I am adding a master bath to my house too. My bath might be larger though. I could put in a tub and separate shower if I want. But I like the look of a larger bath. Besides, I never use the tub anyway. I'd like to, but it would be what? Twice a year? Shower the other 363 days? So after talking with the contractor, he's telling me that these days people are asking to NOT put in a tub. He's also telling me jets are phasing "out". I decided against the tub. We have one in another room (the "main" bath). I'd personally tell you that if you have NO tubs and will move one day, put the tub in. However, if you have a tub somewhere in the house already on a main level or near other bedrooms, then do what you want! You will need one tub for resale because someone with kids might buy the house...

Personally, I'm opting for a luxurious 6x4' shower with a bench. Then, outside, I'm getting another built in bench near the linen closet to sit on when getting dressed! Much better than a tub that will not get used often if at all.

Dahoov2, states it very nicely.

I have a 2 bathroom house and did keep one tub. It is in the room that is least used as a bathing bathroom, and more of a guest bathroom, mud room. The room where we get ready for the day only has a shower. I put in a nice one having recently remodeled. I took out the old tub/shower comb and just went with a shower. I do not regret it. Once, a few months ago I had a desire to soak and went to the other bathroom for a bath. I had remodeled that room too, a few years ago and felt luxurious in my small tub. I take about 3 baths a year, though I shower daily :)

I have the one tub for future grandchildren, pet washings, bucket filling, calf bottle milk mixing, etc, what ever is needed on our family farm. This bathroom is just off the kitchen and close to the back door and barn yard. I washed my children in this tub so handy next to the kitchen and visible from the kitchen sink. My 23 year old son was quit nostalgic about the tub when I started that remodel, so I replaced the same setup, instead of putting a washer/dryer there. So in a way it is sort of like a mud room, after traipsing through the kitchen, lol. Oh and if you need to soak something large, like a blanket, a tub works great.

I'm just reminiscing, thanks for listening.

Enduring, I've got a second bathroom that has a tub so I'm thinking just having a bigger shower might be the way to go. Any recommendations on what kind of shower I should look at? Wondered about a Tile shower but I've never had one and wondering if there is a lot more maintenance than a fiberglass style shower.

No problem listening. It's a pleasure listening to others and how they use things. It's really helpful when making choices!

@bheim1: There are things to consider with all showers. I have a tub/shower combo in that other bath. It's acrylic. Blech. But it's common, cheaper and does the job. They now make them a little nicer, some even look like faux tile. Then there's bath fitters and those sorts of companies. I'll give you my 2 cents. I hate that. They come in like high pressure sales, show you slide presentations, take out books and samples like window guys do... then they ask you questions like "how much do you think this will all cost?". Well the guy said what 20K? I said for a plastic bath/tub surround? HOLY .... but he said well how much? I said well I priced marble and travertine, with a nice quality tub and glass shower doors. Total was 5k not including the labor, but i'll get a guy to do the tub for me and I'll do the tile so I'm thinking 6k? He said "well it's double that but I can give it to you this week for only 8k". LOL Plastic vs travertine and a modern tub vs cheaper looking one and glass shower doors vs a shower curtain? They are over priced. I would never do this. I'm sure others will disagree.

With Tile, you have to consider grout lines and caulking very well. If you are willing to clean that and do the maintainance a couple times a year, do that. It's less space than a shower insert. Those tub combos may have shelves built in. Ours feels cramped. I feel like if they took out that little bumpout and no bar to hang a wash cloth, those 2" would mean a world of difference.

My fiberglass/acrylic combo unit is needing to be changed after 18 -19 years. It looks dull and dirty now. Scrubbies scratched it and near the shampoo bottle crackles are there. Tile cracks too I guess.

I'm thinking all in all it's about looks in the end. I think it's pretty even trade off ...

We recently remodeled our master bath of similar size - it's 7.5' x 11'. It had a tub and separate shower arrangement, but we never used the tub in there. We removed the tub (we have another bathroom with a shower/tub combo) and rearranged things and built a bigger, doorless tiled shower. I love it. The whole room feels bigger and is much more functional.

I don't really find the tiled shower more maintenance than the solid surface (fiberglass??). The grouts that are available these days are excellent, and having a really good fan is a must. We squeegee after every shower which takes about a minute max.

It all depends on your budget and the look you are going for, I would think.

Ditto to what Leela said. Except ours was a new build, not a remodel. We saved money by not installing a tub - put that money toward a nice, large tiled shower.

If you don't take baths, why include a tub in your MB? As long as there is one some place in the house - that seems to be the important factor. The only thing - if you decide to not include a tub, can you leave space for one, just in case you/a future owner wants to install a tub? We're putting a bench in that empty space - use it for our clothes while we're showering, sit on it while we get dressed. For us, that is better than a tub we would not have used.

Your bathroom looks quite roomy so I imagine you have a lot of possible layout options. Personally I'd start making lists of what is most important to you and the minimum sizes of those things that would work. For example, do you want/need a toilet room or can that be in the open? Do you want two sinks? One vanity or two - and how big? Linen closet? What size shower sounds comfortably large but not so cavernous that cleaning will be annoying?

I don't think you need a tub, but it might be nice to have for resale or for occasional bath use. No need to get a jetted tub. I found a lovely deep soaker that we put in our main bath (no room in the master) and it's great. I think a nice large shower or better yet a shower for two would be really luxurious, and more important to me than having a tub. But then I'm not a bath taker either.