Shower niche ideas and best practices for your bathroom

A shower niche is more important than you probably realize. For many people, shower niches can make or break the usefulness of the shower.

A bathroom niche will help keep your shower organized, offering a convenient space for bottles and scrubs. They’re also a great design opportunity since so many modern showers have clear glass walls or an open design.

Image source: Sisters in Sync Design

Shower niches are such small spaces that it’s hard to figure out how to build a shower niche that’s actually useful. Here are some great shower niche ideas to help you create the best shower for your home.

Basic Shower Niche

Image source: Drury Design

A shower niche is essentially a shelf to store bathroom products that sit in your shower wall. This will help keep them neat and organized. If multiple people use the space, this is an especially great idea.

It’s all too easy for your shower to become crowded by bottles and other items if you don’t provide a space to keep and organize them.

Bathroom Niche Ideas

Image source: Key Residential

• The first thing you need to do in order to design a shower niche is to figure out what you plan on storing there. This will allow you to determine the right shower niche size. Some common items many people store in shower niches include shampoo bottles, conditioner bottles, hair treatments, soap bars, liquid body wash bottles, facial wash containers, scrubs, razors, shaving cream, hair combs, exfoliating mitts, and squeegees for the shower screen. Once you’ve determined what you’re going to be storing in the shower niche space, you’ll have a better idea of what the shower niche dimensions should be.

Image source: Cuegroup

• If more than one person uses the shower, try to create a shower niche that allows for items to be easily separated for every person. This will make it a lot easier for all parties involved to find where their shower items are located.

Image source: Courtney Blanton Interiors, CID

• Remember, your shower niche height should be tall and deep enough to make it easy to get things out of the shower niche and put them back. No one should be trying to force anything in the shelf or tugging very hard to get it out. Having to do this is extremely frustrating, especially when you’re not quite awake, and can make for a terrible start to a day. Most shower niches are taller than they are wide or deep.

Image source: k YODER design, LLC

• Longer, horizontal niches are getting increasingly popular. They’re more dramatic and add a modern chic look to the space. They will also hold more stuff. However, they are more time consuming to integrate.

Image source: Webber + Studio, Architects

• Try to position the shower niche between chest height and eye level. This will allow most people to clearly see and reach everything that is stored in it.

Image source: Atlas Marble and Granite

• If you’re trying to figure out how to tile a shower niche, consider creating a shower niche with a seamless calm look. This will help make your shower a calm and quiet retreat. Achieve this by using the same tiles as you use in the rest of the space. This will help tie the look together, especially if you use that same tile in other areas throughout the bathroom.

Image source: ART Design Build

• If you want to add some personality to the space, consider using patterned tile in your shower niche. This can be a fun and unconventional look. Choose tile that can be used on both sides and the middle of the shower niche. This tile’s pattern and/or color should complement but not match the rest of the tile in your shower. This will turn the shower niche into a nice decorative feature. You can also frame it with stone or tile for a more subdued but still unique look.

Image source: dSPACE Studio Ltd, AIA

• It looks best for tile to be symmetrical around the shower niche. Remember to keep the tile dimensions when designing your shower niche. Avoid having to cut tiles to look smaller on one side or both of the niche.

Image source: Rockridge Fine Homes

• You may need to use bullnose tile for your shower niche, especially if you’re using ceramic tile that does not have color throughout its body. This is more difficult with porcelain but is rarely a problem with stone.
• A nice, unconventional shower niche idea is to create two shower niches, one at showering height and another that can be reached from the bath. Each can hold products for their respective kind of bathing. This will help keep everything organized and will be incredibly convenient for anyone taking a bath.

Image source: Jennifer Markanich Timeless Interiors

• Try to position the shower niche so that water from the shower doesn’t hit the niche directly. This will make it harder to clean since water will sit and any runoff from the bottles stored in the shower niche will be washed onto the shelf. It will also make bottles even more slippery when you shower.
• If you live in a cold weather climate, try not to place the shower niche against an outside wall. The shower niche will displace insulation that helps keep the cold out. If you have to place in against an outside wall anyway, put in some kind of polyurethane insulation. Otherwise, the tile might frost up when it’s very cold outside.

Image source: Spivey Architects, Inc.

• A shower niche should fit between wall studs. This will make sure that the shower niche does not compromise the structural integrity of your home. In most homes, this space is about 2 feet wide. Depending on what you do with your shower niche design, it will be a bit smaller than that, though a simple glass shelf will maximize the space available.

Image source: Lotus Construction Group

• A shower niche can be larger in new walls. Your contractors can easily adjust the width of the studs in a new wall, as well as make sure that plumbing and electrical wires are out of the way.
• Be sure that your contractor waterproofs the shower niche. They should use a product like Red Guard. This will ensure that there is good drainage. It’s extremely important if you’re using mosaic tiles since leaks can cause a lot of damage over time.

Image source: Valley Glass & Windows

Conclusion

A shower niche is a helpful addition to your bathroom that offers a lot of opportunities for creativity. It can be a sleek modern subdued shelf or a fun, mosaic-backed cubby. It’s up to you!