Hi Antionette

There is no right or wrong however which one you choose affects how you tile in order to achieve a fall. The fall is more important than people think as when you minimise it, aside from not complying with the construction codes, the reality is that surface water retained breeds bacteria ie feet issues.

A square drain will necessitate large tiles be cut up in angles to get the drainage as obviously they can't be angled otherwise. This results in diagonal lines emanating from the drain.

We often tile with 600 x 600 sizes so prefer to use linear drains eg 900 x 100 most of the time. This allows the fall to one end of the shower. They also come with either a tile insert or different patterns of grate and in other sizes.

They do require a bit of setting out beforehand ie is the plumbing on the centre, left or right side of the grate but are easy enough to use once that is thought through. They also come in various stock sizes or you can have made to order if you have enough time.

If you are using a large tile I would recommend a linear grate.

cheers

We have a channel grate drain in our new house but I really wished we just went for the normal drain! We find channel drain harder to clean, and it is 10 times bigger in grate area.