It is BEST to hinge a the solid wall ANY swing door. Every fabricator will say same. The hinge allows the door to swing in BOTH directions.

What glass? Heavy glass or less?

Suits 5/16 or heavy 1/2 inch

Lighter weight glass with a glass to glass hinge.....is best with a minimal frame at the top. Sorry.. My glass people resist it as well

Thanks, this question was really from the perspective of usability as to which side would be more functional to have the hinges on. I have found a door model where the hinges attached to the fixed glass piece rather than the wall. So the question of whether it’s possible to do is off the table.

Anything is "possible" to do!

You are talking about a "model" or a DIY? I use a custom glass shop. The most secure and sturdy install is a hinge to a wall. : ) Sorry, fact.

The "possible" and the internet exist in tandem. Doesn't mean great.

Again, as Jan states the size of the door, quality of the hardware and thickness of the glass has more to do with it than you think. 20 plus years in the glass business.

Thanks for the thoughts on construcability. I'll keep in mind, but that's not really what I'm asking. I have a solid solution with a reputable installer and fabricator for installing the hinge against the fixed glass. Also, as you have mentioned, installing the hing against the wall certainly works from a constructability perspective. So, let's hit pause on the matter of constructability for the moment -- both hinge location options have great implementation options and door reliability is not an issue. I'm trying to get feedback on which hinge location / door swing would be best for room flow and functionality. I'd appreciate community feedback on what hinge location will make for the best day to day experience using these bathrooms.

Where will you hang the towels?

I want to be able to get the water hot without standing in it

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6206088/shower-glass-cut-out-to-access-valves#n=36

And I want to be able to snake my arm out and grab a towel while still in the warm air at the end of the shower

Excellent question. That's important for me personally! There a a couple of options for towel rack placemente for drying/storage (along walls, behind door). But, the thought is to have towel hooks directly at the wall next to the shower head for each of these for using while taking a shower. That's part of the motivation for opting for hinge location B, even though (as you have pointed out) it is not the typical solution. (With hinge location A, we could place a rack on the fixed glass panel, but trying to go for a minimallist aesthetic and would like to avoid that).

Sliding door instead?

Thought hard about it, but I just can't stand cluttered headers with exposed wheels/tracks (and the ones that have a simple header have metal tracks on the bottom, which is totally not acceptable). Still, it might be on option on where I land.

NO contest. The hinge should be on the wall with the controls. 100%. There's zero point in not putting in a solid wall for the rest of the shower as well. It isn't a focal point, and glass is just more cleaning and expense. That would more easily allow a bench to exist at the end across from the controls as well.

If you WANT a look of zero clutter, no hardware, You are not in online grab and go, and ready to go anything.

You get the custom glass shop.

You have a one time expense, vs. "pay" every time you enter the bath room.

If you want the look? you pay for the look, with heavy glass and rain guard,

same proportion as this in your case

Jan, you seem to be fixated on custom glass -- which has absolutely nothing to do with this conversation. It's as if I asked for an opinion on whether to eat an orange or a banana, and someone replied instead with a diatribe about how I should or should not buy organic fruit. I never said I wasn't getting custom glass, so why are you going on about the topic?

The problem is that the shower is not in a very good location, and does not have enough room to stand back from it, to admire it. So a big glass door and high dollar fancy tile is just a waste. Your back is turned to it, and it’s behind the foor, for it’s whole life. It just needs to be utilitarian and functional for that. A plain swing door, hinged on the end wall, is all you need.

Thanks @HU-951852643, if I was going strictly utilitarian, sliding might be best in these tight bathrooms. I actually think hinging to the fixed glass might be more utilitarian cause it makes for better flow and towel access, but not really confident that is true, so that is why I'm trying to poll the comunity

You hinge to a wall. ALWAYS. You NEVER hinge to fixed glass. Not with frameless. Not unless you want stabilizer bars to the ceiling and angled ones in the corner. That just looks like a bad design mistake, always. And it is a bad design mistake, on the whole long list of design mistakes being made.

Thanks @Minardi, I greatly appreciate these thoughts. You seem design-forward, I'd love to hear your take on frameless sliding glass doors as alternative. I just don't love the look of the headers/railings, but I think they would be more functional for both of these bathrooms. (BTW note that the second bathroom would not have a door opening against the shower)

If it were mine I would have shower curtains.

With that skinny aisle between the shower and the vanity, I don't understand having two sinks.

@ci_lantro off topic, but thanks

@Mark Bischak, Architect: cool.

For useability, only sliding doors make sense. Especially in your third floor bathroom with the double sinks.

I could be wrong, but to me everything in your drawings do not appear to be drawn to the same scale. This would impact how you think your bathroom will function.

Just an iPhone photo but custom rolling shower doors can be very nice. I just installed this unit. I think the hardware is pretty minimal and works great.

@Mark Bischak, Architect: correct, not to scale. Most important dimensions: floor 2 shower is 30"x48" and has 35" to vanity; floor 3 shower is 40"x60" and has 31" to vanity. Tight space, which is what made me question the wisdom of hinging the door to the wall. Overall, swinging shower door probably doesn't make sense in thse spaces, though I do love the clean look.

When Jan is done talking.... I agree with Minardi! JK Jan

Are these existing spaces or is the all new construction?

@Top Drawer Carpentry LLC would you just give up on the swing doors and just do sliding doors?

@Mark Bischak, Architect: renovation-ish, so can't move any of this around. Just focused on the shower doors. Also, see note at the beginning of this post: "no need to comment on other aspects of the bathroom designs as these plans do not fully reflect what will be in place (e.g., the floor 2 vanity will be wider; the floor 3 toilet will be rotated 90 degrees)"

I was suppose to read that?

I prefer hinged to sliders to answer your question. As long as I can open the door and comfortably reach the valves, I like it.

@HALLETT & Co. thanks, that's helpful to see. I've never liked the exposed rollers, but at least these are minimal. A question for you: another of my bathrooms has an tiny corner shower that is hemmed in on each side by the toilet and the vanity. It's 42x36.5 to the end of the 6" wide curb , so 39x33.5 (40x34 if rounding up) if we take the curb mid-point. I think the only option would be to have double corner sliding doors (i.e., 2x 20" panels on one side & 2x 17" panels on the other side). Have you seen or used any hardware that might support that type of configuration using custom panels? Would the hardware you sent in that pic support adding the same on the other side? Attaching a sketch to give you an idea of what I"m dealing with.

I have a shower with almost those exact dimensions, and sliding glass doors. I would love to rip them out and replace with a shower curtain (DH is opposed.). Because a 21" opening is uncomfortably tight.

@mcarroll16 yeah, 21" isn't going to cut it. Technically, it's 1" short of code. Here's a trump card you can keep in your back pocket to use with DH if you eventually get to the end of your rope: IRC 2708.1.1 "Access. The shower compartment access and egress opening shall have a clear and unobstructed finished width of not less than 22 inches"

I'd like to make a double sliding door work -- the diagonal would be about 26". There are ugly off the rack options that fit 36x36 spaces (https://www.homedepot.com/p/36-in-W-x-72-in-H-Square-Sliding-Framed-Corner-Shower-Enclosure-in-Chrome-Finish-with-Clear-Glass-SND29CG-3672CH/320633629?MERCH=REC--rv_search_plp_rr--n/a--1--n/a--n/a--n/a--n/a--n/a#overlay

&

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEERVALLEY-36-in-W-x-72-in-H-Square-Sliding-Framed-Corner-Shower-Enclosure-in-Chrome-with-5-16-in-8-mm-Glass-DV-1SD0215/330238472#overlay.

I'm trying to figure out if there is good hardware that would let me do it with custom glass that would fit my exact shower size. I'm trying to avoid a curtain beause I'm afraid of a watery mess. That said, my curbs are 6" wide and a few inches deep. So, maybe an L shaped rod is the most practical choice here and I'm being overly cautious about the water. I do like that the curtain allows more elbow room around the sink and toilet as compared to a glass wall.