What is a Slipper Bath?

A slipper bath is simply a bath where one end of the bath is higher than the other. So-called double ended slipper baths rise at both ends and are lower in the middle. A double ended slipper bath with feet is generally known as a Bateau bath and a double ended slipper bath without feet which goes down to the ground or sits on a plinth is usually called a Boat bath. usually when people imagine a slipper bath they will be thinking of the typical traditional bath with ball and claw or lions paw feet but some of the latest and most sought after contemporary designs are now incorporating the slipper baths look but without feet and instead with clean minimalist lines taking the surface of the bath right down to the floor. These contemporary slipper baths can have something of the 'Alice In Wonderland' look about then with their elegant but unworldly shapes, for examples see the Clearwater Serendipity and the Royce Morgan Sunstone.

Integral to the look of most traditional slipper bath installations is the pipework that makes up the overflow, trap, outlet waste pipe and pipe shrouds or standpipes that are at the lower, or foot end of the bath. This is usually chrome although other finishes such as brushed or polished nickel are available. Most slipper baths have a tap platform on the edge at the foot end of the bath, this is an area of the bath edge where the roll flattens out for taps to be mounted on. On some baths the tap platform is very obvious in which case it is recommended that you do install taps onto the tap platform. On other slipper baths there is a more subtle transition between the role of the bath edge and the flattening of the tap platform and if you want freestanding taps on standpipes and no tap holes in the bath then its these slipper baths that would be recommended. Of course some taps can also be wall mounted.

Note that when taps are mounted onto a slipper bath through the tap platform the pipe shrouds, which are the chrome covers which go from the floor up to underneath the bath edge, and which cover the water feeds to the taps will still give that chrome pipe look at the foot end of the bath very similar to the effect you get with freestanding taps on standpipes.

Contemporary slipper baths tend not to have a tap platform and must be used with either freestanding or wall mounted taps.