How do I choose a bathtub, and how do standard tubs differ?

Choose a bathtub by measuring the opening and the route into the bathroom first, then deciding how you want to get into the water, by stepping over a side wall, by walking through a door to a seat or by lying down behind a door, and only then matching your measurements to a tub's actual size rather than the rounded size in its name. Standard tubs do differ from one another even though most are planned around the same 60 inch alcove: width, length, soaking depth, water capacity, drain side and built-in features all change from tub to tub, as Are There Differences Between Standard Bathtubs in Size and Design? shows. This page turns those facts into a buying order you can follow.

Step 1: Measure the Opening, the Route in and the Drain End

Most bathtubs, walk-in or conventional, are built around the three-wall alcove that a standard 60 inch tub occupies, so the opening is what every replacement is measured against. The old tub is only a rough guide. Take four measurements before you look at a single model.

1. Length. Measure wall to wall along the back of the alcove. A 60 inch opening is the common case.
2. Width. Measure from the back wall to the outer front edge of the existing tub. A few inches of width is what separates one model from the next, so take this figure as carefully as the length.
3. Height. Measure from the floor to the top of the rim. The height sets where the deck and the seat land and what the faucet wall and any shower curtain have to clear.
4. Drain end. Note which end of the alcove the house drain is on. On an Ella walk-in tub the door and the drains are on opposite sides: a right-side door tub has its drains on the left, and a left-side door tub has its drains on the right, with left and right taken as you face the tub.

Then measure the route. The tub must pass through the narrowest doorway and hallway on the way to the bathroom, so take those widths before you compare models. How do I choose the right size alcove bathtub for my bathroom? goes deeper on each measurement and on what to do with the numbers.

Step 2: Decide How You Want to Get into the Water

This is the choice that separates the tub categories, and it matters more than any single dimension.

• Step over the side. A standard bathtub is an open basin you climb into over the side wall and lie down in. There is no door, no seat and no threshold. In the published Ella height comparison the standard tub is the reference row, with a 60 inch alcove and a soaking depth of about 11 inches. Ella's Solo and Fiji are step-over alcove tubs of this kind with microbubble therapy built in.
• Walk through a door and sit. Most Ella walk-in tubs are seated soaking tubs. You sit at chair height on a molded seat, with a 17 inch seat height on most seated models, and your feet rest in the footwell. The backrest leans back only slightly: the published angles are 88 degrees on the Ultra, 96 degrees on the Flow and 101 degrees on the Monaco and Mobile, and no seated Ella tub reclines mechanically. Do Ella walk-in tubs recline or let you stretch your legs out? explains why lying down in a seated tub is not recommended, and names the Longer and the ShaK as the seated models with longer seats for leaning back with your legs extended.
• Walk through a door and lie down. The two LayDown models have no seat at all. The LayDown 30x60 fits a 60 inch opening and stands only 21 inches high, and the LayDown72 is the longest lay-down tub at 32 inches wide by 72 inches long.

Step 3: Compare Actual Sizes, Not Names

Every Ella tub carries a nominal size, the rounded figure in its name and on the brochure, and an actual size printed on the spec sheet drawing. Always compare your alcove against the actual size: a tub named 28 inches wide measures 27.5 inches, and a tub named 60 inches long can measure 59 inches. Left-hand and right-hand versions share the same measurements mirrored, so the footprint does not change with the door side. The table uses only figures printed in Ella's published articles and spec sheets, and says not listed where a figure is not published.

Here is what the differences mean. Two step-over tubs built for the same kind of alcove can hold very different baths: the Fiji is wider and longer than the Solo, yet the Solo is the deeper of the two at 17 inches, so soaking depth does not follow footprint. A seated walk-in tub trades length for height: the Elite stands 35 inches tall on a 52 inch footprint, which is why it suits a standard bathroom where the opening is shorter than 60 inches. The lay-down tubs keep a standard tub's footprint and a low height but add a door. Height is also where the walk-in families differ most: the stainless-door tubs stand 35 inches, most outward-swing and Transfer models stand 40 inches, and the LayDown 30x60 is only 21 inches high. The complete range, from the Mobile at 26 inches wide by 45 inches long up to the LayDown72, is laid out by length in What are standard bathtub sizes, from the smallest to the largest?.

Step 4: Check Depth, Capacity, Faucet and Plumbing Details

Once the footprint fits, the details decide how the tub lives in your bathroom.

• Depth and capacity. A standard tub is usually described by its soaking depth rather than an overall height, and that reference depth is about 11 inches. The Solo at 17 inches and the Fiji at 16 inches both soak deeper than that reference, and their published capacities, 85 gallons and 90 gallons unoccupied, are the figures to compare if you want to know how much water you will be sitting in.
• Faucet. Every seated Ella tub is normally ordered with its fast-fill faucet set and pull-out hand shower already included, and the deck arrives drilled for that set, so a no-faucet order still needs a matching deck-mount faucet or cover plates. The LayDown60 is different: it has no faucet option at all and always needs a customer-supplied faucet, usually wall-mounted. The LayDown72 lets you choose No Faucet, 2-piece or 5-piece at order time. The faucet is assembled on the deck but not hooked up to the supply lines when the tub leaves the factory, so your installer connects them on site. Using Your Own Faucet covers each case.
• Drain plumbing. Standard house plumbing for a bathtub is an inch and a half drain, as an installer notes in one of Ella's videos, so the plumbing behind the tub is one of the few things that stays familiar when you change categories.

Putting the Choice Together

1. Measure the length, width, height and drain end of the alcove, and every doorway and hallway on the route in.
2. Decide whether you will step over the side, walk in and sit, or walk in and lie down.
3. Open the spec sheet on the download tab of each candidate's page and compare its actual size to your opening.
4. Confirm the soaking depth and, for the step-over tubs, the capacity figures.
5. Settle the faucet: the factory set, a customer-supplied faucet, or one of the LayDown72's three choices.
6. Match the door side to your house drain, remembering the drains sit on the side opposite the door, then review the choice with your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850.

Related Guides

• Left-Hand or Right-Hand? Choosing Door, Drain, and Faucet Side
• What Size Water Heater Do I Need for My Walk-in Tub?

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