Does the Ella shower come in other colors, and are the walls smooth?

Ella molded shower stalls come in white only, and their walls are not smooth: a tile pattern is formed into the acrylic at the factory and cannot be left off. If you want a smooth wall, the route is a separate Ella shower base with one of the acrylic wall kits, whose panels have a smooth, glossy surface in Carrara White or a solid white gloss. Do Ella Shower Stall Walls Come Smooth, or Only With the Molded Tile Pattern? covers the stall itself, and this page puts the color question and the wall question together across every Ella shower product so you can plan the whole room.

Two Questions, Three Kinds of Product

The question usually arrives as one sentence, but it is really two questions, and the answers change with the product you are looking at. Ella sells a molded shower stall, which is a one-piece or multi-piece unit that arrives with its walls and floor already formed. It also sells shower bases that pair with separate acrylic wall kits, and it sells wall tile by the box for people who want to cover their own walls around a base or a tub. Color and wall texture work out differently for each of the three.

• Molded stall: white only, with a tile pattern molded into the walls. No smooth version exists.
• Shower base plus acrylic wall kit: the base is white and the kits are white based, either Carrara White or a solid white gloss. The panels are smooth and glossy.
• Wall tile sold by the box: the 12 inch by 24 inch grout-free tile is offered in the Carrara White pattern, the interlocking click tile comes in five colors, and a gray marble panel tile is also listed.

So the only Ella wall products that step away from white are tiles, and the only way to get a smooth wall is to skip the molded stall.

Why the Stall Is White and Why Its Walls Carry a Pattern

Ella shower stalls, bases and wall panels are offered in white only. Beige is the color customers ask about most often, and it is not available, and no other color is offered on the base, the walls or the stall. On the made-in-the-USA stalls the surface is AcrylX, an applied acrylic finish over a fiberglass reinforced shell, as What is an acrylic shower, and what is a shower stall? explains. Because the walls come out of a mold, every stall of a given model comes out with the same surface, and that surface carries a molded tile layout across the surround. On some stalls the back wall also has a single upper row with a diamond pattern as an accent, with the tile pattern below it.

The lines you see are part of the molded surface rather than grout joints. There is nothing to seal or regrout, and the walls wipe down like any other acrylic surface. The pattern cannot be removed, filled or left off at the factory, which is why Ella does not list a smooth version of the stall. Listing photos often make the texture hard to read, so it is worth knowing before delivery day that the pattern and the white finish are both exactly what is supposed to arrive. If a plain wall is the look you want, the stall is not the right product, and the next section is for you.

What a Smooth Ella Wall Looks Like

The smooth option is an acrylic wall kit over a shower base. Acrylic on an Ella wall product is a smooth, glossy, finished surface that is warm to the touch, and What Does Acrylic Look Like on a Tub or Shower Wall? describes it in detail. The 3-panel kit uses panels of a 0.118 inch thick ABS and PMMA composite with a glossy sanitary acrylic surface, and the Carrara White panels are 1/8 inch thick, so a kit covers the wall behind it without noticeably thickening the room.

Two looks are listed:

• The Acrylic Shower Wall Panels 6-Piece Kit is the Carrara White option. Six acrylic pieces cover a 36 by 60 inch alcove to a finished height of 92 inches, and the left side includes storage shelves, so the wall has a built-in place for bathing items.
• The Acrylic Solid White Glossy 3-Piece Shower Wall Surround is plain white with a glossy finish. It measures 40 inches deep by 60 inches wide by 97 inches tall, and each panel has a 1-inch bend at the edge for a finished transition where the panel ends.

Both are white based. Carrara White gives a white marble look, and the 3-piece surround gives a clean, bright, uniform white. Neither is textured, and neither comes in beige or any other color. What Color Are Ella Wall Panels, and Do They Match the Tub? lists the finishes side by side and explains that the end panel, extension panel and apron that arrive with a walk-in tub are tub parts, not wall coverings.

Ella Shower Surfaces Compared

Read the table from the top down. If you want a shower that arrives finished, the stall is the choice, and it means accepting white and the molded pattern. If you want smooth walls, you give up the one-piece convenience and build the shower from a base and a kit, and you still end up with a white shower, either marble-veined or plain. If color matters more than anything else, the only place Ella offers it is in the click tile and the gray marble panel tile, which go on your own walls and are bought by the box rather than as a kit, as How to Get Pricing and Order Ella Grout-Free Shower Wall Tiles explains. Confirm the coverage printed for the specific tile you choose, because the box count changes with the tile size.

What This Means for Your Bathroom

Plan the room around white from the start. Coordinate floor tile, wall paint and the vanity with a white shower, and treat beige and other warm tones as colors you bring in through towels, paint and flooring rather than through the shower itself. If you are set on a smooth wall, decide on the base and kit before anything else, since the 6-piece kit is sized for a 36 by 60 inch alcove and the 3-piece surround measures 40 inches deep by 60 inches wide, and those dimensions shape the framing.

Two more points help avoid surprises. First, acrylic is a smooth, finished surface that tile mortar does not bond to, so an acrylic wall or base is never meant to be covered with another layer; what arrives is what you live with. Second, the AcrylX stalls and kits have Armorcore reinforced walls on all sides, which means grab bars and seats can be mounted anywhere on the wall, so the molded stall trades a smooth surface for real flexibility later on. Your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can match a wall kit and finish to the base size you are planning.

Related Guides

• Acrylic 6-Piece Wall Panel Kit: Size, Shelves, Thickness and How It Compares to the 3-Piece Surround and SMC Panels
• Can Ella Send Tile or Wall Surround Samples to Match My Tub?
• Wall Panels and Surrounds for Walk-In Tubs: Acrylic 3-Panel Kits, Cultured Marble, and PVC Tiles

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