Ten years ago, specifying hardware finishes for a shower enclosure was not much of a decision. Polished chrome was the industry standard, it was what suppliers stocked, and it was what customers received. Most people encounter these decisions mid-renovation, when some of them are harder to reverse.
Today, the choice spans several distinct finishes, each with its own properties, risks, and ideal applications.
The finishes
Polished chrome remains the dominant choice, accounting for the majority of installations. It is a bright, mirror-like surface, compatible with virtually every tile choice, available across all hardware configurations, and carrying no colour-matching risk against other fittings. For most bathrooms, it is still the right answer.
Brushed or satin finishes share the same silver base as polished chrome but are processed to produce a matte, directional texture. The result is a finish that does not catch the eye, consistently chosen by customers who find polished surfaces too demanding of attention.
Matte black creates deliberate contrast, particularly against white or off-white tile. It works best in bathrooms where contrast is already part of the design language, such as dark grout, black tapware, or a feature wall.
Antique brass carries faint dark lines worked into the surface, producing an aged quality that suits bathrooms with warmer material choices: timber vanities, textured wall tiles, earthy tones.
Satin gold is a matte, metallic gold, quite different from the high-gloss gold of an earlier era. It has grown sharply in demand and is a finish that not all suppliers carry, which is worth knowing when comparing quotes.
A note on gold
Gold, however, requires more care in specification than any other finish. The shade varies between manufacturers significantly enough that hardware from different suppliers will rarely read as the same colour in the same space. Obtain a sample of the intended finish before purchasing tapware or any other fittings.
One category worth flagging separately is champagne gold and champagne bronze. These are frequently requested and are not available through Shower Haus. When sourced independently they carry real compatibility risks, hardware cut-out details vary between manufacturers, and fittings that have not been specified together rarely come together cleanly on site.
Materials
Beneath the finish, the alloy matters too. For frameless enclosures, two materials are available: solid brass and 304 grade stainless steel. Stainless steel is the industry standard and performs well across the vast majority of applications. Brass is the more durable of the two, salt-resistant and better suited to coastal environments. If you are within a few kilometres of the ocean, it is worth asking about.
One finish note specific to hardware type: pivot hinges are available in black and chrome only, regardless of material. If your bathroom hardware is specified in brushed gold, satin gold, or antique brass, a wall-mount hinge is the configuration that will allow you to match it.
Handles
The same finish logic applies to handles, which are the most visible hardware element in the enclosure. The default handle across the Shower Haus range is a back-to-back grooved pull handle, the same profile on both sides of the glass, mirror image front and back. Where needed, a towel rail can be specified in place of or alongside the standard handle, mounted on the door or on a fixed panel. Handles, hinges, and clamps are all available in matching finishes, ensuring consistency across the full installation.
When the configuration is not straightforward
Finish and hardware selection assume one thing: that the space cooperates. Walls are almost never perfectly level and corners are rarely perpendicular, most customers are surprised by this when a specialist arrives on site.
Non-standard angles require specialised hinges sourced for the specific configuration. A raked ceiling requires the glass to be physically templated on site before it can be cut. Toughened glass cannot be recut once it has been processed, so a wrong measurement means remaking the glass from scratch.
Pentagonal configurations carry a specific limitation worth knowing early. If the tiling has produced unequal panel lengths, a frameless enclosure may not be possible, and a framed alternative becomes the practical solution.
Where wall clamping is not possible, glass slots into a mounted channel instead, with floor clamps providing stability and no visible wall fixings. In certain configurations, a pivot mechanism replaces a conventional hinge entirely, mounted from the floor or a lintel rather than the wall.
Most of these situations are straightforward once they are known about. A conversation with a specialist early in the process is usually all it takes.
The range
The range has grown considerably over the past decade. Whatever the finish, the configuration, or the environment, there is a hardware solution that fits. The full range is in our showroom, and a specialist can walk you through what works for your specific space.