This 'Clean' Bathroom Trend Might Be The Best Upgrade You Can Make To Your Shower In 2026

Your bathroom, and by extension the shower, has a significant impact on your house's resale value. List your property with outdated fixtures and designs, and you stand to lose potential buyers. But if you install one of the most-wanted bathroom features, you may observe a boost in your home's value. To uncover the best upgrade you can make to your shower in 2026, House Digest got in touch with Lauren Lerner, the founder and principal designer of Scottsdale-based luxury design firm Living with Lolo, for an exclusive interview. She reveals, "The shower design trend I expect to lead in 2026 is the curbless walk-in shower with continuous floor tile that runs from the bathroom floor straight through the shower without interruption."

Although curbless walk-in showers aren't a new concept and were introduced in the U.S. in the early 2000s, they're witnessing a rise in popularity now. This is because "the look is clean and architectural, the floor reads as one unbroken plane, and the shower integrates into the bathroom rather than sitting in it like a separate box," Lerner explains. As such, she notes that they're turning into a default expectation for luxurious or bespoke bathroom remodels. And the best part? It's a brilliant walk-in shower idea for small bathrooms to maximize space. So, you don't have to set aside a significant chunk of your bathing space to install curbless showers.

Listing the reasons why curbless shower designs are experiencing a surge in popularity in 2026, Lauren Lerner tells House Digest exclusively, "It checks a universal design box, which matters to buyers who are thinking long-term about accessibility and resale." Individuals requiring a wheelchair and aging couples especially benefit from this upgrade. She also highlights the lack of a complicated material palette in such designs. The absence of a shower-tub combo makes cleanup easier, since you just have to wipe away a glass enclosure. 

Thinking of renovating your traditional shower area and going curbless? Lerner has some useful tips for you. She suggests, "The single most important piece of advice I'd give any homeowner pursuing this design is to treat the planning phase as seriously as the selection phase. Most people spend weeks choosing tile and five minutes talking about drain placement and waterproofing." Since these will determine whether water drains well or pools around fixtures, it's vital the walls and floors be sealed properly. "The materials are what you see, but the technical execution underneath is what determines whether the shower works and holds up," reasons Lerner.

Turning a traditional shower-tub combo into a curbless shower can be quite complex. This is why one of the first requirements for a seamless transition is choosing the best shower drain for your bathroom design. Lauren Lerner recommends in her exclusive chat with House Digest, "Do invest in proper linear drain placement. The entire shower floor needs to slope correctly toward the drain, and if the linear drain isn't positioned well, you end up with pooling water outside the shower zone." As this can cause water damage in the long run, with the dirty liquid soaking through the subfloor and leaking from the shower area to the rest of your bathroom, expert installation is a must.

Our expert concurs and elaborates, "Don't assume any contractor can execute this. The waterproofing and slope work behind a curbless shower is more technical than a standard install. If the liner isn't set up correctly, you will have moisture problems inside the wall and subfloor within a few years." So, always undertake a few due diligence steps before hiring someone to work on your home.

Moreover, you should "use a large-format tile or continuous stone slab on the floor. The whole visual argument for this design is uninterrupted material, so grout lines that stop and restart at the threshold undercut the effect," explains our expert. So, ensure the floor doesn't look divided. Lerner also mentions that you shouldn't overlook a niche. "An open shower without a curb has nowhere to stop a bottle from rolling out. A recessed niche is not optional," she clarifies.