What Is the Best Walk-In Tub and Shower Combination for Your Home?

The best walk-in tub and shower combination is an Ella walk-in tub fitted with the shower hardware that matches how you bathe: the hand shower that comes with every fast-fill faucet set for seated rinsing, and the shower column kit with its rain shower head when you also want a standing or seated overhead shower. There is no separate combination model, because the same tub gives you a soak one day and a shower the next, as Are There Walk-In Tub and Shower Combinations Available for Seniors? explains. This page compares the pieces, gives the figures that decide between them, and lists what to ask wherever you shop.

Why There Is No Single Combination Model

Ella's Bubbles does not build a separate tub and shower model. A walk-in tub becomes a combination when showering hardware is fitted to it, so the same fixture gives you a seated soak on some days and a shower on others. The pieces below can be used alone or together, and the right mix depends on whether you shower seated with the door closed, stand to shower, or share the bathroom with someone who does each.

• The hand shower on the faucet set. Every Ella fast-fill faucet set includes an extendable, multi-function hand shower with five spray settings on a 5 foot retractable hose, with flow limited to 1.9 GPM by plumbing code. On the 2-piece set you push the diverter button to send water to it, and on the 5-piece set you turn the diverter handle. The Ella Standard, for example, ships with the 5-piece fast-fill faucet and pull-out hand shower, so seated rinsing is built in from day one. Which Handheld Shower Head Is Best for an Ella Walk-In Tub? covers the handset itself.
• A hand shower slide bar. Depending on the model, a 24-inch slide bar can be added so the hand shower rests on the bar instead of being held the whole time.
• The shower column kit. The kit mounts on the tub deck, connects to the diverter on an Ella 2-piece or 5-piece deck-mounted fast-fill faucet, and carries a rain shower head on a height-adjustable riser, so it replaces the need for a wall-mounted showerhead.
• The tempered glass shower screen. The screen locks into place to keep spray off the bathroom floor. The 4-fold screen can be reduced to a 3-fold for a smaller opening.
• Acrylic shower walls and bases. For anyone who decides a separate shower suits them better than a tub, Ella's Bubbles also offers walk-in showers, and Ella's Bubbles Walk-In Tubs: A General Overview describes both product lines.

The Options Side by Side

The table collects the figures published for each piece. Where no figure is printed in the material behind this page, the cell says not listed.

What the table means: if you only ever shower seated, the included hand shower already makes the tub a combination and nothing more needs to be added. The column is the piece that turns the tub into a true shower for someone who stands, because its head reaches a little over 7 feet and pivots down toward the seat. The screen matters most once the column is in use, since an overhead rain shower sends water farther than a handheld does, and the fold-down option lets it suit a narrower opening.

What the Shower Column Kit Gives You

The product video for the shower column kit shows the whole combination in use. The column carries a height-adjustable, multi-function hand shower that tilts and swivels in several directions and detaches easily, and it is connected to the 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill faucet set in the same way as the standard handheld: push the diverter button on the 2-piece set or turn the diverter handle on the 5-piece set for the five-setting hand shower, then engage the diverter for the shower head to use the large overhead rain shower.

• The riser is height adjustable, with a maximum height of approximately 90 inches, a little over 7 feet.
• There are 14 inches of available height adjustment, bringing the shower head down to approximately 76 inches, about 6 feet.
• The 10 inch rain shower head pivots and swivels, so it can be aimed at the seat for a seated shower or at the footwell for a standing one.

Because the column takes its water from the faucet diverter, the shower head stands on the tub deck rather than on the wall. That is why it can replace a wall-mounted showerhead in a bathroom where the old shower valve is being removed, and why no new plumbing has to be opened in the wall.

How the Column Is Added to the Tub

The installation video shows the sequence, and it is short because the kit uses the faucet set you already have.

1. Remove the existing hand shower from the tub deck.
2. Install the shower column base attachment into the vacant receptacle left by the hand shower.
3. Replace the water supply line.
4. Attach the new one-half inch supply line to the diverter on the 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill faucet set.

After those steps the column is ready for use. Ella's Bubbles manufactures the tub and the kit but does not perform installation, so a local licensed plumber handles the connection. If you are adding the column to a tub you already own, confirm which faucet set is on the deck first, because the kit connects to the 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill sets. The options installed on your tub are recorded on the original order, and the team can read them back from the serial number, as explained in How Do I Find My Walk-In Tub's Model Number and Installed Options?.

How to Choose, and What to Ask Wherever You Shop

Which combination is best is really about what feels right for you and your home, so choose on that. A few checks make the decision easier.

• Decide who showers seated and who stands. Seated only means the included hand shower, with a slide bar if holding it is tiring. Standing means the column.
• Measure the alcove. On the Ultra, the product tour pairs the rain-head shower column and the four-fold glass screen as options, gives the tub an ADA compliant 17 inch seat height, and notes that an extension panel lets it fit a 60 inch alcove, the space many households already have where a standard bathtub and shower sit today.
• Plan the screen if the column is going in and the floor outside the tub needs to stay dry.

Wherever you shop, it is worth asking whether you can use your own trusted local installer, whether the tub is assembled, jetted and tested in the United States, how the tub drains, and whether a stainless steel door version is available. Ella's Bubbles tubs are assembled in Chicago and ship nationwide, and the company is happy to be compared. If you are asking where to find a tub with a built-in shower, the answer is through your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, who can confirm which faucet set, column and screen suit the model you are considering.

Watch: Easy Shower Column Installation for Your Walk-In Tub | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Ella Fast-Fill Faucets: 2-Piece vs 5-Piece, Finishes, and the Waterfall Option
• Installing the Shower Column Kit on Your Walk-in Tub
• Do You Sell Folding Glass Shower Screens for a 60 Inch Walk-In Tub?

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