Tub or Walk-In Shower? What Today’s Homeowners Are Choosing

If you’re planning a bathroom remodel, one of the biggest decisions you may face is also one of the most practical: Do you keep the bathtub, or replace it with a walk-in shower?

For many homeowners, the answer is changing.

While bathtubs still have their place, more homeowners are choosing spacious, easy-to-use walk-in showers—especially when remodeling a primary bathroom. But before you say goodbye to the tub, there are a few things worth considering.

Why Walk-In Showers Are So Popular

Today’s bathrooms are about more than function. Homeowners want spaces that feel open, comfortable, easy to maintain, and designed around the way they actually live.

For many people, that makes a walk-in shower the clear winner.

More Room to Shower

Replacing a traditional tub/shower combination with a walk-in shower can completely change the feel of a bathroom. Depending on the space available, you may be able to create a larger shower with features like a built-in bench, niche storage, multiple showerheads, or frameless glass.

Even in a smaller bathroom, eliminating a bulky tub can help the room feel more open.

Easier Access

A walk-in shower can also make a bathroom easier to use.

Low-threshold and curbless shower designs reduce the need to step over a high tub wall, making them a popular consideration for homeowners who plan to stay in their homes for years to come.

Features such as grab bars, benches, handheld showerheads, and slip-resistant tile can also be incorporated into the design without sacrificing style.

More Design Possibilities

This is where remodeling gets fun.

A new shower gives you an opportunity to make tile a major design feature of the bathroom. Large-format tile can create a clean, modern appearance, while mosaics, accent walls, niches, and contrasting shower floors can add personality.

Your shower doesn't have to be something you simply use every morning. It can become one of the best-looking features in the room.

But Should You Get Rid of Every Bathtub?

Not necessarily.

If your home has multiple bathrooms, replacing the tub in your primary bathroom may be an easy decision—especially if you rarely use it.

However, having at least one bathtub in the home can still be useful, particularly for families with young children or homeowners who simply enjoy taking baths.

Before removing your home's only bathtub, think about how you currently use the space and how your needs could change in the future.

What About a Freestanding Tub?

For homeowners with enough space, there's another option: you don't necessarily have to choose.

A large walk-in shower paired with a freestanding tub can create a beautiful primary bathroom with the best of both worlds.

Freestanding tubs can also become a dramatic focal point, especially when paired with beautiful flooring, tile, cabinetry, countertops, and fixtures.

The key is making sure the room is large enough for both features without making the bathroom feel crowded.

Think About How You Actually Live

Bathroom design trends can provide inspiration, but your remodel shouldn't be based entirely on what's popular.

Ask yourself:

• Do you actually take baths?
• Would you use a larger shower every day?
• Is easier shower access important now or likely to become important later?
• Do you have another bathtub elsewhere in the house?
• How much space do you have?
• Which option would make your morning routine easier?
• Are you remodeling for yourself, resale, or both?

The right bathroom isn't necessarily the one that follows every trend. It's the one that works for the people using it.

Don't Forget What's Behind the Tile

A beautiful shower is only as good as what's underneath it.

Proper waterproofing is one of the most important parts of any shower remodel. Water can find its way through surprisingly small openings, which means the shower needs a properly designed waterproofing system before the finished tile is installed.

At Floor Depot Plus, we can help you consider the entire project—from tile selection and shower design to the materials and installation needed to create a finished space that's both beautiful and functional.

So, Tub or Walk-In Shower?

If you're remodeling a primary bathroom and rarely use your bathtub, a walk-in shower may give you more usable space and features you'll appreciate every day.

If you love a long soak, have young children, or don't have another bathtub in the house, keeping a tub—or incorporating both a tub and shower—may make more sense.

There isn't one answer that's right for every home.

And that's exactly why your bathroom should be designed around you.

Ready to Rethink Your Bathroom?

Whether you're dreaming about a spacious walk-in shower, beautiful new tile, updated cabinets and countertops, or a complete bathroom transformation, Floor Depot Plus can help bring the entire project together.

Instead of trying to coordinate flooring, tile, cabinets, countertops, and installation from different places, start with one team.

We do it all—from the floor up.

Visit Floor Depot Plus to explore tile, flooring, cabinets, countertops, and bathroom design possibilities, or contact us to start planning your remodel.