How to choose a shower cabin: what to look at before buying + manufacturers rating

Showers have long and confidently entered our lives on a par with traditional bathrooms. While the bath involves measured bathing, you can drop into the shower and rinse quickly, being late for work or “on the last wing” returning from a business meeting. In addition, the dimensions of the bathroom are not always, especially in old houses, allow you to install both a bath and a washing machine. Therefore, sometimes, a shower cabin is that “lifesaver” that can make our life much more pleasant by occupying a minimum of space and speeding up hygiene procedures as much as possible. Let's talk about what to look for when choosing a shower, so that the desire to quickly swim does not turn into a headache in the future.

The desire to install a shower cabin in your bathroom may be due to several reasons:

• the size of your bathroom is so small that the bathtub takes up almost the entire space, not allowing you to put a washing machine, and some, even a small, cabinet for detergents or a laundry basket
• the area of ​​the bathroom allows you to install both a bathtub and a shower cabin, however you prefer a quick invigorating shower rather than long-playing water procedures in the bathroom;
• Your apartment or private house has several bathrooms, in one of which you decided to equip the shower room as an auxiliary option for the bathroom.

It is important to know that water procedures in the shower cabin significantly reduce water consumption - about 5-6 times compared to the bathroom.

Depending on your needs and financial capabilities, it is necessary to choose the right size, configuration, equipment of the shower. And so that the choice of a shower cabin does not turn into torture for you, listen to our recommendations and tips.

Sometimes a narrow and elongated bathroom does not allow you to place a bath - in this case, a shower cabin is the only possible arrangement

The most inexpensive way to equip a shower - when all its walls are laid out thoroughly, you only need to purchase a door and a pallet

An excellent solution for a small bathroom will be a small-sized bathtub combined with a shower cabin, which is equipped with a movable transparent screen

Additional amenities include a bathtub with an attached shower, which is separated from the main bowl by a glass partition

Which manufacturers should I pay attention to?

When equipping a bathroom’s interior, it’s important to understand how to choose a shower cabin, so that it properly fulfills the functions assigned to it and lasts for at least ten years. This is exactly the average “shelf life” of repairs in a room, after which it is believed that the interior is morally obsolete. In order to prolong this period, when choosing a shower, pay attention to the rating of manufacturers.

The leading positions in it are occupied by companies from Europe: Villeroy & Boch (Germany), Laufen (Austria), Jacuzzi (Italy), Huppe (Germany), Albatros (Italy). Buying products of these companies will guarantee the acquisition of a high-quality and stylish shower for many years. Mid-range cabins are offered by manufacturers: Roca (Spain), Hatria (Italy), Ideal Standard (Finland), Geberit (Switzerland), Gustavsberg (Sweden), Gorenje (Slovenia). Lower prices for showers from such companies: IDO (Finland), Cersanit (Poland), Ravak (Czech Republic). Chinese companies do not mention.

High-quality shower cabin from European manufacturers is not only practical plumbing equipment, but also an expressive element of the interior

Which design to take - open or closed?

Looking at the shower stalls, first of all, decide whether you want a completely isolated cabin in the form of a hydro-massage box, or you will be satisfied with the budget option - an open type shower cabin.

The bathroom, square in plan, allows you to place an open type shower cubicle using the walls of any corner of the room

Open type

An open-type shower cabin is a certain bathroom space, equipped with a tray, doors and, possibly, side walls. Water is not supplied to the shower cabin using a faucet, as in the bathroom, but through the shower head and nozzles of the hydromassage system, if any. The simplest and cheapest option is a shower corner, the walls of which are the walls of the bathroom itself, and the role of the fence is played by either a swing door or a sliding system according to the principle of a sliding wardrobe.

The cost of such a budget option measuring 80 by 80 cm will be about 10-15 thousand rubles. You can even reduce the cost of arranging a shower corner if you do not buy a ready-made tray, but lay out the bottom of the shower with anti-slippery tiles, giving it a slope to the drain mounted directly in the bathroom floor. Thus, you need only the enclosing door. However, it can also be replaced with a fabric curtain made of moisture-resistant fabric. The main expenses for the construction of such an inexpensive version of the shower cabin will result only in the purchase of a shower mixer with a watering can.

Large bathrooms allow you to simultaneously install both a bath and shower

Closed type

Closed shower enclosures assume the presence of all structural elements - a tray, side walls and hermetically sealed doors, as well as a top cover. In fact, such a cabin is a completely isolated autonomous space, which is also called a shower box. The average cost of a closed shower cabin will be about 30-40 thousand rubles, and a shower box measuring 135 by 135 cm - from 70 thousand rubles. depending on the "filling". You can choose filling for a shower cabin from the huge list, but do not forget that each additional function will draw a lot of money.

The list of possible functions of a shower box:

• rain shower;
• hydromassage;
• cascading shower;
• Charcot's shower;
• steam generator;
• aromatherapy;
• ozonation;
• Turkish sauna;
• Finnish sauna
• backlight;
• radio;
• telephone;
• the seat.

One of the differences of a shower cabin in the form of a box from an open version is that the box can be moved, moved from one bathroom to another (in the case of several bathrooms in an apartment or house), moved to a new apartment.When installing an open shower, doors and a pallet are rigidly attached to the floor and walls, so you can hardly just dismantle this design, although this is quite possible.

The enclosed shower cubicle has side walls, a top cover and an airtight opening system

Another nuance, due to which you can save a little when installing a hydromassage box, is to lay inexpensive tiles in the place where the shower cabin will adjoin the walls. It is undesirable to leave completely bare walls, and putting them with a simple tile will be quite affordable. This is convenient when you have chosen an expensive main tile for the walls of the bathroom, as well as friezes and decors, the payment of which is not per square meter, but by the piece.

Closed shower, or shower box, can be equipped with a hydromassage and a steam generator

What to look for when choosing a pallet?

In order to choose the right shower tray, concentrate on its characteristics such as width, length and, especially, depth. Do not forget that along the edge of the pallet the enclosing elements will be installed, therefore, choosing its size, be guided by the dimensions of the largest member of your family. When buying a shower, it will be better if your relative with an impressive weight and height determines which size will not hamper his movements. To do this, you can go into the cabin directly in the store and imitate the process of taking a shower - to bend, raise your hands, bend down or sit down.

A combination of a shallow tray and a single-leaf or double-leaf door with a rotary mechanism can become a rather economical option for a shower cubicle

The depth of the tray plays a special role if the shower is the only type of plumbing equipment for the adoption of water procedures. When the family has a child or pets, it will be more practical to have a deep tray that can be used as a small bathtub. A pallet with a depth of 25 to 35 cm is also indispensable if you prefer to wash oversized household items - curtains, blankets or clothes, by hand. If there are elderly people in the family, it is better to take a small pallet and a cabin with an equipped seat - it will be easier for a person of age to get inside the cabin and it is convenient to stay there.

An interesting solution for a shower with a flat pallet has been recently proposed by European manufacturers - the pallet is fully integrated into the bathroom floor, creating a single plane with it. With this option, the water is drained through narrow grooves around the perimeter of the pallet.

Shape and dimensions

The simplest configuration of the shower tray is a square or rectangle. There are also pallets in the form of a polyhedron, a sector of a circle, a circle, an oval and even a shell. The minimum convenient size for a pallet in the form of a square or part of a circle is 80x80 cm or 90x90 cm. Shower cabins with rectilinear pallets will cost less due to smooth enclosing structures, while rounded pallets will require curved doors - and this is obviously more expensive. Although, in a small bathroom, it might be better to overpay for the radial walls and doors of the shower stall to save space and not cling to the protruding corner of a rectangular design.

The modern solution to the configuration of the pallet is the shape of the cochlea, requiring complex curved glazing as a protecting element

In general, manufacturers of shower cabins produce many standard sizes of pallets - from 80 to 170 cm in both width and length. Having pre-measured your bathroom, figure out what size cabin is best for you. Also, be sure to consider the distance from the shower to the nearest walls and objects, so that if a swing door is installed, it does not touch them when opening. If every centimeter is registered in your bathroom, then the best solution would be to buy a shower cabin with a sliding door system.

Production material

In addition to size and configuration, the material used to make the pallet has a significant impact on the cost of the shower. The main thing that is important in the pallet is that it should be tough enough - after all, it is one thing when you are lying in the bathroom and your weight is distributed along the entire bowl, and the other is when you are standing and push all the weight to one point on the pallet. That is, the load on the shower tray is much greater than on the bath - and this must be taken into account.

Enameled ceramic shower cabin with a flat tray gives the bathroom interior a noble sound

The most durable shower trays are made of cast iron, steel, ceramics and artificial marble. Recently, they began to refuse cast iron and steel, since the water falling from a height is too noisy, in contact with the surface of these materials. Ceramics are expensive, the weight of the pallet is significant, which complicates its installation, and its wear resistance is low. The most budget option is an acrylic pallet, which is specially reinforced to give extra rigidity and is mounted on five adjustable legs. The fifth, and most important leg, is mounted in the center of the pallet - it takes on the main load when a person is in the shower.

When choosing a pallet, it is advisable to pay attention to the roughness of its bottom. The bottom surface of the shower bowl should never be smooth. As a rule, it is covered with pimples or abrasive strips.

Acrylic pallet

Acrylic sanitary ware now occupies a leading position, using the same popularity among consumers. Low price, practicality, good heat-saving properties put forward acrylic shower trays to the rank of the most popular on the market. The most modern type of acrylic is a patented material from the German company Villeroy & Boch called Quaril, which is a mixture of acrylic with quartz sand. This combination gives the pallet extra hardness, rigidity and low noise.

A shower cabin with a deep tray will be a great alternative to the bath when the size of the bathroom is small and there are children in the house

Plumbing Faience

Ceramic pallets are the most traditional material for the manufacture of plumbing fixtures. First of all, it is an environmentally friendly material consisting entirely of natural components. Secondly, santechfayans is a noble material and it looks "rich", possessing brilliance and smoothness. When designing a bathroom in a classic style, a ceramic tray will look more harmonious than its artificial “fellow” - acrylic. However, one should not forget about the fragility and susceptibility of the enameled ceramic coating to the formation of small, barely noticeable cracks in the form of a cobweb. Also, ceramics require careful care, as it quickly darkens and turns yellow from dirt. A ceramic tray for a shower stall cannot drop heavy metal or glass objects.

Although ceramic shower trays are decent, many still prefer this classic bathroom setup

If we talk about the natural materials used for the production of shower trays, we can mention wood - but this already applies to elite showers. Such exotic and expensive wood as teak has long been used for the exclusive arrangement of steam rooms, swimming pools and bathrooms. It is often used to create pallets in the form of ladders lying in the plane of the floor.

Faux marble

Artificial marble is a fairly new material in the manufacture of pallets, which is an adhesive mixture of marble chips and synthetic components. Such pallets hold heat well, are relatively noisy and do not require painstaking care, especially if they have saturated shades.

The capital option for equipping a shower cabin is an artificial marble tray that will last you for many years

Door opener selection

The main varieties of opening a shower cabin are swing or sliding door systems. In the case of a swing opening option, the door leaf is fastened with hinges to the walls of the bathroom or to the side walls of the shower. The sliding opening configuration provides for guides along which the doors move. For the price, the hinged principle of opening the cabin is more budgetary than sliding. However, if the issue of saving space in the bathroom is “worth it,” sliding doors would be preferable.

Glass hinged doors are a more expensive option for a complete shower cabin than a plastic railing, but also the most solid

The material from which the doors for shower cabins are made has a significant impact on the final cost of a given plumbing interior item. Usually, the doors and walls of showers are made of tempered glass 5-8 cm thick or plastic. Glass doors will cost more, but it's worth it - it is more reliable, solid and beautiful design, which can not be said about plastic. However, if the issue rests on money and plastic enclosing structures for a shower cabin is simply a necessary measure, we advise you to choose a frosted version, since completely transparent plastic will very quickly lose its “presentation”.

Curved glazed corner shower cubicle saves space in your bathroom

Swing doors

The swinging shower opening system can consist of one or two doors. Choosing a shower cabin with such a variant of fencing, pay attention to what material the hinges are made of. Powdered pressed metal with which Chinese-made cabs sin is at risk of breaking quickly, so it’s better to overpay a little, but take a cab with solid metal hinges, which is used by manufacturers from Europe.

A good design solution that replaces swing doors is a glass screen that separates the space of the shower cabin from the rest of the room

An interesting design solution for the design of the shower cabin is the installation of a protective screen, which, to some extent, limits the space, but retains access to the shower from two sides. Of course, this option of arranging a shower cabin will be logical for large volumes of the bathroom.

Sliding doors

The sliding system is that part of the shower cabin, the choice of which needs to be given maximum attention, because its quality will depend on how long you can use your new plumbing fixture. The principle of a sliding shower opening system is the same as for a sliding wardrobe - there are lower and upper guides along which the rollers move with doors rigidly fixed to them in the form of sheets of plastic or glass. The doors are equipped with magnets and rubber bands for hermetically closing the shower.

Sliding system made of chrome steel, will be the key to a long service shower

The most “flimsy” place of sliding doors is the roller, which can break off from the fastener of the door leaf. It is necessary to ensure that the roller does not go beyond the limits of the guide - this can lead to a skew of the door and breakage of the mount.

Guides can be made of plastic, steel or aluminum. The plastic guide is bad in that, over time, it “loosens up”, and its replacement is almost equal to replacing the shower cabin, since you pay most of the money when buying it for the sliding system. Based on this, it is better to turn your eyes to metal guides, which, although they are expensive, will last a long time.This is especially true of sliding systems for shower enclosures of German manufacturers, which occupy leading positions in the ranking - Huppe, Duravit, Axor, Villeroy & Boch. The warranty period for servicing cabs from European manufacturers is about 3-5 years; their service departments can easily find and purchase the necessary spare part that has failed. When buying a cheap Chinese cab, you may be unable to purchase the necessary parts at an authorized service center - simply because of the lack of it.