Nowadays, there are plenty of shower screens out there to be had for pocket change. At the same time, at the top end of the market, you can pay hundreds for something truly luxurious. So what, exactly, is the difference?

Lets look first at the very cheapest shower screens available. They are nearly all made in China with low-quality parts, and they can have all sorts of problems. The glass will often be flimsy and easy to break, and the frame may quickly start to have trouble sliding. You might even find that it moves on its own!

At the higher end of the market, you will see ingenious solutions to every problem a shower screen could have. The glass will be toughened and could be as thick as half a centimetre. The guides for the Shower screen will be silent and easy to move.

As well as these technical features, pricier shower screens will also be much better looking than their cheaper counterparts: the manufacturers will have put some time into coming up with designs that are pleasing to the eye. After all, you have to see the shower screen in your bathroom every day, even if youre not using it.

However, expensive shower screens can also come with features you dont need. They are often more adaptable to different styles of shower, which saves you finding out which one you need, but also means that youre paying for adaptability that you might never use. Also, in practice, there is little difference between 5mm toughened glass, for example, and 2mm toughened glass, apart from a huge increase in cost.

So what should you do? Overall, it is worthwhile spending a little extra to get away from the cheapest end of the market, unless you want to replace your shower screen once a year or even more youll save more than what you spend over the long run by getting something good-quality. However, as you get into the higher price ranges you need to spend much more to get more. So buy cheap but not too cheap.