Can I get brass fixtures on my walk-in tub, and which parts change finish?

No. Polished brass is not a finish Ella's Bubbles offers on any walk-in tub fixture, and the faucet is the only part of the tub whose finish you can change at all. The Ella Fast-Fill faucet sets come in chrome and brushed nickel, with black and gold offered on some sets, a partner-brand Huntington Brass set is available on request in satin nickel or antique bronze, and the wall-mounted waterfall faucet comes in chrome, brushed nickel or matte black. Grab bars, door trim, drain handles, jet trim and push buttons stay chrome whichever faucet you pick. Are Walk-In Tub Faucets Available in Finishes Other Than Chrome? lists the faucet finishes; this page answers the brass question directly and sorts every visible part into what can change and what stays chrome.

Brass Means Two Different Things on an Ella Tub

The word brass causes more confusion here than any other finish, because it turns up twice in Ella's own documentation and neither time means a brass-colored fixture.

• Huntington Brass is a brand name. Many older Ella tubs shipped with a Huntington Brass Roman-style tub filler, with separate hot and cold lever handles and a deck spout, and a partner-brand Huntington Brass set is still available on request. That set is offered in satin nickel or antique bronze. It is not offered in polished brass, and the name on the faucet body or escutcheons tells you who made it, not what color it is.
• Brass is the metal under the chrome. On the 2-piece Fast-Fill faucet, the spout handle comes off to reveal a brass escutcheon plate and a brass locking collar. The drain handle slips onto a brass mounting on the drain assembly and is held by a set screw. These brass parts are structural. The surface you see on the handle, the spout and the drain opener is chrome plating over that base metal.

So if you have read brass on an Ella parts list or a faucet body, it refers to the material or the manufacturer. If you want the warm yellow look of a polished brass faucet, that look is not in the catalog, and Ella's tub colors page is explicit that oil-rubbed bronze and polished brass are not made for jets or grab bars either.

Which Parts Can Change Finish, and Which Cannot

The table sorts the visible parts of an Ella walk-in tub by whether a finish choice exists. Every entry comes from Ella's published finish lists.

Read the table from the bottom up and the pattern is clear. The tub is white, every fitting attached to it is chrome, and the faucet set is the single item that can be ordered in something else. That is why most customers keep chrome on the faucet for a uniform deck. A brushed nickel, black or gold faucet makes the faucet stand out on purpose, and it will sit beside chrome push buttons, intensity dials and jet trim, so picture the whole deck before you decide.

Antique Bronze Is Available on Request, Brass Is Not

If a bronze tone is what you are after, the published route is the partner-brand Huntington Brass set in antique bronze, handled on request. Black and gold have been offered on some Ella faucet sets at times, so finishes outside chrome and brushed nickel are handled case by case. Confirm the exact finishes for the set you want with your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 before the order is placed. The timing matters for a practical reason: the faucet style and finish are chosen at order time along with the door hand and therapy package, because the shell is drilled to match your order. Changing your mind afterward means buying a new set, and a faucet that has already been installed cannot be returned for credit.

Two other paths exist for a room built around a finish Ella does not stock. You can supply your own faucet in the standard drilling pattern, or request a tub with no deck holes at order time as a special order and use a wall-mounted faucet. The rules for both are covered in Tub Colors and Hardware Finishes: White Only, Chrome Trim, and Faucet Upgrades, along with the note that the white acrylic tone can vary slightly from one tub to another, which is normal rather than a defect.

Keeping the Finish Consistent over the Years

A finish choice follows the tub for life, because replacement parts are stocked per finish. Hot and cold handles, handle caps, indicator buttons and set screws for the Fast-Fill sets are stocked in each finish and matched to your faucet from a photo, so note the finish suffix on your paperwork; BN, for example, means brushed nickel. The process is in Where Do I Get Replacement Hot and Cold Handles for My Walk-In Tub Faucet?. The chrome-only parts are simpler, since there is one finish to match. A replacement drain handle slips onto the brass mounting and tightens with a 2.5 mm Allen key, as shown in Replacing a Drain Handle or Overflow Plate: The 2.5mm Set Screw, the Chain Ring and the Updated Handle, and a 3 mm Allen wrench removes the handles on both Fast-Fill faucets if a handle in a matching finish ever needs fitting, per What size Allen wrench removes the handles on an Ella walk-in tub faucet?. Handles for an older Huntington Brass faucet follow a different route, through Huntington Brass directly, because Ella did not carry alternative handle styles for that faucet.

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