It's one of the questions Tony gets asked more than almost any other: keep the bath, or replace it with a walk-in shower? There's no single right answer — but there are some questions worth working through before you decide.
Start With How the Room Is Actually Used
Before thinking about products, it's worth being honest about how often the bath actually gets used. In a lot of households, the bath sits mostly unused while everyone showers — in which case it's taking up valuable floor space for very little benefit. In others, particularly with young children or where a bath is important to someone in the household, removing it entirely isn't the right call.
If this is your only bathroom and you regularly bathe children or pets, it's usually worth keeping at least one bath in the house somewhere, even if it isn't in this particular room.
Space: More Than You Might Expect
A standard bath takes up roughly the same footprint as a small walk-in shower, but the shower usually feels far more open, because there's no raised edge and no wasted space around a fixed rectangular tub. If the bathroom feels tight, this is often the single biggest improvement you can make to how the room feels — more so than any tile or colour choice.
In most bathrooms we work on, the layout makes more difference to how spacious a room feels than any individual product choice.
Accessibility and Future-Proofing
A walk-in or level-access shower is easier and safer to use for most people, and becomes significantly more important if mobility changes over time — whether that's for you, a family member, or simply planning ahead. It's far easier to build this in during a planned renovation than to retrofit it later in a hurry.
Read more in our guide to accessible bathroom design.
Resale Considerations
This is genuinely situational. In a family home with only one bathroom, removing the only bath can occasionally put off buyers with young children. In a home with a second bathroom or ensuite elsewhere, it rarely matters — many buyers now actively prefer a well-designed shower room. If resale is a concern, it's worth checking whether there's a bath elsewhere in the property.
What This Usually Comes Down To
- Only bathroom in the house, young children at home: usually worth keeping a bath somewhere.
- Second bathroom or ensuite already has a bath: a walk-in shower is often the better use of space.
- Planning for accessibility now or in future: a walk-in or level-access shower is usually the more practical long-term choice.
- Bath rarely used: worth seriously considering the change.
Talk It Through Before Deciding
There's rarely a universally "right" answer — it depends on the household, the room and what else is available elsewhere in the property. Tony can talk through your specific bathroom and help you weigh it up properly rather than guessing.
Related: Accessible Bathrooms · Walk-In Showers · Bathroom Design · A Walk-In Shower Project in Highcliffe