Polished Nickel Shower Screen

Vauxhall Bridge

The polished nickel shower screen is the dominant choice of finish after chrome brass and black screens. Most traditional bathroom interiors use nickel because of its elegance, brighter shade and richer look than regular chrome. Some people find it difficult to distinguish between polished chrome and nickel, but the latter has a warmer hue. Unlike mirror polished nickel finish, the brush effect gives the nickel a grey tint due to its dullness and looks more like stainless steel.

Master bathroom

Old screen removal and replacement

We were allowed to install a Nickel Shower Screen with double nickel framed doors in one of London's stunning high-end apartments. Before that, an existing shower screen from another supplier was installed there. However, the client was not happy with the previous screen, which was flimsy, the doors stopped closing correctly, and details such as visible bolts were not acceptable. As a result, the client decided to replace it with our product.

The client was satisfied with the current layout of doors and dimensions. Therefore, there was no need to negotiate and invent a lot. We only decided to add openings in the corners for air circulation and slightly modify the door handles. When we make fully-framed shower doors, we can make handles of almost any size and shape on our CNC machine and give them the same finish as the frames. In this case, providing the mirror finish with a polished look was essential, so anodising was not an option. Instead, we decided to do our framed shower doors with electroless nickel plating and mirror polish them.

Polished nickel shower screen frame advantages

The main advantage, of course, is the bright and shiny look of nickel plating on such frames. You can, of course, use anodising, but it will never give a shiny mirror effect due to the differences in the characteristics of these technologies. Also, of course, plating is better if you need a polished product, but anodising is easier to achieve and cheaper if you need a brushed or satin nickel finish.

The advantages include a withstanding to scratches. Polished nickel is extremely hard to scratch. The coating is firm and wear-resistant if everything is made correctly. It is the main reason for choosing nickel plating on various fasteners and moving parts - this is not so important for shower cabins. Still, it's worth mentioning if you compare anodising and chrome plating.

SHOWER DOORS IN FRAMES

polished nickel shower screen with a frame

Disadvantages of nickel screens

The main disadvantage is the high cost of such products. The price of only a polished nickel finish for long frames can exceed the product's price itself; for example, a black anodised black grid style screen made and installed can cost less than polished nickel plating only. The main reason is that few suppliers in the UK have long tanks for nickel plating. Frankly, when the order was placed, we knew only one supplier doing electroless nickel plating on lengths up to 2000mm and one ready to make up to 3000mm out of our dozens of enquiries and searches. The reason is that most orders they have are small parts and items. Since there's just a small amount of orders like we need, the demand is low, and the price skyrocket. Given this, we recently began doing nickel plating ourselves in our workshop to all required standards and polishing them to a mirror finish.

Another essential disadvantage worth mentioning is the maintenance of such frames. The limescale that stays after showering is pretty noticeable on such nickel shower screens. The mirror surface is very sticky to soap and limescale and requires constant care. Moreover, if you do not take care of the surface and keep it constantly damp, the surface may begin to be rejected by aluminium frames and peel off. Therefore, the frames should be cleaned more often than usual with cleaning products suitable for this purpose.

In general, nickel frames look better than most alternatives, and if the budget allows, they will fit perfectly into the interior and give the desired result.

BESPOKE SHOWER DOORS