A custom frameless shower is not a kit. There are no standard size kits, no pre-fab gaps, no rubber fillers. We field measure every opening, fabricate tempered glass to the exact measurement, set it plumb and seal it. Because every panel is made for your opening, you get to choose what it is made of. There are three decisions.
1. The glass
- Clear. Standard tempered glass. Look at the edge of a clear panel and you will see a faint green tint, which comes from the iron in the glass. On a white or light-colored tile it is barely noticeable. On a white marble wall it can read slightly green.
- Ultra Clear. The industry name is low-iron glass. The iron is reduced, the green cast goes away, and the tile behind the glass looks exactly the color it is. This is the choice for white and light stone, for painted glass, and for any bathroom where the glass is meant to disappear.
- Frosted. An etched or satin surface that passes light and blocks the view. Used for privacy on a door, on a single panel facing a toilet, or as a band across the middle of an enclosure. Frosted can be full-panel or patterned.
2. The thickness
Frameless showers are built in 3/8" and 1/2" tempered glass. Both are safety glass. Both are heavy, which is why the hardware matters. The choice comes down to the size of the panels, the span of the door, and how substantial you want the enclosure to feel. Large panels and wide doors lean toward 1/2". Our measure visit is where that gets decided, against the actual opening.
3. The hardware
The glass is hung on quality finished hinges and clamps. A frameless hinged door pivots on hinges mounted to the wall or to a fixed panel. A frameless bypass door slides on a header with rollers. In either style the finish is your choice:
- Brushed Nickel. The industry standard. Warm, soft, hides water spots well.
- Matte Black. Matte only. It is the finish of the moment and it works with both light and dark tile.
- Gold / Brass. Brushed or polished. Pairs with warm stone and unlacquered fixtures.
Hinged or bypass?
A hinged door needs swing room outside the shower and gives the cleanest, most open look. A bypass door is for openings where a swinging door would hit a vanity or a toilet. Both are fully frameless. Neither uses a kit.
How the decision gets made
On the free measure visit we bring samples of Clear and Ultra Clear so you can hold them against your tile, and finish samples so you can match your fixtures. Then the panels are fabricated to that measurement and installed. Pick the glass in your bathroom, in your light, not from a screen.
