If you’re renovating your bathroom, one of the best renovations is to update your existing shower. There are many different types of bathroom showers that can either improve the style of your existing bathroom, or that can function as a second stand-alone shower. It’s important to keep in mind all style elements, such as the shower head, bathroom shower door, and bathroom shower dimensions when choosing your next custom shower. Fortunately, we’ve done the work and gathered the best types of bathroom showers for any type of bathroom renovation!
Factors to Consider When Buying a Shower
- Shower Size –The first factor you need to consider when buying a shower is the size and layout of your bathroom. And the first decision you’ll need to make is where the shower will go, If you intend to install a shower bath, shower enclosure or shower tray, you need to be meticulous with all the measurements.
- Bathroom Layout – Measure the space available for the shower unit carefully. Since showers come in an assortment of shapes and sizes, you need to determine if the dimensions match the type of shower you intend to purchase, Ensure the shower fits seamlessly into the functionality of your bathroom.
- Price – Determine how much you’d like to spend on the shower. When you consider all the above factors carefully, you’ll better understand the useful features you need for your bathroom. The price of a shower ranges from $1–$100 per square foot.
Different Types of Bathroom Showers
If you’re looking for the best types of showers, shower heads, and shower towers, read on below to see our list of the most unique and best types of body shower setups for your bathroom! Consider the style, ease of installation, and also the price when looking at these different options.
Because a bathroom with a bathtub already has the necessary plumbing for a shower, it makes sense that bathtub/shower combos were the first to become popular. And they still make sense today. They require no modification to the bathroom other than installing a faucet to divert water from the tub spout to the showerhead, and enclosing the tub to keep the rest of the bathroom dry. Another option installing a handheld shower to a tub-only faucet. You simply replace the spout with one that has a built-in outlet and diverter.
Body showers are the next-generation showers that give you an overall bathing experience. These are body sprays connected to the wall to give in addition to the main shower head, Why settle for a single overhead showerhead when you can have multiples mounted on the shower walls, immersing your entire body in massaging water spray? A body shower can actually save water by delivering it exactly where it’s needed, so you don’t have to wait for it to drip down from above.
A corner shower is simply a shower which is installed in the corner of the bathroom. It (generally) has two internal shower surround walls. It can be made in NEO angle, curved, square or rectangular designs. It’s often used in small bathrooms.
Custom showers fit in odd spaces. While shower dimensions can be as big as you want, code mandates a minimum floor space of 30 inches square — 36 inches square to be ADA compliant.
A neo angle shower is any layout where the walls meet at 135° angles instead of standard 90° corners. The specifics about how wide the walls are, where the door is located, and every other design detail can vary from bathroom to bathroom, just like any other shower layout.
Budget-conscious homeowners and those on short construction timelines often opt for prefabricated showers, A prefabricated shower is one that has been mass-produced at a factory. Typically, they are made of either plastic, Gelcoat fiberglass, or acrylic. Most prefab showers come as a kit that includes the drain pan and wall panels, and most are either white or off-white and have no texture.
Rain showers provide a warm, rain-like water coverage when you are showering, giving you a tropical raindrop sensation when you’re rinsing like underneath a waterfall, some call them rainfall shower heads or water fall shower heads.
A rectangular shower stall offers more room to move around than a square one. It allows you to get out of the shower spray while soaping up. It’s especially helpful for those in wheelchairs because it provides more room to maneuver.
A shower tower incorporates a showerhead, faucet controls, body jets, and even a hand shower in a metal column that mounts on the surface of the wall. Requiring only hot and cold supply lines, it eliminates the need to cut into the wall to install a conventional shower faucet.
The Smart Shower allows users to control their everyday showers at the sound of their voice or the tip of their fingers. By connecting pre-existing showers to sophisticated smart home technology, homeowners can enjoy a showering experience like none other.
Want to put a shower in the basement or a space lacking bathroom plumbing? A stand-up shower, also known as a freestanding shower, is your best bet. It requires no framing, and you can set one anywhere you can install a drain and water supply plumbing.
A steam shower is a type of bathing where a humidifying steam generator produces water vapor that is dispersed around a person’s body. A steam shower is essentially a steam room that offers the typical features of a bathroom shower.
A standard shower pan has a curb in the front that prevents water from spilling out. Eliminate the curb and you have a walk-in shower that’s more accessible for the disabled and senior citizens. The absence of a curb means bathroom flooring must be waterproof and meet the shower pan at the exact same level.
Waterfall is the cylinder shape of your typical wall-mounted shower head, waterfall showers often feature a modern, streamlined appearance with a wide and flat head. This helps it create wider, softer water steam, providing you with a relaxing showering experience.
Bi-fold shower doors are one of the great small shower door options. It helps maximize your bathroom. Bifold shower doors are essentially a hybrid of hinged and sliding doors. When pushed open, the door sides glide towards the hinged side and the center hinge returns to a V shape. The doors open entirely and fold flat against the hinges. They only open inwards and require railing support. Bi-fold shower doors are usually available as framed doors.
Bypass shower doors are among the most modern shower enclosure types. They follow the sliding operation mechanism but they are different from the sliding doors in their basic design. Unlike sliding doors, the glass panels in a bypass door are moveable. All the glass panels can move past each other on a rail track to allow entrance or exit. However, in sliding doors, only one glass panel can move while the other one is stationary. This characteristic of bypass doors makes them among the viable shower door options for people with mobility issues. 
Corner shower doors are primarily known for their space-savvy design. They feature a unique design that maximizes on the unused corner space of the bathrooms. These shower doors are specifically designed to seamlessly fit in the corner space and create a visually pleasing bathing area. The space-efficient design of corner shower doors works well for any bathroom interior. However, they are best suited for small bathrooms. Corner shower doors come in a variety of styles and configurations to suit different bathroom layouts. They offer practicality, space optimization, and visual appeal. So if you are looking to upgrade your bathroom, corner shower doors surely are a design element worth considering. 
Fixed shower doors feature a single stationary glass panel. The fixed shower glass panel style doesn’t take up much space and creates a clear division between the shower area and the bathroom. This is the most space-savvy style for the bathroom since the shower doors are immovable and don’t require any floor space for operation.
This shower door style has been around for the longest time. It is essentially the standard type of shower door. It is the most budget-friendly option. Framed shower doors are also the easiest to install. With the basic skill set, you can effectively install a framed shower door on your own. Framed shower doors come in sliding, hinged, pivot, and other operating mechanisms. The metal frame gives these shower enclosures the required strength and stability to operate easily. Framed style is one of the most sturdy shower door options. 
Frameless shower doors are entirely made of glass. They lack any metal framing. The all-glass design gives a very modern appeal to shower doors. Due to the lack of supporting frames, a relatively thicker glass panel is used in frameless enclosures to ensure suitable stability and support. However, it is to be noted that the absence of framing material doesn’t mean that the frameless shower doors leak. A famous door is cut and designed with shower dimensions in consideration. A professionally installed frameless shower door is absolutely leakproof. Shower door sweep and seals are also employed to make the enclosure watertight. So you don’t have to worry about leakage issues with frameless enclosures, t
The homeowners who want a more contemporary bathroom interior but aren’t ready to remove their bathtub could choose a glass tub shower enclosure. A glass tub shower enclosure is the perfect compromise between the two. Replace the curtain with a glass enclosure and enjoy the brilliance of a functional and novel bathroom interior. The bathtub shower enclosure typically has stainless steel framing at the edges of the glass panels for stability. You can conveniently get your bathtub converter into a bathtub-shower enclosure. 
Hinged shower doors also follow a swinging operation mechanism like pivoting shower doors. However, the main difference between the two types of shower doors is that the pivot doors operate both ways while the hinged doors can either open in or out according to the user’s requirement. Whether a hinged door would swing in or out depends on the space availability and user preferences. The operation direction would be fixed during the installation. The hinges in pivot doors are also somewhat different from those of the hinged doors. Pivot doors are also more modern and expensive than their hinged counterparts.
Neo-angle shower doors are small shower door options that are built into the corners. The enclosure has a total of five sides which includes two finished shower walls, two glass side walls, and one glass door. The glass walls are stationary while the door swings in or out for the operation. The neo-angle configuration works perfectly in accordance with the small bathroom space.
Installing partial tub shower enclosure is a novel yet stylish solution to enclosing the bathtub. It is an inexpensive and contemporary approach. A frameless glass panel is typically installed at the rim of the bathtub to specify a division between the shower area and the rest of the bathroom. This glass panel is immovable. It can be curved, straight, or custom-cut according to the users’ requirements.
Pivoted doors are modern shower doors that take the utility of swinging doors to a next level. These doors are pivoted to the wall or another glass panel and allow for dual-directional operation. The shower door can swing in or out according to the user’s ease. Pivot doors are one of the great small shower door options as it doesn’t take up horizontal wall space. However, the pivot doors would require some floor space to operate so it’s important to take the required floor space in mind during installation
A semi-frameless enclosure exhibits the perfect combination of framed and frameless shower door design. It features glass panels with solid hinges and minimal framing along the sides of the enclosure. It is a hybrid of framed and frameless enclosure styles and combines the best features of both styles. The semi-frameless enclosure is a great choice if you want contemporary-style shower doors on a limited budget. The main difference between frameless and semi-frameless shower doors is that the former lacks any signs of metal framing while the latter has some framing to support the glass panels. 
As the name suggests, single shower doors only have a single glass door in the entire enclosure. Sometimes the enclosure walls are made of glass while the concrete or brick wall serves as the shower walls in other instances. Single glass shower doors are operable and usually follow a swinging mechanism. It is one of the great shower enclosure options for small bathrooms.
Sliding glass shower doors have a practical layout. There are typically two glass panels in sliding doors. One of them is fixed while the other one moves across the stationary panel on a sliding metal track. Due to the double panel operation mechanism, sliding glass doors require a wider space for installation. They can be installed with bathtubs, corner showers, and even standalone showers.
Steam doors are designed to entirely enclose the shower area. These doors extend from the floor and reach up to the ceilings. The steam shower doors are made airtight to keep the steam inside. Therefore they are properly sealed from all sides. Due to the extensive design, steam shower doors are among the most expensive shower enclosure options. They also require professional installation for proper working.