I love shower pans, and hate tile. I don’t think they look tacky or cheap (but I do have questionable taste).

I know a little about the Kohler pans. Not every style comes in every size, which is annoying.

Their Salient is a gorgeous cast-iron pan. I also like the low-profile Kohler Ballast, which is acrylic but with an acrylic cement core. It weighs twice that of their acrylic pans but sixty pounds less than a cast iron. They both look great with tiled walls.

Here's Kohler's video about Ballast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcqMs_wC-CU

Wanting to avoid daily cleaning of grout -- nothing tacky about that at all. I applaud your common sense.

If you want easy cleanup a pan is the way to go. You can always dress up the pan by the tile used on the wall or bathroom floor.

I'll take a shiny clean shower pan over grungy tile & grout any day.

A quality pan (NOT fiberglass)...watertight, no grout, what's not to love?

We put a cast iron Kohler Shower Receptor (pan) in our guest bathroom. While reno’ing our hall and master bathrooms (at the same time), DH and I used the guest bathroom and shower. The shower pan felt quite solid and sturdy, and comfortable underfoot.

We’d originally purchased a Kohler acrylic pan, but returned it before it was installed when we discovered that it didn’t have no-slip grips—it certainly would have been quite slippery when wet.

In addition to the cast iron pans available through Kohler, look at the Solid Surface pans made by Corian, Swanstone, Transolid, and others. If it has a gel coat, it is not Solid Surface. Solid Surface has the advantage of being able to have any scratches or scuffs repaired easily, onsite, by the homeowner with plastic 3M scrubbies or sandpaper. The site where I bought my Transolid shower sells a few brands: Bath1.com Shower bases in Solid Surface and Cast Iron only

They go down as small as 32" x 32" with Swanstone (the last one) and a 36" x 36" neo-angle by Transolid. I did not look at all of the cast iron ones.

I have a Low shower tray ..a lot easier to clean than tiles ..and judging by the problems people have with tiles ..I would rather have a tray !

What everyone above says!

I don't know in US but in Europe there is a lot of shower pans very modern and beautiful, not tacky at all

I prefer a high quality low profile shower pan if there is room in the bathroom and it blends (aesthetically) with the rest of the shower.

Sometimes the devil is in the details.

I have a shower pan in my bathroom, and it's impossible to keep clean. I think it's because the top layer has "worn away". I do not know the name brand, but I suspect it's original to the house, which was built in 1970. Maybe the real point is, they have a life span. What doesn't?

In contrast, my girls' bath has a two-year old tile floor (mosaic shades of tan and brown grout), and it is easy to keep clean. I think it's a matter of a well-chosen color -- and new things are often easier to maintain than old things.

I don't think these are typical situations.

I love them much nicer than grungy grout to clean.What do you mean by the shower might be too small for one?

Can any of these cast iron (or other sturdy) shower pans be used with a shower curtain, or would all need to have glass doors?

Sure, shower curtains are always an option.

Nancy in Mich, is this a curbless shower. My contractor thought the cast iron Kohler pans I showed him would need to be used with glass instead of curtain, because the curb was so low.

I don't understand how a low cub affects the use of a shower curtain. Hang the rod so that the curtain in inside the curb, Hang it at a height that has the curtain edge below the curb edge. You will have MORE support for keeping the shower curtain inside than I do with no curb at all. Get a weighted curtain, too, which will help. Or sew the weights on it yourself once you buy the shower curtain that you like.

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