One of the latest trends in interior design of contemporary bathrooms involves the installation of walk-in showers, these are large shower spaces in which it is possible to move easily: the English verb to walk actually means to enter, to walk inside or to walk through.
Thanks to thsi solution it is possible to furnish the shower area with additional accessories in order to enjoy a long relaxing shower at the end of the day, including for example comfortable benches or stools, small wall-mounted shower heads for hydromassage programs or emotional showers with scented essence emissions and panels for chromotherapy with adjustable LED lights.
Great attention is also paid to the looks of the walk-in showers, both in the case of custom solutions designed by architects and interior designers, and by choosing standardized elements from the collections of the best companies in the sector.
These are very large shower spaces, which completely transfigure the classic 80x80 box, because the walk-in shower dimensions are at least 120 centimeters in length by 80 in width.
Large walk in shower by Bernstein Badshop
It is also an open shower without a door or curtain at least on one side.
There are also two basic models of walk-in showers: pass-through, which is one without doors on both short sides and in which you enter from one side and exit from the opposite side, and real walk-in shower boxes, completely closed except for one of the short sides or a small portion of one of the long sides.
The closed cabins, on the other hand, lend themselves above all to bathrooms in the shape of an elongated rectangle with a width that goes between 120 and 170 cm, because a transparent and minimal wall shower can be created with the installation of a fixed full-height shower glass.
Pass-through walk-in shower, by Bernstein Badshop
Also, the walk-in or pass-through shower is particularly suitable for square or large bathrooms: you can break the monotony of the room by placing a long shower next to a wall.
From a technological and constructive point of view, modern open showers can be created with different materials, each of which gives precise visual characteristics to a bathroom with a walk in shower.
The first type involves the creation of an open shower without a brick door, completely separated from the rest of the room by brick or plasterboard partitions.
It is an essential idea for a niche walk-in shower but can also be used when you want a cozy and sheltered environment, visually and functionally separated from the rest of the bathroom.
Walk in shower with two masonry walls, by Bernstein Badshop
To obtain particular effects of transparency, or to increase the brightness of a blind bathroom, you can also provide some slots or an entire glass block wall, white or colored, smooth or with decorations.
Particular attention must be paid to the construction of the partitions: the brick offers greater guarantees of mechanical resistance and humidity, against higher costs and a slightly slower processing.
The plasterboard, which must be of a type specifically designed to resist moisture, is instead easy and quick to assemble, cheaper but also delicate in case of water infiltration.
However, the most common solution involves the creation of modern open showers thanks to the installation of a large Plexiglas or glass walk in wall: a solution of great effect thanks to its markedly contemporary and minimal appearance, to the transparency and visual lightness and to the great cleanliness.
Vanita's wall anchors for walk in showers Docce
However, even these materials must meet rather rigorous performance requirements in order to offer adequate guarantees of safety, strength, reliability and durability over time.
First of all, a shower glass must be unbreakable or at least resistant to accidental impacts, comply with the EN12150-1 standard and, in case of breakage, not to form sharp or pointed splinters that could cause cuts or wounds.
The most common thickness is therefore at least 6-8 mm; while the edges of the plates are adequately beveled and rounded so as not to be dangerous for children and pets.
Walk in panel anchoring to the shower tray, by Vanita Docce
Anchoring systems must also ensure adequate guarantees, especially in terms of resistance to horizontal thrust, a very likely stress in the event of an accidental slip or fall.
There are two main categories of glass shower walls: monolithic, which means one piece without joints, with a frame or a connecting strip at least on two sides and formed by two or more pieces assembled in various ways.
The first model offers the most interesting solutions.
Walk In Zen 80 shower by Iperceramica
Zen 80 and Iperceramica are the basic models, two versions of inexpensive, colorless and completely transparent walk-in shower glass, specially designed to dematerialize the shower wall.
A similar effect, but much more captivating thanks to the play of reflections created with the mirror above the sink, is obtained by the Mirror effect shower wall from the Vogue series by Vanita Docce, particularly useful also for looking at oneself at full height while drying or during the beauty routine.
Walk in shower screen in gray tempered glass by Bernstein Badshop
A shower glass with a smoked or satin effect, like two other models proposed by Bernstein Badshop, transforms the shower tray splash guard into a real visual filter, a furnishing and separation element that becomes an interesting architectural sign.
The same effect is also obtained with a crystal shower with silk-screened decorations, transforming the modern open shower into a real painting.
Bernstein walk-in shower wall EX101 Badshop
Bernstein Badshop also offers some particularly captivating models: Wave, available in two variants with transparent glass and white designs or with smoked glass and black serigraphs, has a weave of organic and wavy lines reminiscent of a fabric of living cells.
EX101 instead flaunts a pattern which, observing the positive (the white parts) or the negative (the transparent portions), respectively recalls a Palladian floor with irregular marble chips or the branches of a tree without leaves.
Walk-in Silk screen-printed shower screen by Vanita Docce
SIlk by Vanita Docce is much more linear and is characterized by the presence of three high horizontal bands separated by thin transparent strips.
The second type of shower with fixed glass involves the use of glass or crystal plates with edge frames on at least one or two sides.
Fantasy2 by Iperceramica is a shower without door with full-height glass and a small splash guard that can rotate 90 °, with the sheets connected by simple flat profiles with a chrome finish.
Fantasy2 walk in shower by Iperceramica
The Carbon model by Vanita Docce also has a rather similar design, but with anthracite gray corner strips.
Sometimes the walk in shower glass is divided into several portions joined by strips, in order to create a very particular panel.
As the name itself implies, the Industrial model by Vanita Docce is a fixed shower glass that strongly winks at this style, thanks to a grid of six large rectangular mirrors separated by slender black strips.
It is a perfect complement for a minimalist and slightly retro bathroom, played in shades of white-black-gray.
Walk In Chakra 80's shower by Iperceramica
The Hyperceramic Chakra also follows the same philosophy, but the source of inspiration is very particular: the paintings of the abstract painter Piet Mondian, head of the De Stijl school, of which he faithfully reproduces the most characteristic element, that is the network of black lines that make up a texture of rectangles with various dimensions.
This walk in glass shower is available in several different versions: in the form of a single wall, of two walls separated by the space to enter or finally of two screens arranged in an L shape, so as to form a real shower cubicle without a door.