We were thinking the exact same thing for our children - will be 8, 6, and 4 - shower only. They will never use the tub. The only thing I would consider is resale of course. If it was a jack and jill I would prob expect a tub but an individual bathroom in a kids room I wouldn't.

I agree with above comments. You probably want at least one of the bathrooms to have a tub/shower available for resale purposes.

I don't think you can go wrong with a tub/shower combo. I've never heard someone say, "I wish that bath had just a shower instead of a tub/shower combination." But I have heard, "I wish there was a tub in the secondary bath." or "There's no tub anywhere but the master?"

Other than thinking the girls might prefer a shower when they get older, do you have any other thoughts/reasons for shower only vs a tub/shower combo?

If you put a bathtub in, I'd choose one where a 6ft person can actually use it comfortably.

I can't stand those 5ft short pseudo tubs in secondary bathrooms. I'd much rather have a nice glass enclosed dedicated shower instead.

I probably would do tub/showers in both. If your six year old takes showers, I might reconsider. However, growing up I took both showers and baths and still do. I wouldn't put a shower only in a childs bath unless they were old enough to say they want a shower only. We have 3 boys - 6, 8 and almost 11. The two older ones requested shower only. The youngest takes showers sometimes but still takes a bath. We did a tub/shower combo in there as well as in the guest room. He may want a shower down the road but we did a little wider tub and a little deeper tub in there to accomodate a larger feeling shower so it will still feel comfortable.

My 6'4" brother grew up showering in a bathtub and he never had a problem with it - he was just glad to have his own bath! Hopefully mine feels the same :)

We are planning on putting just showers in the 2 private bathrooms upstairs in our new house. The hall bath up there will have a tub/shower combo, mainly for resale. Our son will be old enough to take showers by the time the house is done and our families who come to visit would prefer to just have showers in their room. Personally, I hate trying to clean tub/shower combos so I want as few in our house as possible. The tub/shower in the hall bath will always be there in case someone wants or needs to use it. We will also have a separate tub in our master bathroom.

A "full bath" has long been defined as one that contains a tub, whether or not that tub was a tub/shower. A shower only bathroom is considered a 3/4", and of course, one containing no bathing facilities is a half bath. This can affect your appraisal in some areas, especially in more traditional areas of the country. The trend is towards counting a shower bathroom to "count" as a full bath, but not everyone everywhere is on board with that. You need to find out that is handled in your area, because you don't want to build something that will cause your home to be valued less.

Before deciding to build, I looked at a lot of houses. One was a new construction, beautiful house - but there were only showers, except for the master. It was a deal breaker for me. I take showers half the time, baths half the time, and prefer to have the option for both. I think it is good to have one of the secondary bedrooms with a shower only, but at least one with a bath/shower combo.

Good point green designs - never thought of that! Also, if this is a house you plan to resell, showers may be a negative. I don't think the existence of a shower/bath in a secondary bath would turn off anyone, but a shower only might . . .

I am doing a vacation/rental home. There are 4 baths and I am doing 3 as shower only. My thought is that there only needs to be one tub and it is accessible from all (ie not a master suite).

I never gave it much thought except that I knew there needed to be one tub for children. It is a tight house and a 30x60 shower is roomier than a 30x60 tub/shower. I want to discourage baths because of water use.

Well...I did shower/tub combos for my children's baths for several reasons. One, both of them like baths sometimes. My 11 year old son likes to soak after basketball practice, and my 8 year old dd loves bubble baths. But...it is also less expensive AND I hate cleaning those glass doors! The extra tile and those doors (of course we would have gotten the really nice ones to match the rest of the house) are expensive!! I also like the decorative aspects of shower curtains...I already have monogrammed ones for each. :) Plus...you can just throw away the liners if them get yucky.

Ah see - in some areas of the country (and at some price points), you can get have a shower with just a curtain. No tile - just fiberglass surround. There is no cheaper.

Yes the nice doors are EXPENSIVE! And I had that same thought about boys and sports, or boys and casts (!). We will have two showers and two shower/tubs upstairs. Hopefully that is a good decision! I figure the shower boys can use the guest room if they need a bath for some reason, and the little guy's bathtub is 32" wide so actually as wide as our current shower. . .