Does Ella Make a Deeper Standard Bathtub That Is Not a Walk-In?

No. Ella's Bubbles manufactures walk-in tubs and walk-in showers, and every tub in the lineup has a door and a low threshold, so there is no conventional bathtub in the range and no product that converts or deepens an existing one. The closest thing Ella makes to a deeper lie-down bath is the LayDown walk-in tub, which soaks 15 inches deep against 11 inches in a standard tub. Ella's Bubbles Walk-In Tubs: A General Overview describes the two product types the company builds in Chicago.

What Ella Makes, and What It Does Not

The published overview is specific: Ella's Bubbles offers a line of luxury walk-in tubs, assembled in America at its Chicago facility, and walk-in showers for anyone who prefers a shower based bathing option. Those are the two product families, and both ship nationwide through your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850. A standard bathtub without a door does not appear among them. Ella also does not cut, modify or customize an existing bathtub and offers no cut in kit or conversion product of any kind, so there is no path to making your current tub deeper with Ella parts. The only Ella products made for a standard bathtub are two seat styles: a folded bathtub seat that lies flat against the wall when not in use, and a removable bathtub seat that lifts off completely for full standing showers. Both mount securely and give a bather a stable seated option in an existing tub without replacing it.

Why the Depth You Want Comes with a Door

On a conventional bathtub the height of the rim is the wall you climb over, and the wall of a standard bathtub is 18 to 22 inches high. Making that tub deeper means making that wall taller, which makes it harder to get in. On a walk-in tub you step through a door over a low threshold, so the exterior height stops being an obstacle and becomes the thing that gives you depth. The taller shell lets you sit on a molded seat with water up to your chest, or lie down in a LayDown whose straight, narrow sidewalls give more interior space than a curved wall standard tub. That is why Ella's answer to a deeper bath is a walk-in tub rather than a taller conventional one. Ella's own LayDown video makes the comparison directly, 15 inches of soaking depth in the LayDown against 11 inches in a standard tub, while minimizing the trips and slips that curved sidewalls can cause.

In a seated walk-in tub the soaking depth you feel is set by three factors: the interior length of the tub, the length of the seat, and the depth from the top of the seat to the overflow drains. That seat to overflow figure runs roughly 15 to 18 inches across the mid size models, and a tall bather with a long torso sits higher in the water than a shorter bather on the same seat, so your own body is part of the measurement.

Ella Tubs Compared with a Standard Bathtub

The table uses only figures Ella publishes. Where none is published, the cell says not listed.

What the differences mean: if your complaint with a standard tub is shallow water while lying down, the LayDown is the Ella answer, with 15 inches of soaking depth and a 21 inch overall height on the 30x60 that keeps it low in the room. If you would rather sit upright with water to your chest, the seated models trade lying down for a tall shell and a molded seat, and the choice between the Elite, Ultimate and Deluxe is about footprint and legroom rather than depth. A bather over six feet tall is pointed to the LayDown 32x72 or the full length Ultimate. How Tall Are Walk-In Tubs Compared to Standard Tubs? works through the heights and seat sizes model by model.

If You Want to Keep a Conventional Bathtub

Ella's bathtub seats are the one way to use an Ella product with the tub you already have. The folded seat lies flat against the wall when not in use, the removable seat lifts off completely for full standing showers, and both are described alongside the shower seat range in Shower Seat Sizes and Options: Is a Larger Fold-Down Seat Available?. Have a licensed installer mount any seat and confirm the wall can carry it.

If the idea was to cut the existing tub, add a door to it, or convert it into a walk-in shower, Ella does not do that work and makes no kit for it. A licensed plumber or contractor would have to evaluate that kind of modification on their own, without Ella parts or Ella support, and a cut tub is still a tub with the same floor, faucet and drain, as Can You Cut an Existing Bathtub Into a Walk-In Shower? sets out. Staff usually suggest a purpose built walk-in tub instead, with an Ella walk-in shower as the other option when a shower is the better fit. Every Ella tub is assembled and tested to order in Chicago, and it is drilled for the faucet and features you select, so the tub that arrives is built for your bathroom and your bather rather than being a one size standard fixture.

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