i like a minimum of 4 x 4 (mine is 4 by 5-ish)

Ours is 32x42 measured on the floor, with a not-quite-6" curb making the "elbow room" a bit under 38x42 (we also use a shower curtain rather than a solid door so there's no whacking of elbows), and it is very, VERY comfortable. We sized it from the showers at the fancy-schmancy gym DH used to go to. I even sent a tape measure in with him one day! It has two nicely sized ceramic corner shelves rather than a niche, since the shelves were waaaaay cheaper. DH is the only shower user so I only used two (and he can really fit all his stuff on one), if I had known we were going to sell so soon I would have put three shelves.

One apartment we rented had a single 3.5x7' bathroom with half of it tiled (with a thick mud job so it wasn't quite the full width) to create a shower. I would guess that it was about 38x40". It fit both of us with me in a small shower chair, since at times I couldn't raise my arms to wash my hair, and DH is not skinny by a longshot.

In my current house, I have a 32x32 inch: its not all *that* bad.

Two masters in the new house, one shower will be about 42x60, the other about 48x72.

They don't need to be that large, but if you have the space, it's nice way to spend it.

Mine is 3' wide by 5' deep. I squeezed out all the space I could in our little bath for both a shower and a tub so this is all we could come up with. Our former shower stall was 32x32 and we HATED it!

I mounted the shower head and controls on a 45 degree corner in the back of the shower (cuts out 16" from the back corner) so that you aren't spraying yourself directly when you turn on the water (you can reach in a bit from the side) and added a thermostatic shower device to help with this.

The two neiches are 12" wide by 34" tall, one on each side of the 45 degree cut out. They will have two shelfs (one at about 5" up and the other in the middle of the balance of the area so you have a place for soap at "hand" level. They're an important part of the design factor and I wanted them large both for function, and to cut the dark color of the tile for the main wall (it's chocolate brown with ivory colored travertine in the neiches).

I have a 4' wall on one side of the shower (between it and the toilet) and it's open at the front. The open areas (above the pony wall and in front) will be seamless glass.

Given the size of our old shower, anything will be roomy :) but if I'd have been able to leave the toilet out and have the entire back wall shower...I'd have done it (DH would have killed me) heh heh

Mine is 4 1/2 feet wide by 5 feet long. Bench along back is 4 1/2 feet by 14 inches wide. Paddytc