I'd go for 48". That's wide enough to give you ample room for a seat. I don't think that 48" would be wide enough for doorless. Also, you need to bear in mind how big your bathroom is and whether you wouldn't feel drafty in an open shower.

Joan, mine is 52 inches wide counting the threshold, 46 inches for the stall. 5 ft. 8 inches long and 7 ft. 8 inches tall. It is all tile with a bench and niche.
It has a frameless glass shower door and Kohler brushed
bronze shower head.

We replaced a cedar sauna so that is the reason for the
size. We like it.

Suero & Janis G,
Thanks for the info. We are thinking about a 48" wide shower because I feel like it would give us plenty of arm room. I like the idea of a bench in the shower so I am looking at ways to arrange it to make the best fit.
Also, thanks for the picture. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes seeing it is so much better than trying to visualize it.

Here's my take on shower size, based on four houses.

In our last two houses, we had 6'X4' showers. Although I liked the size, I found that both showers were a bit chilly because they were open at the top and situated in the large area of the bathroom. Our current house has a shower that is located within the former tub/shower alcove with a dropped soffit overhead. This shower is 5'9" X 32". The length is just fine for a small bench and shampoo niche, but it is too narrow (I think the extra elbow room of a 36"-42" shower would be just about perfect). OTOH, I love the dropped alcove ceiling because it keeps the shower nice and toasty warm.

My mum's house had a 3X3 shower and a 5X3 tub. Total waste of space. Shower was too tiny -- could barely turn around, no room to put a bench (which made shaving tricky), and the open top made it chilly despite it's teeny weeny size. In that space, I would have opted to ditch the tub altogether, drop a soffit and put in a nice big 8X3 shower with dual heads.

I removed a 32x32 shower LOL

Our new shower is 4x5 on the outside, and about ohhhh 3.6x 4.75 ish on the inside. No it's not enough room for a shower without a door, but it's a cozy nook with room for a small seat. It will be enclosed with frameless glass and has a light inside it (because it's one in dark tile). The half wall is to provide a toilet nook not visable to the occupant of the shower heh heh

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Igloochic,

That shower is definitely gorgeous. How do you like the size. I don't want it too big for the warmth factor but not too small so my elbows are hitting on the side.

Your's is one of the most beautiful I have seen! Thanks for sharing. Joan

We're about to start on redoing Bathroom #1, and plan on a 48" X 48" neo-angle, sort of like what Igloo chic did above.

We went to showrooms, and tried out the space- anything will be an improvement over our present 30 X 32"!

Igloo-chic, we are planning to build a pony wall (little higher than half to match up with foundation wall) on one side to separate the toilet too, where are you going to have the glass sit? (I need to have things spelled out EXACTLY). Will it be centered on that half wall or more to one side to give you room to use it as a shelf? Also, did the tiler have to slant the tile towards the shower floor? (it appears in the photo to be fairly level).

Since we'll have some extra room- was thinking of making that pony wall deep enough to store TP or magazines, whatever... This will be for a basement bath, essentially for guests, and for rinsing off after hot-tubbing.

THanks all :) I haven't actually showered in the darn thing LOL but we do like the size a lot. You can reach your arms up (as if washing your hair) and not hit anything, but it's not so spacious that you feel too much air around you. We went with a very thick frameless glass (3/4") and if anything we'll be too warm verses cold, even with the height because it's so tight. In addition, even with a water tight light fixture, you always get a little warmth off of them. Our shower in texas was bigger, and it was warm...but you'd lose warmth quickly due to the open ceiling, which is why I framed it all in. Above the door there will be a little tilt vent that will allow steam to escape as we wish, right up into the silent system :)

I also did the pony wall because I've been in showers like ours that felt like small caves. I suppose that's ok..but I never liked it. I also don't like full glass because I don't like to feel like you're on display while showering LOL The pony wall is 4' tall and 4" wide on the top. The glass will be centered throughout the wall (it's also 4" wide on those ceiling frame portions). So really you get a little shelf on each side but I actually didn't want it to be terribly useable so it wouldn't end up with crap all over it LOL

You don't see a slant in pictures, but there is a small slant on all vertical surfaces so water flows off. Particularly on the pony wall..because the rainshower had actually points out from that corner area kind of kitty corner from the door opening. I did that because it makes it easier to turn the water on without getting hit in the face with cold water when you turn it on (gets your body out of the direct stream). And then we invested in a thermostatic shower as well, so hopefully it won't be such a big deal, but in my mind...it's got to get warm somehow, and I don't want my body taking the cold water first LOL. So you can reach in, turn on the water and still stay directly out of the stream, then step in when ready.

There is a little corner seat (not really big enough to sit on) on the backside of the wall opposite the fixtures to use to save, and the nieches are huge (the little shelf is for wash cloths or soap...just 4" big). I guess in these pics you don't see that little shelf, but there are actually two shelfs per niece verses one, so you have bottle storage in four places and then the little shelf for soap (keeps the mess on one shelf to clean).

How's that for overthinking a shower LOL That stupid little thing we had was great training for shower design (i bet in a 30x32 you feel the same).

I'll let an expert comment on the mag storage if you're planning on tucking it INSIDE the pony wall on the toilet side. Our wall is just about the strongest wall in the house LOL It's almost solid studs and then framed in a marine grade plywood (thicker and stronger than normal ply) then cement board, then the rubber sealing stuff...and then tile. We did this because my tiles are 24x24 and any flex in the wall would probably result in broken tiles. We also wanted the heavy glass to sit still in an earth quake. We joke that in an earth quake it's the safest place in the house LOL but the tub is built the same...so maybe that is (we have a japenese soaking tub in the opposite corner). Oh and in all of the shower walls, I had soundproofing insulation (special for sound) and then a sheet barrier sound proofing line the walls so you don't hear the shower from the other rooms.

Anyhoo, I did think about putting a little magazine nook into the wall, but decided against it because I wanted that wall to be totally stable. The farther out the pony wall goes...the looser it gets.

How large does a shower have to be to do a doorless shower?

It's more a design question than a size question. You need either to make a wet room (large tile room with a drain in the floor) in which case you can have no door on the shower...

Or a serpentine entry, so the water is contained in the second wall area. Figuring at least a 24" opening, you'd need a minimum beginning to the serpentine of 2' and then the shower inside of that area...at least 36" wide (please...because otherwise it's a cave) so we're up to five feet....or really incredible design otherwise...

Whoa! Nellie! what an absolutely beautiful shower!
Mine pales by comparison, but it sure beats the sauna
that used to occupy that space.

As to how big a shower has to be to go doorless, I don't have a clue. I wanted the one we did for my daughter, who is handicapped, to have no threshold and no door. We just didn't have the room in her tiny little bathroom but we
did get a shower with a seat and by changing the layout of the fixtures we gave her a pretty good access to the shower.

Here is a straight in picture of the shower with the frameless door. It is like my daughter's except she has a hand held shower.

Here is the florplan of my doorless shower. Its overall dimensions are about 7 feet by 5 feet

terriks, thank you so much for posing the floorplan of your shower! We are trying to visualize a design, and this helps a lot. Our situation is quite similar. Do both walls go to the ceiling?
Any more advice on the doorless shower entry?