The Best Shower Heads

Replacing a dribbly old showerhead with a new, high-performing model is one of the simplest, most satisfying upgrades you can make to your home and your quality of life.

After taking hundreds of showers while testing more than 30 showerheads, we’d be happiest using the humbly priced Delta 5-Setting Showerhead 52535 every day.

The Delta 5-Setting Showerhead 52535 was an authentic surprise: an inexpensive showerhead—frankly, one we had no great expectations of—that grabbed our attention the moment we began our testing. Its everyday spray setting, a full-coverage rain shower, soaks you like a summer downpour. Its focused hair-rinsing spray is both useful for its intended purpose and pleasurable in its own right. And we were surprised at how useful we found its pause function. It lets you slow the water to a trickle while you shave or shampoo in peace, then return to a full spray—at the temperature you left it at—when you’re done. The Delta 52535’s massage function isn’t the most powerful we’ve tested, but it’s one of the better we’ve found among 1.75 gallons-per-minute models. An array of finishes (polished chrome, brushed stainless, champagne bronze, and matte black) and clean, versatile form help it fit into almost any decor. The fact that it’s one of the lowest-priced showerheads we’ve ever tested seals its place as a consensus top pick.