Are Grohe and Kohler the same company?

No, Grohe and Kohler are not the same company, they are two separate, independent, and competing global plumbing brands with different histories, headquarters, and ownership. Kohler Co. is an American company founded in 1873 by John Michael Kohler in Kohler, Wisconsin, where it remains headquartered. Kohler is family-owned, privately held by the Kohler family, and is one of the largest plumbing manufacturers in the United States, known for toilets, faucets, bathtubs, and sinks under the Kohler brand as well as luxury brands like Kallista and Ann Sacks. GROHE is a German company founded in 1936 by Friedrich Grohe in Hemer, Germany, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. GROHE is Europe's largest sanitary fittings brand and is known for premium German-engineered faucets and showers. Since 2014, GROHE has been owned by Lixil Corporation, a Japanese building materials company that also owns American Standard. So GROHE is owned by a Japanese conglomerate, while Kohler is American family-owned. The two companies compete directly in the premium faucet and shower market worldwide. They have no corporate relationship, no shared factories, and no common ownership. They are often compared because both are premium brands, but they are distinct competitors, similar to how BMW and Mercedes are both German car brands but separate companies.