I really dislike doors on tubs. I like them on showers. I also like curtains on showers. I am doing a new build and the master bath will have a shower only and it will have a curtain. I don’t want to clean the glass.

I'm tired cleaning the clear glass on our shower doors, but DH loves the doors. pro: water is always contained. i can't think of any other pro. I much prefer curtains+nylon or microfiber liner

Other factors against doors:

Bathing a small child or the dog is very difficult.

You can't sit on the edge of the tub for a foot bath, etc.

For kids, doors work less well. Curtains are more versatile. You do have to teach kids their proper use. But they don’t need squeegeeing, can be thrown away or in the wash, and won’t break due to high jinxin.

I started having this very debate (with myself) last night. Trying to keep things crisp and contemporary in our remodel, but oh what a pain it is to keep shower glass and door tracks clean! I'm tempting myself to the shower curtain strategy by imagining all the fun shower curtains I could make using the custom photo option!

I asked this question a few weeks ago and our designer helped guide me to our final decision as did input from Houzzers. Our build is pretty high end and I felt like curtain in the kids bath wasn’t vibing with the other choices. However....

We have two small kids, 4 and 18 months. I was envisioning trying to manage the little guy in the tub and reaching around a fixed glass panel or even a sliding glass door and it just didn’t make sense. The designer said it ain’t a huge deal to go in later once they are both bathing independently and install a glass door or panel. So that is what we are going to do. And then find a really nice curtain in the meantime.

"The designer said it ain’t a huge deal to go in later once they are both bathing independently and install a glass door or panel. So that is what we are going to do. And then find a really nice curtain in the meantime."

I was wondering how challenging (read: pricey) it would be to transition from a shower curtain to shower glass down the line, so thanks @NYCish for bringing that up. Hoping to hear confirmation on this from others who have BTDT.

Glass is anywhere from 2-6K depending on complexity, size, and details. You MUST have solid blocking in the wall at the attach points to do now or later.

Mittenscat, just be sure there is the needed reinforcement behind the wall to hold the glass. Tell your builder you will add doors later.

@mittens cat I’m shaking my head at my autocorrect of “ain’t”. That wasn’t intended but when read in bold it makes me laugh at myself heartily.

But also...I don’t think it is cheap anywhere, even in a retrofit, to do a glass door. I’m anticipating it to be expensive but worth it. I envision a fixed glass panel with perhaps a swinging panel, or maybe just a fixed panel. Or maybe black steel.

Three years ago we expanded the phone-booth-size shower to a 5' wide one. Cost of glass and frame and installation (treated glass for water spotting) was about $1200.

We did the opposite years ago and had our glass panel removed when our first son was born. It was held in place with adhesive and from what I can tell, no damage to the tub or the tile when it was removed. Ten years and two kids later, we are updating the bathrooms and this question is on my mind. Our bathroom is small so any illusion of more space is ideal. However, the thought of glass door/panel on a tub makes me *cringe*. I may just do a ceiling level curtain rod and an extra long curtain pushed to the left corner that isn't as visible to the regular passerby.

We just did a hall bath remodel with a tub/shower. We tiled all the way to the ceiling (~99") and hung an extra long shower curtain (84") on a curved shower rod. Makes the room look taller. We leave the curtain open (pushed to one side) most of the time since it's primarily used as a powder room.