Fixtures like works of art at Kohler Design Center

Posted February 19, 2009 10:00 pm

By Erica Walkup Daily Herald Correspondent

If you're a fan of HGTV or Bravo's "Top Design," you will be in heaven at the Kohler Design Center. About 2½ hours north of Chicago, this showroom in Kohler, Wis., displays bathroom and kitchen fixtures as if they are works of art, often with a price tag to match.

While some visitors come here to redesign their homes, others come just to look. To the left of the front door is the Design Showcase, featuring designer furniture from Ann Sacks, Baker, McGuire and other Kohler-owned brands. The rest of the first floor is dedicated to Kohler products, from toilets to faucets to high-tech steam showers.

Want to give your bathroom a little excitement? Liven it up with a pedestal sink covered in wildflowers, fish, Chinese dragons or even leopard print. These decorative beauties will cost you at least $1,000, and that's without the faucet. Perhaps you are in the market for a tub with massage jets, or better yet, a shower with a waterfall function? All of these items can be found here, and one shower allows you to play with the various features using a digital dial on the wall. You can even go home with your very own top-of-the-line urinal.

If you want to imagine these fancy fixtures in an actual living space, head upstairs to the Designer Mezzanine, where more than 25 rooms have been designed by nationally acclaimed and award-winning interior decorators. Showcasing both bathrooms and kitchens, each room is a unique and intricately detailed masterpiece. One bathroom, designed with men in mind, includes a urinal, a punching bag, a robe and boxing gloves hanging on the wall. Another is for kids, with aquatic wallpaper, bath toys and a shower curtain made of bamboo rods.

Although each room is different - one is a full spa with a steam shower, couch and fireplace while another is a tiny couture kitchen - they all go to great lengths to make you feel invited and tempt you to jump right in and take a bubble bath (actually trying it would most likely get you kicked out). And the small details - like music playing, flat-screen TVs, an open cookbook in one kitchen and a swimsuit and flip-flops hanging outside a shower door - add a personal touch to these visually stunning rooms.

Between the first and second floors is the water deck, featuring running hot tubs (be careful not to call them Jacuzzis or whirlpools) and showers with all the trimmings. The huge eight-person tub can be yours for just $12,000.

Being in the town of Kohler and at the Kohler Design Center, you may ask yourself just who was this Kohler person? That question and many more can be answered downstairs in the museum and art gallery, where you can take a chronological tour of the company and the village's history. See what color fixtures were popular in decades past (bright and bold colors in the '70s, pastels in the '30s and '40s) and find out what The American Club resort across the street used to be (Hint: all of those Kohler factory workers had to live somewhere). Old advertising campaigns and sculptures made by the Kohler Co.'s artists-in-residence also are on display.

For insight into how Kohler fixtures are actually made, you need to get up bright and early for the factory tour, which is offered at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. The free three-hour tour is conducted by retired Kohler employees and includes access into the pottery, brass, foundry and enamel shops.

Reservations- and safety goggles - required.

While you're there Things to see The American Club, 419 Highland Drive, Kohler, Wis., (800) 344-2838, ext. 700, <a href="http://www.americanclub.com" target="new">americanclub.com</a>: This luxurious hotel is definitely worth checking out even if you can't stay the night (rooms start around $200 per night and feature decked-out Kohler bathrooms). Stop in for afternoon tea, peruse the gift shop or have a cocktail in one of the resort's many restaurants (see where to eat below). John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 608 New York Ave., Sheboygan, Wis., (920) 458-6144, <a href="http://www.jmkac.org" target="new">jmkac.org</a>: Current exhibitions at this world-class - and free - museum include "John Rappleye: End of Nature," featuring things like owls with antlers, and "Marten Medbow: Oh, I Didn't Know," a collection of the Swedish artist's sculptures of monkeys and other animals. And in case you haven't seen enough bathrooms yet, the museum also houses a rotating washrooms exhibit. Where to eat The Horse & Plow, 419 Highland Drive (inside The American Club), (920) 457-8888, <a href="http://www.destinationkohler.com/restaurants/hp_index.html" target="new">destinationkohler.com/restaurants/hp_index.html</a>: This lodgelike restaurant features Wisconsin specialties like cheese curds, three cheese and beer soup, and the Sheboygan double brat. You can also catch live entertainment throughout the year. The Greenhouse, 419 Highland Drive (inside the American Club), (920) 457-8888, <a href="http://www.destinationkohler.com/restaurants/greenhouse.html" target="new">destinationkohler.com/restaurants/greenhouse.html</a>: For a quick bite, stop into this sunny garden cafe for a mouthwatering selection of smoothies, espresso drinks, homemade ice cream and breakfast pastries.

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