Is there a tub in another bathroom? If not it will lower resale value not to have any tub. But I do agree we never use our tub either.

luxury shower! you use it every day!

We have a HUGE master bath. We have a jetted tub that you could fit a family of 4 in and a shower that my wife and I can barely fit in (wink, wink). We shower everyday and I can't remember the last time the tub was used. If you're only going to have one and there is a tub elsewhere in the house then I vote for shower.

I hear all the time that it will lower your resale value if you don't have a tub, but they are so rarely used, unless you have small children. If you're planning to sell in the next few years, ask a realtor. It may not make a difference in your area. We are building a new home and initially had no plans for a tub, until my teenage daughter insisted. If I were shopping for a house, I would prefer a roomy shower.

I just want to speak up and say that there are people who would consider no tub a deal breaker. I love a tub.

What are your plans for the future? Do you plan to be in your home for 10+ years, or might you sell in the near future?

If you plan to stay put, I'm 100% for installing the fixtures that YOU want. If you don't use the bathtub, by all means rip it out and have a luxurious shower! This is under the assumption that you have a bathtub somewhere in your house, likely in a guest bathroom.

If you may sell within the next several years, I would think more about future resale and whether not having a soaking tub would turn off potential buyers. There are some who would walk away from the perfect house if there were no master tub and there are others who would consider it a bonus to not have a tub.

I'm in the take-it-or-leave-it camp. We're putting in a small garden tub in our master bath (new construction) but only because the bathroom layout wouldn't accommodate a giant shower. If we left out the tub, we could have made the shower longer, but not deeper (it's a 3x5 shower)...and we don't need more length, but would have loved more depth. So, we kept the tub. :) I do know I'll use it every once and a while and I would definitely use it to bath kids if we had any because the tub deck is more comfortable to sit on than bending over a standard tub/shower combo.

As one who does both renovation and staging for sale, I'll always say that a home should have one bathtub. It's a necessity for more than just small children; but also in many cases for one planning to age in place; for those who have pets, and more. So, it can truly affect resale value. However, at the moment, the value of your home can also be affected positively when you have a lovely luxury shower in your master bath. If you have a tube elsewhere in the house, go for the shower!

Thank you, everyone, for taking time to offer your advise. It's so helpful. Yes, there is another tub in one of the other two full bathrooms. I can make room in the master bath for a big shower and still have space for a soaker tub in a corner of the room. Do they appeal to people for resale? How comfortable are they for larger people? They look like a big cup and have a seat near the bottom. Anyone have one? Use it?
Again, thanks for your time and input.

If there's another bathtub in the house, I'd personally say, go for the luxury shower and forget any tub at all in the master. Our previous house had two bathrooms, no tub in either; our new house has one bathroom with tub, the master with a large shower, rainhead at one end and a railhead at the other, and we just love it. In the unlikely event I feel like a bath, the other bathroom has a tub. We moved in in July and I haven't used it yet, though. The older you get, the less inclined you are to clamber into one.

I suggest going to a big, luxury shower since you have other bathrooms with bath tubs!

When we did an addition a number of years ago, we opted for a larger shower and no tub in the master. The original bathroom has a tub and when we finished off the basement of the addition, including a shower, we opted for one that is "tub-sized" if someone ever wanted to put a tub in as nnigrt suggested above. I say, if you're planning on staying for any decent length of time, do what fits your needs and wants best!