Choosing a shower enclosure is mostly about one thing people forget until it is too late: how the door opens. Get that wrong and you are squeezing past it every morning, or worse, it fouls the basin or the toilet.
This guide covers the door types, the shapes, and how to size it properly. If you already know what you need, jump straight to our shower enclosures collection, or go to sliding doors, bi-fold doors, pivot doors and shower trays. If you are weighing up an open-plan option instead, our guide on walk-in showers vs wet rooms is a useful read.
Start with the door, not the glass
The door type is decided by how much clear floor space you have in front of the shower. Measure that before anything else.
Sliding doors run along a track and open without swinging outwards, so they are the safest choice for a tight bathroom where floor space is limited. Best suited to wider openings. See sliding shower doors.
Bi-fold doors fold inwards on themselves, taking up almost no space outside the enclosure. A good option for small bathrooms or where the door would otherwise hit a basin or radiator. Browse bi-fold shower doors.
Pivot doors swing outwards on a hinge. They give the widest, easiest opening and feel the most solid, but you need clear floor space for the swing. See pivot shower doors.
Corner entry doors open at the corner and suit square enclosures where the shower sits into an angle. Browse corner entry shower doors.
Then choose the shape
The shape follows your room layout. Quadrant enclosures have a curved front and tuck neatly into a corner, which softens the room and saves space. Rectangular enclosures give you the most standing room and suit alcoves or a straight run of wall. If you want a fully open layout with no door at all, look at walk-in showers and wet rooms.
Sizing it properly
Measure the space at floor level, and measure it in more than one place, as walls are rarely perfectly square. Common sizes run from 760mm for a compact corner up to 1200mm and beyond for a generous enclosure. As a rule, 900mm square is the smallest most people find genuinely comfortable to shower in.
Your enclosure and shower tray need to match in size and shape, so buy them together rather than assuming they will fit.
Glass, finish and the rest of the setup
Thicker glass (6mm or 8mm) feels more substantial and sits in a sturdier frame. Look for an easy-clean coating, which genuinely reduces limescale build-up and saves you scrubbing.
Once the enclosure is settled, you still need the shower itself. Our shower valves, shower heads and arms and shower sets complete the setup, and our guide on choosing the right shower for your water pressure will help you pick fittings that actually perform.
Get it right the first time
We have spent over 40 years helping people fit showers into real bathrooms, and the projects that go smoothly always start with the door swing and the measurements rather than the glass. If you tell us your space, we will point you to an enclosure that fits.
Browse our full shower enclosures collection to start, and remember delivery is free on UK orders over £499. Our team is on hand if you would like a steer before you commit.
