Walk-In Tub or Walk-In Shower: Which Accessible Retrofit Is Right for You?

The right retrofit comes down to how the bather gets into the bath. A walk-in tub suits someone who can step through a sealed door over a low threshold and sit down, and it adds a seated soak and optional massage therapy that a shower cannot offer. A walk-in shower, especially a curbless roll-in base, suits someone who stays in a wheelchair or shower chair or who bathes with a caregiver alongside. What Are the Best Accessible Tub and Shower Options for Retrofitting a Home? sorts the full menu by bather, and this page puts the two retrofits head to head so you can settle the choice before you measure the room.

Start with the Bather, Then the Room

A retrofit has two fixed things: the person who will bathe and the bathroom that already exists. Settle the first before you measure the second, because the answer narrows the field quickly.

• The bather walks in and can sit down. A seated walk-in tub is usually the best fit. The bather steps through a sealed door over a low threshold and sits at about chair height, with no tub wall to climb over and no lowering down to the floor.
• The bather transfers from a wheelchair. The Transfer family of walk-in tubs has a wide L-shape door built for seated transfers, and the Transfer 60 is the model named as wheelchair accessible in the lineup comparison.
• The bather stays in a wheelchair or shower chair. A roll-in shower base is the better choice, because the entry has no lip to lift a wheel over.
• The bather wants to stretch out. A lay-down walk-in tub keeps a low step-in while giving a full-length soak, and the LayDown 30x60 can take a bifold glass shower door as well.

Once you know which group applies, the room decides the size. Ella's Bubbles offers 27 walk-in tub models, all in white, so there is usually more than one footprint to choose from on the tub side, and the shower side is built from a base and wall panels sized to the alcove.

Walk-In Tub and Walk-In Shower Side by Side

The table uses only figures from Ella's current guides. Where a figure is not published in those guides, the cell says not listed.

The figures point to the real difference between the two retrofits. On the tub side, every option has a door and a threshold to step over, and the payoff is a seat at chair height and a full soak once the door is sealed. On the shower side, the curbless base removes the threshold entirely, which is what a wheelchair or a shower chair needs, and the low step-in base keeps a small lip for a standing bather. If the bather can manage a 3.5 inch step and wants to sit in warm water, the tub wins. If a wheel or a chair has to cross the entry, the roll-in shower wins. The footprints overlap, since a 30 by 60 inch lay-down tub and a 30 by 60 inch shower base both fit a standard tub alcove, so the room rarely forces the decision on its own.

What a Walk-In Tub Gives You That a Shower Cannot

A walk-in tub is first a bath. The bather sits on a built-in seat, seals the door, fills the tub and soaks, and most Ella tubs can be ordered with hydro or air massage jets and other comfort options. The seat also matters for safety, because the bather sits down before the water comes in and stays seated until it drains out. Choosing a walk-in tub does not mean giving up showering. Ella fast-fill faucets come with a hand shower, and a shower column kit can be added to the tub deck by removing the existing hand shower, fitting the column base into the vacant receptacle and connecting its supply line to the diverter on the two-piece or five-piece faucet set, as the shower column video shows. The LayDown 30x60 video shows the lay-down tub with a tempered glass door, a low threshold, air massage jets, and the optional bifold glass shower door with a gasket on its bottom edge, so one fixture serves as both a tub and a shower. What Products Does Ella's Bubbles Offer? lists the tub families and the shower components alongside them.

What a Walk-In Shower Gives You That a Tub Cannot

A walk-in shower is the choice when the entry has to be flat. A curbless roll-in base has no threshold, so a wheelchair or a rolling shower chair enters without a lift, and a caregiver can stand alongside. Ella showers are built as accessible residential showers with a low step-in and factory grab bars, and those grab bars must be fastened into the reinforced backing built into the wall panels with the correct screws. One point to know before a commercial or inspected project: Ella shower stalls are not ADA compliant, and Are Ella Shower Stalls ADA Compliant? explains why that matters for public and rental projects but is generally not a code requirement for a private home. A shower also has no seat unless the configuration includes one, no soak and no massage therapy, so a bather who can still sit in a tub gives those up by choosing the shower.

Fitting the Choice to Your Bathroom

Both retrofits are designed for the space left by a standard tub or shower stall, and both reach you through the Ella dealer network, which ships from the Chicago warehouse. For the tub, compare the actual exterior size on the spec sheet with your finished alcove and the doorways the tub has to pass on delivery day. For the shower, the online Shower Builder Tool lets you scroll through the available options and put together a custom design, after which a contractor visits in person to measure your space and finalize the installation details. A walk-in tub builder tool is also available, and your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can send the link. Either way, a local licensed plumber and electrician do the installation, and the team supports them by phone and email with the manuals and spec sheets for the model you choose.

Watch: The 3060 Walk-In Laydown Tub: A Solution for Cool & Stylish Accessibility | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Which accessible bathtub options work best for elderly users?
• Choosing a Walk-In Tub on Video: Measuring Yourself, Doorways, Door Styles, Therapies, Hot Water and the Line Overview

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