Bath Buying Guide

Visually, it’s also the centrepiece of your bathroom, setting the style and tone for the rest of the room. Bathtubs are available in a wide range of shapes, sizes and styles, so how do you choose the best bath for your space, needs and taste?

This guide to buying a bath will tell you everything you need to know about the different types of bath and what to consider when buying one, to help you choose the best bath for your home.

The most common type of bathtub, straight baths are slim and compact, and work well in virtually any bathroom layout. This shape bath is usually installed against a wall for space-saving purposes, and they come in both single-ended and double-ended designs depending on if you prefer to bathe alone or with company. Double-ended baths tend to be slightly wider to provide extra room.

Shower baths are ideal for smaller spaces, when you don’t have room for a separate bath and shower but you simply have to have both. They generally come in either L-shaped or P-shaped designs, so you can choose between smooth curves and straight edges, and the benefit of these shapes over a standard straight bath is that the showering end is slightly wider, so you have extra room to lather and scrub when taking a shower.

If you have plenty of space to play with and you want to create the ultimate luxury bathroom, a freestanding bath is the perfect showstopping centrepiece. They’re available in a range of styles, from traditional and ornate roll-top baths with claw feet to clean-cut contemporary designs with flat rims like the Mira Flight Freestanding Bath, so whatever style you’re channelling in your bathroom, there’s a freestanding bath to suit.

As the name suggests, corner baths fit snugly in the corner of your bathroom. They’re ideal for small bathrooms or bathrooms that aren’t quite long enough for a standard-length bath, and they offer a surprisingly spacious bathing area.

The first thing to think about when buying a bath is where it will be positioned and how much space you have to work with, as this will determine the size of bath that you can buy. You’ll also need to think about where the taps will go: at one end or in the middle, in tap holes or mounted on the wall. Every bathroom is different, which is why our baths come in a variety of lengths and widths, with single-ended and double-ended options depending on your bathroom layout and your preferences.

No bath is complete without a stylish set of taps. Some baths come with pre-drilled tap holes, where either a mixer tap or two separate taps can be fitted, while others will have no tap holes which means you can choose how many holes to drill, or you could decide to mount your taps on the wall or have them coming out of the floor instead. That’s the practical side sorted, but the fun part is choosing the style of your taps. For a traditional bathroom, choose Victorian detail taps like those from the Mira Virtue range, or for contemporary styling choose minimalist designs from our Precision or Honesty ranges.

If you’ve chosen a shower bath, then you’ll need to choose a shower too. We offer a shower and bath fill combination with two of our Mira Mode products, as well as our extensive range of electric showers, mixer showers, digital showers and power showers.

Straight baths, shower baths and corner baths all require bath panels to complete the look, providing a clean and sleek finish. You’ll find bath panels in a range of sizes to meet the needs of your chosen bath. If you go for a freestanding bath, you won’t require a panel to finish it off, it’s complete as it comes.

Whether you’ve chosen a standard bath or a shower bath, you’ll want to protect your walls from water damage. You might choose to tile your bathroom, or as a smart and easy-to-fit alternative, you could choose to install wall panels. Mira wall panels are durable and leak-proof, and they’re available in different sizes to suit your space. They can also be cut to size for a bespoke, custom fit.

Keep your bathroom dry with the addition of a bath screen or a shower curtain. While shower curtains have a lower upfront cost and are handy if you have small children, bath screens are easier to clean and will make your bathroom seem bigger, brighter and neater. Find out more about the benefits of bath screens vs shower curtains.

Whichever type of bath you choose to go for, explore our full range of baths to find the best one for you.