Americans Sit and Soak In Deluxe Bathtubs

By Danielle Reed
From The Wall Street Journal Online

Jan Salaman thinks she's found the perfect place to sit out the current spate of bad news: her bathtub.

A few months ago, the interior designer put something called an "Ultra Bath" in her San Francisco home. The freestanding tub on a pedestal looks like a Roman bath, but in fact, it's a "thermo-masseur" whirlpool with multiple air jets. "I don't like bathrooms that look like bathrooms," Ms. Salaman says. "I like it to look like a spa."

She isn't the only one. Indeed, as Americans travel less, a good number of them seem to be deciding that if they can't get to the spa, they at least can get the spa to come to them. Especially popular these days are aesthetically pleasing tubs like the Ultra Bath or Japanese-style deep-soaking tubs, whose sales were increasing even before this fall. Sales of the Ultra Bath, for example, have risen 200% during the last five years, according to the tub's Quebec-based maker, and they've stayed strong even as sales of other home furnishings have faltered. Also doing well: Kohler's Sok tub, which has a disappearing edge like the pool in a high-end Caribbean resort.

What's new here is the emphasis on form as well as function: Until recently, most whirlpools were either built-in or looked starkly modern, so buyers who've wanted a more classical look have avoided them.

One drawback: Though these tubs seem to call out for bubble bath, bathers should proceed with caution, unless they're looking to re-create a scene out of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." "The air jets will multiply the effect tenfold," explains Gordon Harper, who recently put a thermo-masseur tub in his Atlanta, Ga., home.

A deep-soaking tub, modeled after those in traditional Japanese bathhouses, might be safer. In San Francisco, top-end bathroom-design store DJ Mehler Collections has been selling copper and stainless-steel soaking tubs for the past three years, and they remain among the store's most popular items. Owner Doris Mehler says part of their appeal comes from the fact that because they're metal and well-insulated they retain heat better, meaning they let bathers stay in the tub longer. Kohler's Sok, introduced earlier this year, features that high-concept overflowing edge, which means water keeps sloshing over it and recirculating, and instead of powerful jets it has what the company calls bath "carbonation."

Bringing the spa home is far from cheap: Ultra Baths range from $1,400 to $4,950, the Japanese-style soaking tubs in copper or stainless steel start at $4,500, and the Sok tub runs almost $6,000.

But then, a week at the Canyon Ranch Spa in Tucson, Ariz., is at least $4,000. That makes some people think splurging on a spa-tub is money well spent.

"We don't go out and do that many luxury things," says Kim Kerrigan, who recently put an Ultra Bath in her Falls Church, Va., home. "To have a tub like this, it makes you feel like you're rich."