Your Ultimate Walk-In Shower Buying Guide 2024

A walk-in shower has no door or curtains, allowing the user to enter directly with no obstacles. These types of showers are usually only partially enclosed, and sometimes they have no enclosures at all.

Typically, there are no curbs or only minimal curbs or thresholds to step over. Instead, a pronounced floor slope sends the water to a central drain.

The type of walk-in shower varies mainly by the number and size of panels or enclosures you choose.

Conventional Open Walk-In Shower

The most common type of walk-in shower that’s best for smaller bathrooms is an open walk-in unit. It has no door yet often has one glass panel on the side that controls splashes in the rest of the bathroom.

Walk-In Shower With Enclosures

For better splash control, walk-in showers can add two enclosures: one long and one short. Two sides of the shower are tiled bathroom walls. A full-size frameless glass enclosure extends to form the third wall. Finally, a partial frameless glass enclosure forms a short fourth wall.

Walk-In Shower Wet Room

With a wet room, the shower has no walls, door or curtain. Essentially, the entire bathroom is the shower. Since there is no separation between the shower and non-bathing areas (sink, toilet, floor, walls, countertop and cabinet), everything must be waterproof.

Shower wet rooms work best with very small or very large bathrooms. Very small bathrooms treat the shower activities as primary, everything else is secondary. All elements of a small wet room will become drenched in water, so they must be waterproof.

Large wet rooms can put enough distance between the shower and the sink, cabinet and mirror that the other bathroom components barely receive a drop of water (though it’s best that they be made of water-resistant materials).

Barrier-Free Walk-In Showers

Barrier-free walk-in showers help people with limited mobility access the shower, with less expense than installing a custom walk-in shower.

Typically made of fiberglass with a smooth acrylic finish, barrier-free walk-in showers have a curb that’s a low 1-1/4 inches high or no curb at all. These are not considered custom work. Any qualified contractor can install one of these showers.

Walk-In Shower Options

Extra features in walk-in showers can include skylights to bring in natural light. Skylights that open allow for airflow, too.

Built-in shelves and niches in the walls for shampoo and soaps are important. Tiled shower benches are a place to sit or a convenient ledge to prop up one’s foot when shaving legs.

Pros

• Greater Space: With fewer walls, walk-in showers are wide-open and expansive. Though walk-in showers can be built the same size as a step-in shower, most tend to be larger.
• Better Accessibility: With no curbs to block access for mobility devices, walk-in showers are accessible to everyone. Even users who don’t use mobility devices find it easier to get in and out of walk-in showers.
• Cleaner: Since walk-in showers are airier, mold and mildew have less of a chance to grow. Plus, the tile and glass typically used to build walk-in showers are easier to clean than synthetic materials.
• More Light: With fewer enclosures to block the light—and those enclosures often being clear glass—walk-in showers are full of light.

Cons

• Expensive: Walk-in showers are more expensive to install than traditional step-in showers. Installation requires skilled contractors. Plus, the materials used to build walk-in showers are generally pricier than materials for step-in showers.
• Colder: With few or no enclosures to trap heat from the shower, walk-in showers are chillier than regular showers with walls and a door or curtains.
• Slippery: The sloped floor of a walk-in shower is more slippery than a curbed shower floor.
• Poor Privacy: If you share your bathroom with a partner, the person using the walk-in shower has little or no privacy.

A walk-in shower costs between $7,000 and $16,000, including installation and materials.

Walk-In showers are expensive because the materials are costly and because most of the work is custom. Tempered glass, the same material used to make frameless glass showers, is used for the side panels if there are any.

Porcelain or stone tile is typically used for the other walls. The shower pan must be manually pre-sloped and created by hand. Walls may need to have a cement board added.

Pre-fabricated barrier-free walk-in showers cost from $2,000 to $4,500.

The labor cost of installing a shower ranges from $500 to $2,200. Since walk-in showers are larger and more difficult to install, walk-in shower labor costs tend to be at the upper end of the scale.

If accessibility is the only reason for installing the walk-in shower, look for pre-fabricated barrier-free showers that have an open side and a base flush with the floor or a low curb. These plain, basic showers can help people with limited mobility access the shower without stepping over or rolling over a threshold.

Otherwise, choose a walk-in shower by looking at the bathroom’s available space, your needs and your budget.

Some walk-in showers start at 36 inches square, with most walk-ins being rectangular (36 inches by 60 inches, for example). If you need a wet room, you’ll need to factor in the cost of remodeling the rest of the bathroom accordingly.

If you want a conventional one-wall walk-in shower, assess whether it’s possible to position the shower and wall so that the rest of the bathroom is protected from water. For this, it’s worth consulting an experienced bathroom designer or contractor who can provide advice.