More pipe and more turns in the pipe leads to more maintenance trouble. Plumbing failures are expensive to correct and often cause expensive damage to the wall, which is why buildings tend to be built to have a minimum number of "wetwalls" (walls with plumbing in them). Furthermore, can you imagine trying to get the temperature right when you have to go from one side of the shower, to adjust the knobs, to the other,…
Ha! Great point. My next post will have to be about digging deeper into the real problem. I don't picture the controls on the other side of a big, tub, just somewhere that they can always be reached. Is there a "better" shower design out there? Voice controlled temp? :-)
Many designs of thermostatic shower mixers will throttle back the hot water, rather than allow the occupant to get burnt.