If you’ve decided to replace your shower curtain with glass, this is just the first of many important decisions you’ll make about the upgrade. You’ll pick the glass style, as well as the design and finish of the hardware. However, an even more fundamental choice is just how you will enclose the bathing area with glass. In 2025, you have various options from which to pick.

 

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Swinging Door with Fixed Glass Panels

A classic option is to enclose your shower or tub with stationary pieces of glass and a hinged door or doors. There is often a swinging door panel in line with a fixed panel as well as one or more 90 degree returns to finish off the enclosure. Pros include:

A timeless aesthetic that works with many bathroom décor styles

Versatility in terms of configuration of glass panels, where the door is hinged from, etc.

Able to be built from frameless clear glass and minimal hardware

Along with the door hinges, an enclosure like this will include hardware such as clamps, U-channels, and door pulls.

 

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Sliding Glass Shower Door System

While the enclosures discussed above have many appealing qualities, a swinging door is not practical if it can’t swing open without contacting another piece of bathroom furniture. Frameless glass sliding doors have a header and two pieces of glass. It can have two rolling door panels like this system or a door panel with a stationary panel as seen here. Modern rolling shower doors bring together a few appealing traits:

Frameless glass

Space efficiency

Modern aesthetic

Sliding glass shower door systems can be customized through the glass style – clear, patterned, tinted, or acid-etched – and your choice of hardware finish and door handle style.

 

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Shower Screen for Simplicity and an Open Feel

Another option is to use a single piece of glass to block water drops while leaving the actual entrance to the stall open. This promotes continuity between the shower and the rest of the room and tends to cost less than a full glass enclosure. However, since it creates only a partial barrier between the shower spray and the rest of the room, additional waterproofing is needed in the surrounding space. You will also want to be thoughtful about shower head placement, drain location, and slope of the shower floor toward the drain.

 

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Walk-In Shower Enclosure

The walk in shower is another take on the ideas discussed above. It includes some glass walls and an open entryway into the shower area. In a corner shower, for instance, two fixed glass panels could extend out from the tiled walls at 90 degrees. A third hinged panel would typically meet these at 135 degree angles to form a neo-angle enclosure. However, some designs leave off the third panel entirely to create a walk-in shower. As you can imagine, this same effect can be create with different angles and numbers of panels. As in the case of a shower screen, waterproofing, slope, drain placement, and shower spray location are key elements of water containment.

 

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Browse the Glass Simple site for all the hardware you need for the shower design you choose. Our helpful team is available to assist at (571)707-7760, and we offer discounted prices for B2B account holders!