I bought the utile by Maax, available at Home Hardware and probably Home Depot. I’m really pleased with it.. I had my very good handyman install it, and plumbers to install the shower pan. Everything has to be square and level so everything clicks in place properly. We tore out the existing tub/shower combo to put this in and I’m very happy with it.

Thank you, Carol Did you switch from a shower/bath to just a shower? Were you also able to cover the ceiling with the wall materials? We thought the Maax one was very nice, too! Did you contractor feel it was easier to install, and therefore, did it cost you less to install than if the contractor had done tile?

Yes I switched to just the shower. I didn’t cover ceiling with anything. I felt the Maax was a nice compromise between the cheaper showers I looked at, and a tiled shower. My contractor liked it and wanted to bring his wife to look at it. It’s easy to keep clean too. It comes with 1 shelf, and you can buy more, but they’re pretty expensive, just for a shelf.

Remember Corian? It is a composite material that is called ”solid surface.” The colors of the panel go throughout the material, there is no layer of colored pattern or gloss finish layer at the surface. This makes it repairable if dinged or scratched. Any stains can be sanded or ground off. Swanstone and Transolid are two more brand names that can be solid surface . ( At Swanstone, make sure the product you are looking at is not their Veritek line, which is not a solid surface material.) Swanstone makes both shower kits and sheet goods. Transolid sells shower kits through the website www.bath1.com. Swanstone is sold through that website, too, and at Lowes and maybe Home Depot, as well as some plumbing supply or kitchen and bathroom suppliers. It may not be obvious that they sell Swanstone, you have to ask at the desk. Corian may only be available through their own fabricators, look for one near you at their website. There is at least one fabricator online that will make a custom sized and shaped shower pan and walls - www.Griffrorms.com

Solid Surface showers are more expensive than fiberglass or other molded shower kits, but are more substantial and repairable. There is no surface finish to wear off. If hard water or other stains or deposits do form, the surface can be sanded to remove it and finished to the desired level of matte or polished finish. Sheets are 1/4” or 1/2” thick, with color and pattern throughout.

There are also shower kits sold by names like Marbleite and The Onyx Collection that are fabricated locally. Check at the kitchen and bath desk at your big box home centers or look online for shops. These have a shiny outer finish layer and usually are minimally repairable once installed. They are more substantial than something like a fiberglass or other molded shower and may last longer. Kohler sells one, whose name escapes me.

All of the above come with a base into which walls fit so as to be waterproof once caulked. No tile, no grout, no tile professional is needed. Sides are installed over perfectly sqare and plumb walls. Some require a waterproof substrate, others say you can install over drywall.

Some offer wheelchair accessible shower trays that can be installed by removing the subfloor and replacing it in strips that fit between floor beams and are level with the tops of those joists. This gains you 3/4”, which can be enough to bring the lip level with a tiled and waterproofed room floor. I added a room floor drain to protect from floods, which I see as absolutely neccessary. You slope the bathroom floor to the drain (we used a Kerdi foam shower sloping kit to the room floor, which, with the waterproofing membrane under the entire room floor added enough height for the wheelchair shower pan to work. Here is mine:

@Nancy in Mich and @Minardi Thank you both for your detailed and helpful posts. We appreciate the options. There is obviously way more materials than we had investigated. We will keep researching. Thanks for your leads.

We did flexstone (aka sentrel) and are very happy with it. I detailed our installation here.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5918286/flexstone-sentrel-panels-calacatta-white-pictures

I ordered direct in order to get 96" panels, corner seat, and enhance niche but you can find reviews on Home Depot and Lowes of the standard kits.