6 Different Types of Shower Door Designs

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Replacing old shower doors or installing new ones can make a huge difference in the design and functionality of your shower. Once you start your search for new shower doors, you will quickly realize that the choices are numerous. Besides the choice of style, you will also have to make decisions on the type of glass you want, clear, etched, or fogged. The but first decision you need to make is on the overall design style.

Here is a list of six different types of shower door designs:

1. Bypass Door

Bypass shower doors are sliding type doors that operate in a similar way to a patio door. They are commonly made up of two sliding panels of glass that roll on tracks attached to the shower. These doors may be on mechanical rollers that assist the movement or simply slide in the tracks.

Bypass doors are used for both bathtubs in tub/shower configurations and stand-alone showers. Since bypass doors don’t need extra space for the doors to swing into, they make more efficient use of space.

2. Hinged Door

Hinged shower doors are those that open by swinging in one direction on hinges, just like a regular door in your home. You can attach the door hinge to the shower surround, wall, or to a stationary glass panel. This kind of shower door is more common on stand-alone shower stalls since it needs clearance in the bathroom for the door to swing.

3. Pivot Door

A pivot door is a swinging door on a pivoting hinge, enabling it to open in either direction. Pivot shower doors are able to swing 180° so they can swing in or out. You can attach the pivot hinge on one side of the shower door or mount it in the center to create a revolving shower door. These type of hinges are usually used on ultra-modern curved glass shower doors.

4. Bath Screen Door

Bath screen doors, also called bi-fold or tri-fold doors, consist of several glass panels. They operate in a similar fashion to folding bifold doors on some closets. They are mainly used when space is an issue. Since they don’t need to swing out widely into the bathroom space.

5. Neo-Angle Door

A neo-angle shower door is perfect for small bathrooms since they are a real space saver. That’s because a corner shower door arrangement cuts across the 90° angle created by a corner shower. In this shower door configuration, there are two smaller side panels perpendicular to two side walls with the door in the center. In a neo-angle door, the door usually opens out into the room.

6. Steam Doors

A steam shower door is an airtight door along the seams from floor to ceiling. This enables a shower to be used as a steam room. The glass panels stretch from floor to ceiling of the shower to contain steam.

You can create steam shower using solid glass panels and a hinged door with a built-on air-tight seal. It’s common for steam shower enclosures to feature a movable glass panel above the door to be used as vents, called transoms.