, and we narrowed the field to 18 finalists that met the following criteria.
We showered. A lot. We used each showerhead we tested at least three times, and we probably used our finalists more than 10 times in stricter, back-to-back tests. Across two particularly wet days, Sabrina took more than 20 showers, installing a new showerhead each time. Two of Sabrina’s roommates also took their regularly scheduled showers with each showerhead and reported their observations and comparisons.
Aside from taking notes on the feel of the spray, we noted how easy each head was to install, whether there was any leakage, how it felt to adjust the settings, and how clunky or sleek the head looked in our bathrooms.
Our judgments of performance were necessarily subjective. But our concerns boiled down to this: Does the showerhead feel good and work well? If so, how does it compare to the rest?
Of all the models we tested, this elegant, three-spray showerhead offered the fullest, most powerful rain-shower spray, with huge, soft drops that felt gentle on skin.
The Kohler 22169-G-CP Forte Multifunction Showerhead felt more luxurious and versatile than any other fixed showerhead we tested, and we were quite happy using it every day.
In our tests, the Forte’s three spray settings—a generous, soaking rain-shower spray; a narrow, pulsating massage spray; and a drenching fine spray—felt denser, more powerful, and more pleasant than settings on other showerheads we tested. Its coverage also felt fuller than that of other showerheads we tested, thanks in part to a design that aerates the droplets, making them larger, softer, and warmer.
Unlike the sprays of other showerheads we tested, which often felt sparse and thin, the Forte’s spray enveloped the entire body in a lush drenching that felt like concentric circles of silky ropes battering at our backs.
The Forte’s rain-shower setting delivers a solid cone of water that soaks every inch. Another setting is a dense, fine spray that envelops you in something like a cloud of warm water, while being plenty strong enough to rinse soap and shampoo away. A narrow, pulsing massage setting gave our backs a real thumping (enough to work on some of the knots we’ve accumulated after working from home for the past year).
The Forte was notably easy to rotate and adjust after installation. You can spin its spray-setting dial with just one hand—easier than on models (such as the Flipside) that require two hands to switch settings. That’s useful for anyone, but especially for people who have limited motion in their arms and shoulders.
Like most fixed showerheads, the Forte is easy to install: You simply unscrew your old model and screw in this one. And as with many new models, if the Forte’s spray face clogs with limescale, you can run your fingertips firmly across the flexible spout tips to remove any buildup.
A notable detail about this model’s predecessor, the 10284 (a now-discontinued former recommendation in this guide): We counted 47 Amazon reviews written by people who used this showerhead in certain hotels, such as the Holiday Inn Express chain and the Yosemite Valley Lodge, and they loved it so much they ordered one for use at home after the visit. Kohler confirmed this partnership, which speaks to the powers of this showerhead: People tried it, realized they couldn’t live without it, and actually took the time to track down the model. In the words of reviewer Roger T: “Kind of weird being so enthusiastic about a shower head but it is really good.”
Like all fixed models, the Forte lacks the flexibility of a handheld. And if you have small children or pets that require frequent cleaning, a combination model like the Moen Attract Magnetix 26008 or Kohler Freespin Bellerose will make that easier.
The Forte has only three spray patterns. You can get more with some other showerheads. But we found these often blended into each other and were individually less impressive than the Forte’s three distinct options.
This efficient and versatile showerhead has six distinct settings. And it offers both a rain-shower and a handheld head, providing every possible experience you could want.
The Moen Attract Magnetix Chrome Rainshower Combo 26008 is the luxury SUV of showerheads: huge and powerful. The 1.75-gpm model’s six spray settings meet almost every possible showering need, and its hand shower connects (and disconnects) more easily than those of its competitors. But, as with all handhelds, the dangling hose takes up space and will block some shower caddies.
Between its rain-shower and handheld settings, the 26008 also offers every possible shower experience, including pulsating, massage-like sprays; drenching rain-shower sprays; gentler, wavy ones; effusive mists; and the traditional concentric rings of a silky, ropelike spray. The 26008’s massage setting was the most powerful we tested. The main, 6¾-inch head is more than wide enough to provide an enveloping waterfall, while the handheld’s 3¾-inch head has higher-pressure sprays that can easily clear out shampoo. The variety is exceptional, which is great for larger households with different preferences. But after using this model for a couple of weeks, we found ourselves going back to just a few settings. And even that’s beyond the norm. We asked Jason Symeon, the company’s director of industrial design, if there’s an optimal number of settings when they’re brainstorming new designs. He said, “Our research has told us that a lot of people set [a showerhead] to their favorite experience and leave it there.”
Unlike with fixed showerheads, the 26008’s detachable handheld head can rinse every corner, to clean the shower or wash kids or a dog. The 26008’s handheld has a 5-foot flexible stainless steel hose (almost 6 feet with the handheld head included) and thus avoids kinks (like you get with cheaper plastic hoses). And the 26008’s magnetic docking system was the best of any we tested, with a separate omnidirectional socket and strong magnets (which snagged the handheld when it came within inches of the connection point). Other docks (like the Kohler Converge and the Delta In2ition) required a lot more fiddling to make the magnetic connection work.
The 26008 has a pause/trickle button that lets you stop water flow while you do other things in the shower that don’t require water, such as shaving. This saves water, and it retains your current temperature setting (which won’t happen if you turn the shower off with the faucet handle).
Despite its complex appearance, the 26008 installs as easily as traditional showerheads. You simply connect the fixed showerhead, and then attach the handheld via the hose. This isn’t unique to the 26008, but many hand showers require the installation of a wall-mounted slider bar or holster—lots of work for no appreciable gain in performance.
This showerhead features a unique, 360-degree rotating design with pivoting heads on both the rain-shower and handheld base, providing a customized shower with a total of 15 different spray combinations.
The Kohler Freespin Bellerose 3-Spray Dual Showerhead Combo features two showerheads that can rotate 360 degrees, like the hands of a clock. Upon first glance, the design seems a bit gimmicky, but the Freespin’s supreme versatility became immediately clear after installation. The handheld stays firmly locked in place via magnet as you maneuver the device into your desired positions. And each showerhead is cradled in a pivoting ball and socket, so you can aim the water flow from both heads in any direction. On your first outing with the Freespin, plan to take a leisurely shower so you can play around with all the adjustments, and try not to think about how you look like a naked WWII radio operator. Or do! Shower time is your time.
The endless possibilities for spray directions and coverage that the Freespin offers are ideal for households with people of varying heights and sizes. Broad shoulders? Turn the Freespin to be horizontal and adjust the heads outward. Tall and skinny? Position the Freespin to be vertical, with both of the heads tilted slightly down. Or don’t listen to any of this advice and set the sprays however you want. The Freespin is all about choices.
Each 5¼-inch head has three different spray options—wide coverage, massage, and a silk spray (as well as a pause setting)—adding up to a total of 15 different flow combinations. The silk spray was a pleasant surprise; it felt feather-soft and light on the face, yet it was satisfyingly full and strong enough to rinse shampoo from hair. A center knob switches water flow to either the handheld or the fixed mount—or to both at once. If you don’t read the instructions, locating the diverter knob isn’t intuitive since it looks like an unassuming part of the hardware’s connecting rail. We appreciate subtle design, but the switch is easy to miss. In fact, we saw one review that bemoans the Freespin’s lack of a flow-swapping option.
Most showerheads that divert between fixed and handheld outputs experience a significant decrease in water pressure once both heads are in use. But the difference in the Freespin was barely noticeable and quickly forgotten, especially compared with the many models we dismissed. We saw a few reviews from consumers who experienced a drastic change in pressure when both heads were running. Based on our tests, however, we believe they likely received a damaged model (the Freespin comes with a limited lifetime warranty, which might come in handy if anything happens beyond Home Depot’s return policy). The complaints might also speak to the subjective nature of testing showerheads. Plumbing can vary as much as preference.
Installing the Freespin is as easy as installing the Moen 26008: Just connect the fixed portion of the rail to your existing pipe, and then attach the handheld via the 5-foot hose. Its design is so elegantly simple that it’s a wonder we haven’t seen one like it before. We are excited to see how Kohler continues to improve on this clever new take.
At just 1.5 gpm, this exceptionally low-flow showerhead has one of the fullest sprays of any model we tested. But there’s only one (strong) setting, which may feel overwhelming to some.
For a very low-flow model, the High Sierra 1.5 GPM High Efficiency Low Flow Showerhead has a spray so lush it seems impossible: It’s full and powerful, even compared with those of some 2.5-gpm showerheads. The High Sierra offers just one spray pattern, but we found that its drenching, heavy droplets were more than adequate to rinse out shampoo.
The High Sierra feels nothing like a low-flow showerhead. In fact, it feels luxurious, soaking you entirely in heavy droplets, with no bare patches or cold mist. According to David Malcolm, High Sierra’s founder and designer, traditional showerheads separate water into discrete mini-streams via a constellation of nozzles. But to make the mini-streams feel effective, those showerheads rely on a high volume of water at a high pressure. Inspired by his background as a nozzle manufacturer for agricultural irrigation, Malcolm instead created a nozzle that breaks a low-pressure stream of water into heavy, coarse droplets.
In practice, that means the High Sierra’s spray feels a little less orderly but significantly more drenching than the other low-flow heads we tested. The High Sierra’s spray even felt more powerful than the rain-shower setting on some 2.5-gpm Kohler models we tested. But the High Sierra’s single spray setting may be a bit strong for some people, and if you don’t like it, there’s no way to adjust it.
The High Sierra lacks fine silicone nozzles that can be rubbed with a finger to get rid of scale, but Malcolm says its wide passageway generally eliminates the issue. Several Amazon reviews from longtime owners seem to confirm this showerhead’s resistance to scale. If you do encounter scaling or a clog, the company suggests removing and soaking the showerhead in white vinegar for a few hours.
When we last updated this guide, we noticed during testing that the High Sierra had a more-audible sound than your typical showerhead. We brushed it off—noise rarely comes up in the High Sierra’s reviews. But a friend of Tim’s who suffers from mild tinnitus also tried this showerhead and told us he found the sound to be “a bit uncomfortable.” This time around we paid closer attention to the sound while testing. It still didn’t bother any of our users, but we did find other complaints about this showerhead being loud. If you have highly sensitive ears, the High Sierra is probably not the best choice for you.
Our senior editor Harry Sawyers is returning to The 2023 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) and International Builders’ Show (IBS) on the hunt for new showerheads to test for this guide. We are also currently researching the objective and potential benefits of filtered showerheads and will share our findings.
Our previous also-great pick, the Nebia by Moen, performed as advertised, but we grew disenchanted with it during long term tests against other models. It remains a good option for a person who only loves misty, steamy showers, but we eventually felt confined by the limitations of this being the only shower option. We stand by the finding that this could be right for a home with multiple bathrooms so the spa-like experience is an option rather than the permanent choice. After about 6 months of testing, we found ourselves rarely using the Nebia, and the majority of the time preferred a good pummeling from other showerheads we’ve tested. We also learned recently that Nebia has been acquired by Brondell, and while the Moen version of this product may face discontinuation in the future, we look forward to seeing what the new ownership does with Nebia’s unique technology.
In 2020, Delta debuted an internal-components design called UltraSoak in some of its new showerheads; Delta claims this technology sculpts droplets in a way that imitates a “dense rainfall sensation.” We were impressed with the thickness of the spray on the H2OKinetic UltraSoak 52460, but unfortunately, there just isn’t enough of it. The showerhead creates such full and forceful droplets that the empty center space inside the spray is frustratingly noticeable and creates the shower equivalent of biting into the hollow end of an ice cream cone. Also, given that this showerhead retails for over $100, the handle that toggles between settings felt shockingly flimsy. Disappointed as we were, should Delta figure out a method that gets UltraSoak to feel as powerful from every single hole, for complete body coverage, our top fixed-mount pick might have a serious contender.
Our previous upgrade pick, the combination Delta In2ition 58480, performed poorly in 2019, 2020, and 2021 tests against other models. Its spray patterns were disappointing—the fixed head provided an unpleasantly sparse halo, and the other settings felt weak. This is no doubt due to the issues we had installing the showerhead in 2019: No matter how much Teflon tape we wrapped around the threads or how tightly we wrenched the head, it leaked at the connection point. We tested a dozen other showerheads and never had this problem. In the years since we last tested a new 58480, its reviews have dipped, with a pattern of complaints about leaks and others that criticize the showerhead’s low water pressure. Newer reviews are more positive, but the most recent model we tested was still nowhere near as impressive as our picks (for all the same reasons we originally removed the Delta 58480 from our list). On the upside, we didn’t experience any leaking this time around.
The Delta In2ition 58620-25-PK comes with a detachable handheld that’s shaped like a wand, instead of the usual circular attachment. The benefit of this long and skinny design is a gentle, continuous waterfall setting that’s ideal for rinsing a baby’s head. (It felt pretty good on ours, too.) Unfortunately, this model shares many of the same flaws as the Delta 58480. And though we appreciate a function designed with children in mind, a well-placed hand is just as good at keeping water out of a wee one’s eyes during bath time. We dismissed a third Delta In2ition model, the 75583CSN, right out of the case due to its cheap-looking plastic attachment nut and backing.
We had high hopes for the Delta HydroRain 75699 because the fixed-mount portion of this dual handheld model tilts, meaning you have more control over where the overhead spray hits. A weak flow doomed it from the start. And the face of the handheld is molded at such a sharp downward angle toward the handle that it’s difficult to find a comfortable way to rinse off. It’s a truly bizarre design flaw, considering no other handheld we tested had a similar issue.
Our High Sierra low-flow budget pick now also comes with a handheld option, but we found it to be heavy and cumbersome. And with only one setting, it’s not worth its significantly higher cost.
Nebia by Moen also makes a less expensive spa shower, the N214R0, that doesn't have a handshower. We turned the handshower off on the model we tested to see how it felt and much prefer the dual option.
We’ve had a few readers request that we test the popular Speakman Signature Icon Anystream, so we ordered its 1.75 GPM S-2252, a highly rated model on Amazon. We did appreciate its heft and quality metal lever (which smoothly glides between three settings, instead of clicking from one to the next, like most showerheads do). But none of the streams provided wide enough coverage to feel satisfying.
Our previous budget pick, the Delta Faucet 75152, compared poorly in 2019 tests against some newer models released since our 2016 tests. Since no changes have been made to its design since our last test, we didn’t consider it again for 2021. Though the 75152 does offer two gpm settings (2.5 and 1.85), the spray felt uneven and weak, and the inconsistent droplet sizes made the spray’s exterior feel cooler than the center.
We liked the Moen Magnetix 26100EP, an affordable handheld showerhead with six spray settings. If you want a handheld option but don’t want to shell out $100 for the Moen 26008, the 26100EP could work for you. We didn’t recommend the 26100EP because a significant portion of the head (the part that allows it to swivel) is made of plastic, which is softer than metal and easier to cross thread and damage when installing. We prefer metal construction.
The single-mount Moen HydroEnergetix 8-spray is another affordable option. But of its eight settings, only one (the concentrated massage) hit the spot, and none provided wide enough body coverage.
We tested the Moen S6320EP and found its sprays underpowered. Its 1.75-gpm flow felt too low to create a satisfying rain-shower experience. The head is 8 inches wide, which provides significant coverage but makes it harder for each individual spout to deliver a great deal of water. It’s also so wide it won’t fit in showers with shower arms (the bit coming out of the wall that the showerhead screws into) that are less than 3 inches long. And 4 inches or more is preferable, because that gives the head its full range of motion.
The Kohler K-15996-CP Flipside is a popular but strange model that changes settings by rotating a nozzle-filled disk nestled inside a circular holster. Two of these settings are traditional—a constellation of separated jet streams or a gurgling waterfall. These were fine, but the settings that emit from the narrow edges of the disk are sparse and flat mistings, which we did not find desirable. When you rotate the disk to switch settings, it sprays your face in the process.
We tested the 1.5 gpm Niagara N2915CH, which is similar to the High Sierra. With two spray settings, the Niagara is technically more versatile, but its rain shower is far less powerful and lush. Its second setting, with six swiveled jets of water that come out from the head in pairs of two, creates uncomfortably cold gaps at the center, under a higher showerhead.
We tested the Hydroluxe 24 Function 3-way 2 in 1 Shower Head, one of the most popular and least expensive showerheads on Amazon. The model broke as we were trying to assemble it (a surprisingly difficult task), which probably speaks to the quality and longevity of the head.
Joshua Lyon is the supervising editor of emergency-preparation and home-improvement topics at Wirecutter. He has written and edited for numerous outlets, including Country Living, Modern Farmer, The New York Times, V and VMAN, Marie Claire, Jane, and Food Network Magazine. He’s also a Lambda Literary Award–nominated author and ghostwriter. Learn more at jklyon.com.
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Shower Panel Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).