11 Best Shower Pan System | Skip The Mud Bed, Not The Slope

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The bare 38″ x 60″ tray that kills the mortar bed without the kit price.

If your shower plumbing already sits center and your opening is a standard 38″ x 60″, this tray slots in with almost no fuss. It is the bare base — expanded polystyrene foam with the Kerdi membrane on top — and it eliminates the mortar bed entirely. You add your own band, corners, and drain, which is exactly the route a tiler with leftover waterproofing stock wants.

What buyers keep coming back to is how quickly it goes down. The install speed is what wins most people over, and the molded slope drains exactly as it should once tiled. Many describe it as a time and money saver compared to mixing and floating a mud bed by hand. The weight is the giveaway — 3.4 pounds means you are carrying it in one hand, not wrestling a cement mix up a flight of stairs.

The honest limit: it’s just the tray. No membrane roll, no corners, no drain flange ships in this box, so if you are starting from zero on waterproofing supplies, the kit version above saves you a shopping trip. And because it’s foam, treat the edges with care before the tile goes on — a chunk knocked off a corner is a chunk you have to patch.

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Same 38″ x 60″ footprint as the tray above, but with the drain shifted off-center.

Here’s where the buying decision gets specific. This tray measures 38″ x 60″ — identical to the KST965 — but the outlet is off-center, which is the match for a shower where the drain pipe does not sit dead middle. Getting that alignment right is the difference between dropping a tray in and cutting a new hole in your subfloor.

Thickness is worth noting. At 1.14″ tall it is dramatically slimmer than a 9″ tall assembled kit, so it sits close to the floor and keeps your finished shower threshold low. It weighs 7.7 pounds, so it’s easy to test-fit before you commit to thinset. The expanded polystyrene core carries Schluter-KERDI waterproofing directly, ready for tile the moment it’s set.

Flexibility is the theme across this tray family — twelve distinct sizes, including neo-angle and off-center models, for both replacements and new construction. The one thing to double-check before ordering is that your plumbing truly is off-center; a center-drain install on this tray means moving the pipe.

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The center-drain version tilers have leaned on for years, in the same slim 1.14″ profile.

Pick this one when your drain sits center and your opening is 38″ x 60″. It’s the same 1.14″ sloped profile as the off-center model above, but with the outlet where most alcove plumbing already lives. The KERDI membrane is bonded on, the surface is ready for tile, and there is no mortar bed to mix.

What wins people over is the build quality of the foam base itself — it is the aspect owners mention most about this tray. Tilers who have used these for years call the tray a tilesetter’s dream, and it holds up installation after installation. One succinct owner put it: “Great product and price. The best way to do a shower with tile.” Value draws mixed feelings — some find it a bargain, others find it on the pricey side — but the base itself rarely draws complaints.

The practical caveat: it is expanded polystyrene, so it’s light but not armored. Keep it flat and covered on site before tile day. There is no weight listed for this variant in the spec sheet, but the same-family KST965 comes in at 3.4 pounds, so expect a one-person carry.

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The smaller footprint for tight baths and narrow stalls — 36″ x 48″ of pre-sloped base.

Smaller bathrooms are where this tray earns its keep. At 36″ x 48″ it covers the footprint of a compact stall, and because it’s only 3″ tall it keeps the threshold low and doesn’t eat headroom. That size also contrasts sharply with the 38″ x 60″ family — you are choosing it because your opening demands it, not because it’s a step down in quality.

Construction follows the rest of the line: expanded polystyrene foam, KERDI waterproofing laminated on, center outlet, ready for tile the moment it’s bonded down. You skip the mortar bed entirely, and the slope is molded in so the water direction is one less thing to get wrong. It goes in lightweight and finishes as a solid, tiled floor over foam.

The one thing to size carefully: with a smaller tray, the drain position has even less forgiveness. Confirm your center outlet lines up before ordering, because there’s no perimeter to trim around a misaligned pipe. Like every bare tray in this family, you supply the band, corners, and drain.

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A wider 48″ x 60″ base for a more generous walk-in, at 5.4 pounds.

When you’re replacing an old tub-and-shower combo or building a wider walk-in, the 48″ x 60″ footprint here gives you more floor than the 38″ x 60″ models. It ships with a Kerdi collar for sealing the drain-to-tray connection, and the tray itself carries integrated waterproofing. At 5.4 pounds it’s easy enough for a single person to maneuver into position.

Owner reviews praise the build quality of this tray above anything else. Ease of use runs right behind: the design lets a DIYer skip the mud pan entirely, and the ready-to-tile surface cuts the prep work down. A couple coats of care with the collar and the drain seal, and you’re laying tile.

What to know going in: it’s a bare tray, so budget for membrane, band, corners, and grate separately. And a 48″ width wants a framing plan that actually accommodates it — measure the rough opening before you fall for the extra space.

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A full 60″ x 60″ square base that turns a large bath into a true walk-in.

Square walk-in showers need a square tray, and this 60″ x 60″ model delivers it in the same sloped, waterproof format as the smaller trays. It sits at a slim 0.5″ profile and weighs just 4.6 pounds, so it drops in without a crew. Center outlet, KERDI waterproofing built in, ready to tile.

This is the tray for someone with the square footage to spend on a spacious shower and center-drain plumbing to match. There’s no mortar bed, no maintenance afterward, and the molded slope means your water direction is handled before the first tile goes down. The neat trick is how light a 60″ x 60″ base can be when it’s foam rather than cement.

The trade-off is the size commitment. A 60″ x 60″ tray needs a 60″ x 60″ opening — there’s no trimming your way out of a mismatch on a square this big. Confirm both dimensions and the center drain before you order.

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The biggest footprint in the family — 72″ x 72″ for a genuinely oversized wet room.

Custom builds that want a real wet-room feel land here. This tray is a full 72″ x 72″, which is a step up from even the 60″ square model above — you’re covering a significantly larger floor with the same pre-sloped, waterproof format. It’s expanded polystyrene with KERDI waterproofing, centered outlet, ready for tile.

Despite the size, it’s still a foam tray, so it moves without heavy equipment. The whole point is that a shower this big would otherwise mean a large, slow mortar bed — and this pre-sloped base replaces that with a level of consistency you can’t easily float by hand. The 10-year limited warranty applies when installed to Schluter’s handbook.

Two things to plan: your center drain must land in the middle of a 72″ x 72″ opening, and a tray this large still needs membrane, banding, corners, and a grate added. Also confirm the room is framed for 72″ both ways, because there’s no trimming a square this big to fit.

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Long and narrow, with the drain pushed to the side instead of the middle.

This is the tray for the walk-in that’s deep but not wide — 36″ x 72″. Unusually for this family, the outlet is side-positioned, which is the fit for plumbing that runs along one wall rather than under the center. It’s one of ten configurations in this line with center and perimeter drain placements, so you can match the drain to the layout rather than the other way around.

It weighs 13 pounds, heavier than the slim trays because it’s a larger molded piece. The core is expanded polystyrene with KERDI waterproofing bonded on, ready to tile, and it’s 4″ tall. Because the drain sits to the side, the slope is pitched along the long axis, which is why getting this specific model for a side-drain layout matters.

Before ordering, verify that side outlet against your rough-in — this is a purpose-built tray, and a center-drain install is a different model. As with every bare tray here, band, corners, and grate are separate.

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The 48″ x 48″ kit with a full membrane roll, curb, and drain flange in the box.

Converting a tub alcove into a walk-in? This kit targets that exact job with a 48″ x 48″ tray. Unlike the bare trays, it bundles a Kerdi-Board-SC curb 48″ x 6″ x 4-1/2″, a Kerdi-Drain PVC flange with a 2″ outlet, a 3′ 3″ x 33′ roll of Kerdi waterproofing membrane, a 5″ x 33′ roll of Kerdi-Band strip, and four inside plus two outside corners. That’s the whole waterproof layer in one order.

Install ease and build quality are what win people over on this kit, and the included membrane roll means you’re not hunting for banding mid-install. It’s vapor-tight, so it suits a standard tiled shower and works where you want a tighter moisture envelope. At 23 pounds packed, it’s a two-box-equivalent order, so plan your carrying help.

The catch is the square size. A 48″ x 48″ tray fits a tub-replacement footprint, not a standard 38″ x 60″ alcove — measure the opening before you buy. And like its sibling kit, it ships without a grate so you can pick your trim finish.

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A standard-size alcove kit with ABS drain parts, built for the everyday remodel.

Same 38″ x 60″ tray size as the top pick, but this version uses ABS plastic drain components rather than PVC. If your drain rough-in is ABS, that’s the version you want — a wrong plastic type is a plumbing mismatch you don’t want to discover on install day. It bundles the tray, curb, membrane, banding, corners, and drain flange, so the waterproof layer arrives complete.

Quality is what owners praise most about this kit, and installation comes close behind. It’s been in service long enough for buyers to report favorably on it: “been just over 2 years since I bought and installed this, no problems with it.” A lot of the install confidence comes from Schluter’s own videos, which walk you through the membrane and banding step by step. The kit is maintenance-free once tiled and backed by a 10-year limited warranty.

The trade-off is the same as the other kits: no drain grate, so choose your trim separately, and a couple of owners find the price a touch high compared to sourcing parts a la carte. The 38″ x 60″ tray covers a standard alcove but not a 48″ square tub-replacement footprint.