Bi-Fold Shower Doors

Buyers Guide to Bi-fold Shower Doors

If you're planning to build a shower unit but don't have much space available in your bathroom, or your shower unit is close to other doors or items of furniture, you'll need the right kind of shower door to ensure you maximise the available room you have. By using bi-fold or infold shower doors, you'll be able to eliminate the area required by outward swinging doors or pivot doors, and better use the space you have to build your dream bathroom. This will allow you to make the most of even a very small bathroom space, or make use of a recess, alcove or corner to install your shower without it taking up too much of the room.

In general, when buying your bi-fold or infold shower door to suit the space available in your bathroom, you'll need to take a few different things into consideration. A framed or frameless look may help to complement the design or colour scheme of your bathroom best, and the style will depend on whether you want a neutral shower enclosure or something to stand out and be a centrepiece of the room. In addition, the thickness of the glass will have an impact on the range of styles available, as well as your budget.

We stock a wide variety of different bi-fold and infold shower doors from some of the best quality manufacturers around, including Kudos, Matki, Roman, Merlyn and Simpsons. We stock both framed and semi frameless designs, and a variety of different thicknesses of glass for you to choose from.

This guide will explain the benefits of using bi-fold and infold shower doors, the different styles available, and the different range of products available in both categories which could allow you to build your perfect bathroom and make the most of your available space.

Bi-fold shower doors

Bi-fold shower doors are one of the best ways of making the most from the available space in your bathroom area. Not only do they not extrude from the base unit of the shower, meaning that no additional space needs to be taken into account for the doors, they also use a concertina mechanism to slide open, making getting into the shower simple and easy too.

Framed or frameless?

One of the main stylistic choices to consider when choosing a shower door is whether to opt for a framed or frameless look. Framed doors tend to be cheaper as they use much lighter and thinner glass, relying on the frame support to add stability and solidity. These are the most common types of shower door around, and particularly when it comes to bi-fold doors, as the concertina mechanism is easiest to use with a lightweight material and a simple frame.

However, not all of the available doors are framed. A frameless look can really add a touch of elegance and class to any bathroom, and the exposed glass with no frame means that it can fit almost any design or colour scheme in the room. For this reason, frameless doors have proven increasingly popular choices, and there is a good compromise available for bi-fold doors too. A semi-frameless door, which leaves some exposed glass but supports the door with a metal frame on some sides, allows many of the advantages of a frameless door but also permits a bi-folding mechanism for the door to maximise the use of available space in your bathroom.

Framed Bi-fold and infold shower doors

Simpsons' Edge Bi-Fold Shower Door is a classic example of a simple yet stylish framed design. A neutral and understated design to the frame still allows it to be used in a variety of different styles of bathroom and different colour schemes. The concertina mechanism saves space, and the 6mm toughened glass makes it lightweight but also extremely durable. The door is one of the most cost effective yet stylish solutions around. Best of all, it even comes with a lifetime guarantee, a testament to its ease of use and the durability of the toughened glass.

Another typical framed design is the Matki Radiance Infold Shower Door. The frame on this design is slightly bolder, so the shower can become a key fixture of the room itself. While it may have to be carefully matched with your overall design and décor, this shower door adds a superb touch of class to the room and gives an ultra-modern feel to any bathroom. Made from super-strong aluminium, the door is highly durable but remains lightweight, too. Magnetic doors also help to ease the opening and closing of the door, and give it a super smooth action, making the door as elegant in use as it is in design.

The Kudos Original Bi-Fold Shower Door gives another classic and simple design to add style to any bathroom while also remaining hugely cost effective. The robust frame is easy to clean but adds an extra shine to any bathroom and protecting the lightweight 4mm glass. Even at such a low price, the door also features a magnetic seal to close the door securely once you're inside, making sure that the door remains tightly closed and protected against any moisture. The door is perfect for giving you style even in a small and enclosed space.

A more unique design to suit corners an inlets is the Roman Embrace Trapezium enclosure. This design has one angled side, allowing a larger shower for certain bathroom layouts where a space-saving layout would not normally be possible. The silver frame and otherwise minimalist design help to render it neutral and complementary with a wide variety of different bathroom designs and colour schemes. The door is easily reversible to allow it to fit into a variety of different angled spaces.

Finally, the Showerlux Glide Bi-Fold Shower Door adds one of the highest quality doors to work in even the smallest or tightest spaces. A simple, minimalist design means that it can work in many different styles of bathroom, but the key here is in the detail. The door makes use of an easy glide suspension system providing the action of opening and closing the door as smooth as possible, making it supremely easy to use. Magnetic sealing also makes sure the door is closed firmly and completely protects against any moisture escaping from the enclosure. The easy grip handle and chrome shower caps make it even more comfortable to use while making its practical features stand out as marks of elegance, too. The door also comes with a ten year guarantee, ensuring that customers will get plenty of use out of it for a long time.

Semi-frameless bi-fold and infold shower doors

The Kudos Infinite Bi-Fold Shower Door is perhaps the perfect example of how a frameless look can be given to a bi-folding shower door. A semi-frameless look leaves some exposed glass, while the rest of the frame uses an ultra minimalist design to give the shower an elegant look while also remaining as neutral as possible to match a huge range of designs. Made from thicker 8mm toughened safety glass, the door is as durable as it is stylish. The frame, although slight, uses chrome to lend an even further touch of quality and style, making it an excellent addition to almost any bathroom, regardless of style, design or colour scheme.

Another alternative is the super sleek Matki Colonade Infold Shower Door. An extremely minimalist frame and bold hinges help to keep the design as neutral as possible, retaining the benefits of a frameless design while keeping the easy structure and space saving infold mechanism. The design also allows a huge amount of great extras on the door to make it as easy and as smooth to use as possible. The super smooth action gliding doors make it easy to use, while a magnetic seal helps to make it close securely and lock out any moisture. A perfect fit for power showers and longer steam showers, the 6mm toughened glass can stand up to almost anything, and accordingly, it comes with a fantastic ten-year guarantee.

Glass thickness

In general, thicker glass is more expensive, but more durable, so the decision of what thickness of glass door to purchase will partly depend on your budget. However, frameless and semi frameless designs generally require thicker and heavier glass to render them just as durable as a framed door. Framed doors allow a thinner glass to be used, generally making these doors a less expensive option for customers.

Our bi-fold shower doors mostly come in 4mm and 6mm variants, although 8mm variants do exist, most notably in the semi-frameless Kudos Infinite Bi-Fold Shower Door. Make sure the thickness of glass in your shower door fits both your budget and your stylistic needs to get the perfect fit for your bathroom. Remember that thicker glass is also much heavier, so usually comes with special mechanisms to help provide a smooth glide to the door, while magnetic seals also help keep the door shut properly to guard against any moisture escaping.