Quick Answer: Luxury bathroom design is moving toward warmer, more handmade-feeling finishes like Unlacquered & Satin Brass, oil-rubbed bronze, and polished nickel, and away from crisp chrome and matte black. At the same time, wellness features like cold plunge tubs, saunas, and digital showering systems are turning bathrooms into recovery spaces, not just design showcases. The most common mistake homeowners make is treating plumbing fixtures as an afterthought instead of selecting them early, alongside cabinetry, countertops, and tile.
This trend overview is based on insights from Laura McGee, Strategic Sales Director of Plumbing at Construction Resources, and reflects what homeowners, designers, and builders are requesting in showrooms today.
What Is Decorative Plumbing?
Decorative plumbing refers to the visible fixtures in a kitchen or bathroom like faucets, tubs, shower systems, and trim chosen for design and finish as much as function. It's distinct from the rough-in plumbing hidden behind the walls. In a luxury space, these pieces carry real design weight rather than functioning as background hardware.
What Makes a Fixture Feel "Luxury"?
According to McGee, luxury plumbing comes down to finish quality and attention to detail. "You can tell something is luxurious by the special finish it has, or by the level of craftmanship," she says. "You can tell when something's handmade, that's what has always stayed true to luxury plumbing."
She also pushes back on the idea that lighting alone gets to claim "jewelry of the bathroom" status: "I think plumbing fixtures are just as much the jewelry of the bathroom as lighting is. They can be functional and beautiful."
What Decorative Plumbing Trends Are Gaining the Most Traction Right Now?
- Warm finishes over cool, crisp ones- Polished chrome is losing ground to Polished Nickel.
- Oil-rubbed bronze is back, after fading out for several years. McGee describes the appeal as "warm, chocolatey tones."
- Polished nickel and unlacquered brass remain the steady, classic luxury choice.
- Matte black is phasing out- Still available, although we are still seeing a strong trend toward the slightly softer, graphite tones
- Satin nickel remains the reliable, function-first finish- durable and easy to live with day to day.
- Specialty finishes from vendors like Newport Brass and Waterstone come into play when a client wants a fixture to feel distinctive rather than standard.
- Traditional style is trending, especially in the Southeast, alongside this broader shift toward warmer tones.
Note: McGee also mentioned Crema Marfil marble reappearing after roughly a decade out of style, paired with Calacatta Gold and polished nickel faucets — a secondhand observation from a colleague on the surfaces side of the business, included here for context rather than as a core finding.
What Decorative Plumbing Selections Make the Biggest Impact?
The tub and faucet, chosen together, make the biggest impact on a bathroom's design. "The bathtub has now become the art piece of the bathroom," McGee says. "When you combine a beautiful art piece tub with a beautiful faucet, that's your statement piece for a primary bath."
Before recommending specific fixtures, CR asks every client one question: are you form, or are you function? McGee is form-first personally, "If something is super hard to use, I'll still go for something more beautiful, knowing it's going to take extra effort," but the point of asking isn't to push clients toward one answer. It's to establish the priority before making recommendations, rather than guessing at it partway through a project. Function-first clients still have strong options; the selection criteria are just different.
One practical distinction: bathroom faucets typically use a separate hot-and-cold handle setup, which allows for more intricate designs than kitchen faucets. Kitchen and bathroom fixtures aren't interchangeable, since the two spaces are used differently.
What's the Biggest Mistake Homeowners Make When Selecting Fixtures?
Under-budgeting for plumbing and selecting it too late in the process. "Many people’s budget allocation is way too low," McGee says. "Plumbing can feel like an afterthought. It tends to fall to one of the last pieces that gets selected and I think it needs to enter the conversation earlier, because it can really dictate the style of the space."
Her specific recommendation: bring plumbing into the design conversation within the first 20% of the project, within the same window as cabinetry, countertops, and tile. Waiting increases the risk of settling on a style for those other elements, then falling in love with a fixture that doesn't match, which could mean reselecting finishes to make everything cohesive again.
How Is the Wellness Movement Influencing Decorative Plumbing?
McGee views this as a long-term shift rather than a passing trend. "Everybody's really taking care of themselves these days, more protein, sleep prioritization, skincare regimen," she says. "It goes beyond the aesthetics of a space and focuses more on relaxation, air quality, water quality." The result: bathroom design conversations increasingly cover lifestyle and daily use, not just appearance.
Features generating the most interest right now:
- Cold plunge tubs- McGee’s top wellness pick.
- Sauna + Cold Plunge combination- used for hot/cold contrast routines, a crucial sequence in the wellness space.
- Steam showers- a lower-commitment entry point into wellness features without a full standalone installation.
- Digital showering systems- such as Kohler's Anthem system, which can run an ice-cold shower on demand and switch back to hot. This is a way to approximate the cold plunge experience within a standard shower footprint. It carries a price premium over a standard valve, but McGee notes that primary-bath clients are often already planning to spend more in that space.
CR's Westside showroom recently added Kohler wellness displays, including a cold plunge and sauna. McGee ties the interest to how luxury clients approach design generally: "The luxury client is thinking holistically about their entire house. It's not just the aesthetic, but everything is geared toward that lifestyle."
What Should You Look for in a Decorative Plumbing Partner?
- A showroom where finishes can be compared in person. McGee points to this as CR's core advantage: pulling selections together instead of sourcing samples from multiple locations. With roughly 70,000 SKUs of plumbing fixtures on the market, being able to walk a faucet sample from the plumbing wall to the tile display or slab gallery is a practical way to confirm coordination before committing.
- A design consultant who scopes the full project, not just the fixtures, since plumbing choices connect directly to tile and countertop decisions.
- A plumbing specialist for technical specification. Once a client is ready to finalize functionality and configuration, a specialist builds the final plumbing package for quoting.
- A clear delivery process. CR holds product in its warehouse until the builder is ready, delivers rough valves first and trim last, and labels everything by room and quantity to prevent mix-ups on site.
When Should You Call a Professional?
CR manages fixture selection, technical specification, and delivery. Installation is handled by the homeowner's or builder's own licensed plumber. Coordinate your installing plumber's timeline alongside your fixture selection timeline, not as a separate later step.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I choose my plumbing fixtures in a renovation or new build? Early — ideally within the first 20% of your overall design decisions, around the same time as cabinetry, countertops, and tile.
Is the wellness trend in bathroom design likely to fade? McGee doesn't think so. She frames it as tied to a broader, long-term shift toward everyday health and self-care rather than a short-lived design trend.
What's a lower-cost way to get a wellness feature without a full cold plunge or sauna installation? A digital or mechanical showering system, such as Kohler's Anthem system, which can run an ice-cold shower on demand within a standard shower. It costs more than a standard valve but significantly less than a dedicated cold plunge installation.
Does Construction Resources install the plumbing fixtures it sells? No. CR sells, specifies, and delivers decorative plumbing fixtures, but does not employ licensed plumbers and does not perform installation. Installation is handled by the client's or builder's own licensed plumber.
Final Takeaway
Bring plumbing fixtures into your design conversation at the same time as cabinetry, countertops, and tile, not after. Establish early whether you're prioritizing form or function and get your installing plumber's timeline coordinated alongside your fixture selections. Fixtures chosen early can save the rework that comes from building the rest of the room around a piece selected too late.
