Wall panels vs tiles in bathroom

[TiredandLate]

Has anyone opted for wall panels instead of tiles for a bathroom?

Ordered some samples and I'm not sure I like them, I expected them to be slightly 3D like real tiles but these ones were smooth.

If you have panels would you recommend them? Any tips on where to find textured ones would be appreciated too 😊

We used the hollow plastic panels in my daughters shower. My husband didn't want the mdf ones in case water ever got into them and caused warping etc.

Yes the plastic ones may be cheaper but after 7 years they still look as good as new and are so easy to clean.

I have tiles in my ensuite as the whole room is tiled and I felt tiles would look better in this instance.

Both are great

We got ours from Bathroom Cladding Direct. I was a bit worried they would look naff but I love them. They look great and so easy to clean.

They are "Chicago".

Not the greatest picture but you get the idea

Thank you! This is the look I'm after - large tile effect.

Is it really smooth or does it feel a bit like tiles?

I mean, naff and classy are entirely subjective. Some people’s classy is other people’s naff and vice versa.

Doesn’t really matter what you get, someone will sneer at it.

If you find one you like, they’re definitely practical - stopped my then teenagers trashing my bathroom and still looks new, so it did what I wanted it to.

They don't look smooth but they are smooth. We have had quite a few people ask where we got them as they have liked them.

You can send for samples although, saying that, I still wasn't sure when we got the samples. DH decided to go with them and I am so glad he did.

Would they have trashed tiles then? Are they vandals? My teens respected our bathrooms. I’ve never seen panels in any house in housing magazines that showcase the best in interior design. That’s what I strive for. Accept others don’t. What’s “best” must centre around price of property, budget, perceptions of what looks good and whether your Dc trash things in your house. Mine never did. I’m truly blessed I guess!

We’ve had our en-suite done with wall panels. MIL has a very expensive house, she’s had wall panels put in her bathroom. DS2 is just coming to the end of renovating his house and has put wall panels in his shower room, too. Not one of them look naff. They all look very modern and clean.

When we moved here the previous owners had large, cream, matt, ridged tiles in the en-suite. They were lovely to look at for about one day, but the soap would get in them and go pink. I spent hours and hours scrubbing them and bleaching them. They were an absolute nightmare. Our en-suite looks a million times better now.

We haven’t panelled all the walls. We’ve just done the shower walls, behind the basin and on the window sill. The rest is painted in bathroom paint.

My friend bought a house early 1930's build. Back in the 90s. She showed me round. OMG the bathroom was original. The panels were like Murano glass . They were glass. The design, use of space couldn't be beaten today. It was exquisite. An aqua hued palace.

The house we bought last summer has a plastic panelled bathroom. They’re hollow and so cheap and nasty. Having it all ripped out in April and tiled. The bathroom actually makes me feel sick that panelling is soooo ugly.

You don't have to use plastic though. Wood, glass, marble,.

Why are we obsessed with covering areas that aren't going to get wet with tiles?

@TizerorFizz you're an absolute charmer aren't you?

I have a tiny bathroom and the less cleaning the better so it was wall panels all the way when I got our bathroom renovated. I like the look it is clean and tidy and there's only DD and myself so other people opinions don't matter, I don't live in a hotel. Grey concrete type above the bath and white with a silver thread on all the other walls. White oak look lvt on the floor.

I think when you get things put in yourself you always like them more than if the predecessor had chosen it.

We have lvt in a dark oak wood effect in all our bathrooms and wall panels too!
I love the walls and wouldn’t go back to tiles. Ours aren’t tile effect but I saw some nice ones that were too

Flooring I recommend LVT. Easy to clean, not as cold as tiles and make up/ glass less likely to smash if you accidentally drop it. I have some Harvey Mariah ones in my en suite and love them.

Back to the panels you can get cheap ones, or expensive ones. I got two panels, one for each wall the shower is against ( it’s in a corner) and they cost £750 or so. The labour to fit them is cheaper than tiling as they are quicker to fit. A bit of a ball ache to saw them down / carry them upstairs though as v heavy. But assuming you have someone to do that you’ll be fine.

Now I want an aqua hued palace of a bathroom. That sounds glorious @justasking111

We have wall panels in the bathroom. I can't remember exactly what they were but they still look very good after ten years and are really easy to clean.

Flooring is Amtico. We had underfloor heating put in, and also some heating behind the mirror. We would do both of those again. The mirror is never misted up and the floor heating takes the edge off the cold.

Sometimes bits that aren’t supposed to get wet do get wet though 😂

It was a badly built bathroom in our case with no scope to change things like layout so either tiling or panelling the room was going to solve most of the issues we were having.

We were also having to work round my eldest, he has disabilities that affect his co-ordination amongst other things, ideally we’d have made it a wet room, but that was way too much money.

I was responding to a query. I don’t really care too much about what others think as we all have views. Its interesting that when anyone talks about how a bathroom might be beautiful, not trashed and respected it’s a no no. Why? I’ve never ever have to worry about my Dc doing this. I’ve never ever cleaned grout. I’ve never had mould or water in walls. I’ve never scrubbed a bathroom. Good choices mean less cleaning.

On the floor: we have wood in one bathroom and non slip matching tiles in the others. They can be great with UFH. Really warm. I like to think bathrooms are a little sanctuary. It’s important to choose the right tiles and minimal grout. Or go for a big stone panel! You don’t need a fully tiles bathroom. I wouldn’t mix tiles and panels.

Love mine! But they took forever to arrive, much longer than advertised which was a bit of a nightmare.

www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.uk/botanical-showerwall-acrylic-custom-collection-panelling?source=googlebase

I don’t know, but the owners of this house before us used plastic and it’s god awful. Lovely Edwardian house and they clad the bathroom in plastic 🤮🤮 Personally I can’t stand marble. I’m having my bathroom done in slate.

Well they are certainly marmite! I'm going to reserve judgement till I've seen some bigger than sample size.

It is a period house and I'm tempted to go full traditional and have wainscoting in the main bathroom, the other half of me wants a beautiful modern sanctuary. I've restored a lot of features in the house that the previous owners covered up so I'm torn. I do have a victorian washstand I can tart up and put a sink on..

That looks fab I want to see more of your house! I'd go more flamboyant but dp is traditional.. I'm working on him haha.

I've never really had to clean grout. Well ventilated bathroom maybe? We had good old fashioned 1990's peachy tiles with white grot too!

Anyway. Flirted with the idea of panels, but honestly, thought they all looked a bit cheap. Went for very big, rectangular, dark grey tiles, with dark grey grout.

I would recommend, so much easier to clean, we have them.

We have wall panels. They are much easier to keep clean than tiles due to lack of grout lines.