Shower Doors Grab Attention With New Designs, Larger SizesAs more homeowners choose to hit the showers, the faithful glass door is getting a few upgrades.

Remember the 1990s when all the news was about whirlpool tubs? "Now, showers are the new status symbol," says Rick Seitz of Artisan Estate Homes in Cincinnati. His luxury customers are replacing their master bathtubs with giant economy-sized showers fully loaded with features.

The shower has regained prominence, and some say even stolen the thunder of the tub. And as they've grown in size, the shower door has followed suit with new features and designs.

Sheldon Malc, director of showrooms for Davis and Warshaw, a plumbing showroom in metropolitan New York, suggests that luxury hotels and spas have turned consumers' heads toward a more open and airy showering experience. They want to enjoy the same feeling at home via multi-head showering and luxurious tile treatments as well as larger, frameless shower doors. And gone is the myth that women bathe and men shower. Research by Basco Shower Doors shows that women are the promoters of the improved shower because this could be their daily rejuvenation and thus, they would make the time to recharge.

Open Range
The shower as spa means larger spaces with multiple sprays and plenty of room. Larger doors are available to fit the spacious enclosures and allow the occupant to feel less confined and enter and exit with ease, all while still containing the steam consumers love. Double-opening French doors, which have begun to replace bypass doors, create a similar experience. Expansive openings also bring more light and air into the formerly cave-like space.

For a truly open feel, many popular designs forego the sealed enclosure entirely. Shower shields or screens, where a piece of glass is mounted to the tub or floor and does not move, provide an entrance to the shower while keeping the water off the floor. This is what bath designers such as Kathleen Donohue CKD, CBD of Eugene, Ore., call a "snail bath." Lucy Ward, director of sales and marketing for Maax, reports that the door itself is not the center of attention. "It is still about function, an opening to show the latest features of the shower," she says.

The trend is driving increased demand for frameless units, which provide for more minimalist or contemporary designs while showing off impressive tile or stone treatments or fabulous fittings.