Choosing a shower enclosure comes down to four decisions: the door type, the glass thickness, the frame and hardware material, and the exact size of the opening on site. Get those four right and the enclosure fits first time, stays watertight, and still runs smoothly after years of daily use in a hotel, apartment or family bathroom.

This guide is written for buyers who specify shower enclosures in volume — importers, distributors, contractors, developers and hospitality projects. It covers the specifications that actually drive cost, installation time and after-sales risk, so you can quote and order with confidence.

Key takeaways

• Door type drives the layout. Sliding doors suit narrow bathrooms, hinged and pivot doors suit larger openings, bi-fold doors suit tight corners.
• 8 mm tempered glass is the project standard. Specify 6 mm for budget retail, 8 mm for residential projects, and 10 mm for hotels and high-traffic commercial bathrooms.
• Frameless looks premium; framed is more forgiving. Frameless glass needs flatter walls and a more careful installation.
• Measure the finished opening, not the tray. Most on-site problems come from a wall that is a few millimetres out of square.
• Certification matters at import. CE, cUPC and WaterMark approvals reduce customs and inspection risk in the EU, US and Australia.

1. Shower enclosure types compared

Type	How it works	Best for	Watch out for
Sliding door enclosure	One or two glass panels run on top and bottom tracks	Small and medium bathrooms; alcove and corner installs	Track needs cleaning to stay smooth; bottom track must be sealed
Hinged door enclosure	Door swings in or out on wall-mounted hinges	Larger openings; easy walk-in access	Needs clearance outside the enclosure for the door swing
Pivot door enclosure	Door rotates on top and bottom pivot points	Classic look; medium openings	Pivot points need solid, reinforced fixing
Bi-fold door enclosure	Panels fold back in pairs	Very tight spaces where a swing door will not fit	More moving parts to maintain
Walk-in / fixed panel	Fixed glass screen, often with a return panel or support bar	Wet-room style bathrooms; minimal design	Does not fully contain spray — plan the splash zone
Complete shower cabin	Enclosure, tray, back panels and often a seat or hydromassage	Fast hotel refurbishment; self-contained units	Higher freight volume per unit

For most wholesale programmes the sensible core range is one sliding enclosure as the volume seller, plus a hinged and a pivot model for premium tiers. That gives your distributors a full price ladder without multiplying SKUs. See the current showers and sliding doors range for available configurations, and this frameless tempered glass sliding enclosure (SM1348) as a reference specification.

2. Glass: thickness, type and safety

Bathroom enclosures must use tempered (toughened) safety glass. Tempering makes the glass several times stronger than annealed glass and means it breaks into small granular pieces instead of sharp shards — a requirement in most commercial and hospitality specifications. On high-end specifications, a transparent safety film is laminated to the back of the glass so that even in a breakage the panel stays in its frame.

Thickness	Weight (approx.)	Where it is specified	Notes
6 mm	~15 kg/m²	Budget retail, compact cabins	Lightest and lowest freight cost; needs a frame or a small panel size
8 mm	~20 kg/m²	Residential projects, mid-range retail	The most common specification worldwide — good balance of rigidity, safety and cost
10 mm	~25 kg/m²	Hotels, apartments, high-traffic bathrooms	Noticeably stiffer; frameless panels feel more solid and swing doors track better
12 mm	~30 kg/m²	Premium frameless, very large panels	Heaviest; requires stronger hinges and reinforced wall fixing

Glass type is a separate decision from thickness. Standard clear glass has a slight green edge; low-iron (ultra-clear) glass removes that tint and is the right choice for high-end frameless work. Frosted, satin, grey and bronze tints are also available for privacy and design schemes. An easy-clean nano coating is a low-cost upgrade that visibly reduces limescale and water spotting — a simple upsell for distributors.

Ask your supplier for the tempering standard that applies to your market: EN 12150 in the EU, ANSI Z97.1 / SGCC in the US, and AS/NZS 2208 in Australia. Aqua Gallery enclosures carry CE approval, and the wider range is produced under cUPC and WaterMark certified processes.

3. Frames and hardware

The frame and fittings decide whether an enclosure still looks new in five years. Three options dominate the market:

• Aluminium frame (6063-T5 or similar). The workhorse for volume ranges. Anodised or powder-coated finishes include polished chrome, matte black, brushed nickel, brushed gold and rose gold. Aluminium tolerates small site tolerances well, which is why framed enclosures are the safer choice for refurbishment projects.
• Stainless steel 304 hardware. Hinges, handles, rollers and support bars in SUS 304 resist corrosion far better than plated steel and are the standard for hotels and coastal markets. Susceptible-to-rust fittings are the single most common cause of warranty claims on glass enclosures.
• Frameless. Only the hinges, clips and a wall channel are visible. Frameless enclosures look cleanest and sell at the highest margin, but they demand accurate measurements and a genuinely flat, load-bearing wall.

4. Sizing: measure the opening, not the tray

Enclosure sizes are quoted as width × depth × height in millimetres. Standard heights are 1900 mm and 2000 mm, with 2200 mm used for wet-room panels. Widths are usually built in 50 mm steps so that adjustable wall profiles can absorb small site variations.

Layout	Typical sizes (mm)	Door type normally used
Alcove (flat wall to wall)	900–1800 wide × 700/800/900 deep	Sliding, bi-fold
Corner, two glass sides	800×800, 900×900, 1000×1000	Pivot, hinged, sliding
Offset corner	900×760, 1200×800, 1400×900	Sliding, pivot
Walk-in with return panel	700–1200 panel + 300–500 return	Fixed, no door

Two measurement rules prevent almost every installation problem. First, measure the finished opening after tiling, at the top, middle and bottom, and specify to the smallest figure. Second, confirm the wall build-up: a stud or plasterboard wall needs reinforcing behind the hinge positions before the tiles go on, whereas a solid masonry or concrete wall can be fixed directly with the appropriate anchors.

5. Wholesale and project supply

When you buy in volume, four commercial points decide the real landed cost:

1. MOQ and mould flexibility. A low MOQ on standard models lets you test a market before committing. On the current Aqua Gallery lines, sample orders start from 1 set and custom sizes and finishes are accepted.
2. Packing for the container. Glass enclosures are normally packed with protective foam and corner guards inside a reinforced carton, then palletised. Ask for the loading quantity per 20GP / 40GP / 40HQ before you finalise a price — freight volume per unit usually matters more than the ex-works price.
3. Lead time planning. As an example from our current bath and enclosure lines, production runs around 40–45 days for a 1×40ft container, 30–35 days for 1×20ft, and 10–15 days for a single sample. Build your stock buffer around the container schedule, not the sample schedule.
4. Customisation and OEM. Sizes, glass thickness, glass finish, frame colour, handle design and logo printing can all be customised on OEM and ODM terms, which lets you build a differentiated range instead of reselling a catalogue item.

Certification is the fourth lever. CE, cUPC and WaterMark documentation is what lets a distributor sell into the EU, US and Australian markets without re-testing, so confirm at quotation stage which approvals apply to the exact model you are ordering. Approved documentation for the Aqua Gallery range is listed on our certificates page.

6. Installation notes that prevent callbacks

• Set the wall channels plumb and level first; the glass panels are cut square, so any error shows up as an uneven gap.
• Seal the outside of the tray joint with sanitary silicone only — sealing inside traps water in the tray profile.
• Check for a slope or a lip on the shower tray. A flat tray on a level floor is essential for sliding doors.
• Fit adjustment tolerance into the specification (typically 20–30 mm of wall profile movement) so installers can absorb out-of-square walls without cutting glass.
• Hand over the cleaning guidance: abrasive creams and acidic descalers damage chrome and powder-coat finishes, and damage of that kind is excluded from most warranties.

7. Frequently asked questions

Which is better, a framed or a frameless shower enclosure?
Frameless enclosures look better and command a higher price, but they need a flatter wall and more precise installation. Framed enclosures with aluminium profiles are more forgiving on site and are usually the better choice for refurbishment, apartment and volume retail programmes.

What glass thickness should I specify?
6 mm for budget and compact units, 8 mm for general residential projects, 10 mm for hotels and commercial bathrooms, and 12 mm for large premium frameless panels where extra rigidity matters.

Can shower enclosures be made to a custom size?
Yes. Height, width, glass thickness, glass finish and frame colour can all be produced to order, which is why it is worth confirming the finished opening measurement before placing a container order rather than ordering a standard size and adjusting on site.

How many enclosures fit in a container?
It depends on the model, glass thickness and packing method, because glass is packed flat and volume is driven by panel size. Ask your supplier for the exact 20GP / 40GP / 40HQ loading quantity for the specific model at quotation stage.

Which certifications should I look for?
CE for the European Union, cUPC for the United States and Canada, and WaterMark for Australia. These cover both the glass and, where applicable, the fittings.

What is the difference between a shower enclosure and a shower cabin?
An enclosure is a glass screen or door set fitted onto an existing tray or wet-room floor. A cabin is a complete unit — tray, back panels, roof and door — and often includes a seat or hydromassage functions. Cabins install faster but take more container volume.

Next step: request a shower enclosure quotation

Aqua Gallery manufactures shower enclosures, shower cabins, shower panels and sliding glass doors in Foshan, China, for importers, distributors, contractors and hotel projects. If you send us the finished opening size, the door type you prefer and the glass thickness your market expects, we will come back with a specification, MOQ and container loading figure.

Contact our export team through the contact page, or browse the full showers, tubs and panels range.

Related reading: Bathroom Faucets & Shower Systems: A Complete Buying Guide and How to Choose a Bathroom Vanity: Sizes, Styles & Materials.