Shower panels vs tiles?

[Renovirgin2018]

Just wondering if anyone has used shower wall panels for a whole bathroom? And if so what was the outcome like?

My DH did in his flat before we were together, I wasn't keen, looked like public toilet personally

Love the idea of panels, no grout easy to clean and we seriously considered them when redoing our bathroom and ensuite last year.

Looked at everything from standard boards, to high end ones, to acrylic and just couldn't get beyond them all looking like a caravan or cheap hotel room loo.

Friends have done them and it isn't a great look, very cheap looking. One had the cheaper plastic boards break when his ds slipped in the shower and put his elbow through it.

Good to know. Thanks, I think I will go back to looking at times.

*tiles

I have panels that are sparkly. I love them!!

We have a gloss acrylic panel. Looks in keeping with white gloss vanity unit. Easy to keep clean. Easy to remove to access plumbing (it’s just held in with silicone). And cheap. I don’t think it’d look nice if there was nothing else white gloss in the bathroom. We have white 600x300 tiles around the bath and sink and same size sort of coffee colour on the floor.

My panels are great. Look great and easy maintenance

I have charcoal panels but they are not the plastic type. They are large boards covered appropriately. Very heavy. Have a Matt finish and look fabulous. Never look messy though they do get done with a sqeegy regularly.

Should have added, boards are about 4 ft wide and the join us invisible.

Bespoke ones may be fine but acrylic looks like a cheap hotel.

My bathroom fitter told me if he was doing his bathroom again he'd use them in his shower. Not sure about the whole room, they're actually so expensive! I was quoted £280ish for two panels just to do the shower and to tile two full walls was £190

Definitely not suitable for an expensive house. Very institutional. DDs boarding school had sparkly ones! Just no! Bathrooms shouldn’t just be about ease of cleaning.

I don’t like them for the whole room, but the right ones can look fine for the shower, and certainly helps reducing leaks from cracks in grout etc

Yes, we've did our entire shower room with wall panels. Looks fantastic and very low maintenance.

We did!

We used the ones that look like subway tiles. Great not to have grout to keep clean and the panels themselves look good.

BUT (and it's a massive but for me) we used them in a big shower area with a glass screen - all lovely and airy - and the stupid, hefty joining strip smacks me in the face whenever I look at it. (Not literally.) It isn't even the same white as the panels, but much more yellowy. I sent a photo to the manufacturers and asked if the plumber had used the right strip and if it was actually meant to look like that, and they said yes. It doesn't in their swanky website pics

When we re-did our other bathroom recently we used tiles. With grey grout to get around the grout cleaning problem.

We used Mermaid board in each of our bathrooms. Definitely not cheap, very nice looking and no grout discolouration or tiles cracking! It comes as specified shower packs, so you choose the size of your cubicle/tray and the kit has all the components your plumber needs to fit it. (This pic is my en-suite)

Hi, I work in a tile and bathroom showroom.
Price wise, there is not much in it, depending on the tile and range of multipanel.
Finish, you can get some stunning ones. My mother-in-law did hers in a little white sparkle, rally lifted the whole bathroom, my brother-in-law is putting an ensuite in for his daughter, he went a darker combo - purely for the fake tan senario!
We NEVER have any issues re leaks or water penetrations when properly installed. , And having no grout to clean is the main reason (with the exception of an uneven wall) that people choose this option.
Oh one customer put one full wall in Delano oak, then turned the panel on its side for the rest of the bathroom, so was half hight, in a green wood effect panel, simply gorgeous!! Multipanel.co.uk are the ones we use, but there are hundreds of one's out there (none as big as this one I don't think?)
Rough idea price is £169+vat RRP. For a 2.4*1.2 board, classic range, standard panel.
Good luck!

Oh also, sorry just reread the thread, yes some can look cheap and not good, but it depends on the range.
The one mentioned has a range by Linda Barker, look really good, but it is pricy when you get to this level.

Just when I had decided on tiles, you now have me changing my mind again 🤔

We went off them based on the look until we realised you can get hugely expensive ones that look good, in the end we went for bushboard nuance which cost over 200 pounds per panel (8x4ft) and we only needed 3.
The effort saved on cement board, tanking, etc was worth it, we could stick them directly on the timber studwork.
Very heavy and you have to cut them accurately, but overall e are happy.
We probably wouldn't do the whole room with them as it would be a bit full on, we did the shower area 1mx1.2m with a glass divider the other side, and the rest we will paint and tile as appropriate

I know two people with these. One they look like tiles and were expensive, a sort of griege colour, and the others a dark charcoal colour and look like cheap plastic.

I think with the right product it looks great. That's the catch. I'd use them.

Ultimately if you get the good ones they cost the same as tiling. Because the cost of the product is expensive, but fitting cheap and quick. Whereas tiles cost more to fit as it takes longer.

Placemarking as we're due to make a decision in the next few weeks about our shower enclosure