Five-Star Shower Niches With True Design Flair
Four Houzz designers share their favourite shower niches, and provide tips to help you make the most of your toiletry space
Becky Harris
29 March 2016
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More
They may seem like tiny details, but shower niches play a role in how well a modern shower functions. They prevent a jumble of bottles from taking up residence on the shower floor or cluttering up a windowsill or shower bench, instead keeping products neat and within easy reach. And because clear glass surrounds and open showers are so popular in bathrooms today, the niche has become a design opportunity. We asked four designers for the nitty gritty on five-star shower niches and tips to consider during your next shower update.
A calm, seamless look
Material: Sheets of Starphire glass custom-painted on the back to match the surrounding tile
Shower tile: 5 x 30 centimetre Lucian glass tile in ‘Oxygen Gloss’ from Ann Sacks
Niche size: 25 centimetres high by 61 centimetres wide by 13 centimetres deep
Designer: Beth Kooby
Material: Sheets of Starphire glass custom-painted on the back to match the surrounding tile
Shower tile: 5 x 30 centimetre Lucian glass tile in ‘Oxygen Gloss’ from Ann Sacks
Niche size: 25 centimetres high by 61 centimetres wide by 13 centimetres deep
Designer: Beth Kooby
Designer Beth Kooby considers bottle sizes and overall proportion of the niche in relation to the rest of the shower. “What’s also very important to me is that there are no cut tiles, so I usually wait to decide on the final dimensions of the niche once we have the tiles on site and I work it out with the tile installer,” she says.
This bathroom serves as a quiet retreat, so a calm, peaceful and uncluttered look was key. Kooby extended the Ann Sacks glass tiles from the shower across the vanity wall for a seamless look. The concrete vanity benchtop also has bits of recycled glass mixed in it.
This bathroom serves as a quiet retreat, so a calm, peaceful and uncluttered look was key. Kooby extended the Ann Sacks glass tiles from the shower across the vanity wall for a seamless look. The concrete vanity benchtop also has bits of recycled glass mixed in it.
Here we get a closer look at the floor tile, ‘Helsinki’ marble from Walker Zanger.
TIP: “I don’t like grout lines in niches – there is too much gunk from shampoo and soap to clean out,” Kooby says. “Also, it’s disappointing to me when it’s obvious the builder made the niche to just fit within the studs. I love a long, horizontal niche. It’s more dramatic and holds more.”
But even with a larger niche, “I also always advise clients to take a hard look at the amount of stuff cluttering up their beautiful shower – does one really need five different types of shampoo?”
9 steps to a clutter-free bathroom
TIP: “I don’t like grout lines in niches – there is too much gunk from shampoo and soap to clean out,” Kooby says. “Also, it’s disappointing to me when it’s obvious the builder made the niche to just fit within the studs. I love a long, horizontal niche. It’s more dramatic and holds more.”
But even with a larger niche, “I also always advise clients to take a hard look at the amount of stuff cluttering up their beautiful shower – does one really need five different types of shampoo?”
9 steps to a clutter-free bathroom
Pattern play
Material: On the insert, the designer used a strong herringbone patterned tile. The outside perimeter of the niche is polished black square tile. Inside the top and bottom of the niche is ‘Lifestone Statuario’.
Shower tile: 30.5 x 61 centimetre ‘Lifestone Statuario’ from Cancos
Niche size: About 1.2 metres wide by 30.5 centimetres high and about 114 centimetres off the floor
Designer: Heather Alton
Material: On the insert, the designer used a strong herringbone patterned tile. The outside perimeter of the niche is polished black square tile. Inside the top and bottom of the niche is ‘Lifestone Statuario’.
Shower tile: 30.5 x 61 centimetre ‘Lifestone Statuario’ from Cancos
Niche size: About 1.2 metres wide by 30.5 centimetres high and about 114 centimetres off the floor
Designer: Heather Alton
Because the view into this shower is so open from the rest of the bathroom, the shower niche and tile detail around the fixtures play an important part in its design.
The wide niche is the yin to the long accent feature’s yang, providing pleasing proportions between the two rectangles of accent tile.
The wide niche is the yin to the long accent feature’s yang, providing pleasing proportions between the two rectangles of accent tile.
The wainscoting in this bathroom is adorned with ‘jewellery’ in the form of upholstery nail heads. The small mosaic tiles around the niche play off this detail across the room.
TIP: The best-planned niches may have to be altered during construction, designer Heather Alton says. “When renovating, there is the occasional instance where niche locations will need to change due to the fact there is plumbing or vents inside the wall, especially on an outside wall.” In these cases, some reconfiguration may have to happen during construction. She also notes that with an exterior wall, you’ll need to ensure that it’s properly insulated.
Alton considers everyone who uses the shower to factor in how much room they’ll need. In the case of siblings who share a bathroom, she tries to give each a personal niche. She likes to have the clients present when planning shaving shelves, to find the most comfortable height. She also advises a two-niche solution in a tub-shower combo, one at a comfortable height for showering and the other within easy reach of bathers.
Shower-bath combos for smaller bathrooms
TIP: The best-planned niches may have to be altered during construction, designer Heather Alton says. “When renovating, there is the occasional instance where niche locations will need to change due to the fact there is plumbing or vents inside the wall, especially on an outside wall.” In these cases, some reconfiguration may have to happen during construction. She also notes that with an exterior wall, you’ll need to ensure that it’s properly insulated.
Alton considers everyone who uses the shower to factor in how much room they’ll need. In the case of siblings who share a bathroom, she tries to give each a personal niche. She likes to have the clients present when planning shaving shelves, to find the most comfortable height. She also advises a two-niche solution in a tub-shower combo, one at a comfortable height for showering and the other within easy reach of bathers.
Shower-bath combos for smaller bathrooms
Three-niche focal point
Material: The tile in the niches is ‘Bianco’ Carrara brick tile. The niche surround is edged in ‘Hampton’ Carrara polished marble pencil tile. The niches themselves are framed with a narrower pencil tile, Carrara ‘Somerset’. Solid Carrara pieces line the top, sides and bottom of the niche. The tile is from The Tile Shop.
Shower tile: Ceramic 7.5 x 15 centimetre subway tiles
Niche size: Each niche is 35.5 centimetres wide by 40.5 centimetres high. The bottom niche is 61 centimetres inches off the floor and is intended as a ledge for shaving.
Designers: Shelly Lindstrom and Carrie Steiger
Material: The tile in the niches is ‘Bianco’ Carrara brick tile. The niche surround is edged in ‘Hampton’ Carrara polished marble pencil tile. The niches themselves are framed with a narrower pencil tile, Carrara ‘Somerset’. Solid Carrara pieces line the top, sides and bottom of the niche. The tile is from The Tile Shop.
Shower tile: Ceramic 7.5 x 15 centimetre subway tiles
Niche size: Each niche is 35.5 centimetres wide by 40.5 centimetres high. The bottom niche is 61 centimetres inches off the floor and is intended as a ledge for shaving.
Designers: Shelly Lindstrom and Carrie Steiger
“The challenge with this shower was that it was so narrow — only 90 centimetres wide,” designer Shelly Lindstrom says. To address this, she placed the shower fixtures on the adjacent wall to provide elbow room. “When you look in the shower, the niche wall is the direct line of vision, which is why we chose to put the niches on that wall – it provides a nice focal point,” she says.
TIP: “Typical large bottles of shampoo with pumps start around 30 centimetres high; we added a bit more to account for taller bottles. and room to reach your hand over the pump,” Lindstrom says.
“Avoid exterior walls when possible, or make the wall extra deep so that you can get appropriate insulation behind it,” she adds. “In general, if there is room to make the wall extra deep, that helps, but more often than not mechanics get in the way, and it’s hard to get the niches placed where you want them.”
Lindstrom concurs with Kooby and highly recommends using a solid surface like one piece of Carrara marble on the bottom of the niche to avoid having to clean grout lines. She also advises sloping the bottom slightly to allow for water runoff.
TIP: “Typical large bottles of shampoo with pumps start around 30 centimetres high; we added a bit more to account for taller bottles. and room to reach your hand over the pump,” Lindstrom says.
“Avoid exterior walls when possible, or make the wall extra deep so that you can get appropriate insulation behind it,” she adds. “In general, if there is room to make the wall extra deep, that helps, but more often than not mechanics get in the way, and it’s hard to get the niches placed where you want them.”
Lindstrom concurs with Kooby and highly recommends using a solid surface like one piece of Carrara marble on the bottom of the niche to avoid having to clean grout lines. She also advises sloping the bottom slightly to allow for water runoff.
Here, in the same bathroom, you can see the matching Carrara marble on the benchtops. The colour of the vanity plays off the veins in the marble.
Large, organised and elegant
Material: The back of the niche is tiled in a mosaic that matches the mosaic on the floor of the shower, and the mosaic carpet on the bathroom floor. The mosaic is Carrara with a dark grey marble mini square.
Shower tile: 30 centimetre squares of Carrara marble
Niche size: 96.5 centimetres high by 61 centimetres wide and 96.5 centimetres from the floor
Designer: Janine Dowling
Which way should you lay your tiles?
Material: The back of the niche is tiled in a mosaic that matches the mosaic on the floor of the shower, and the mosaic carpet on the bathroom floor. The mosaic is Carrara with a dark grey marble mini square.
Shower tile: 30 centimetre squares of Carrara marble
Niche size: 96.5 centimetres high by 61 centimetres wide and 96.5 centimetres from the floor
Designer: Janine Dowling
Which way should you lay your tiles?
This couple wanted to update their house in suburban Boston, USA, in a transitional yet classic style. “Their only request for the niche was having several shelves to organise their products,” says interior designer Janine Dowling. “The location of the niche was mainly influenced by the space on the interior wall, as the wall to the left has plumbing, the wall to the right has a bench and a glass panel window, and the facing wall was the glass door. This space was best ergonomically.”
In order to please the eye, she placed the niche on the same plane as the handheld shower.
“Niche size is really about the range in size of the bottles and ensuring there was more space than they needed – they didn’t want to have any products on the shower bench,” Dowling says. The framing was able to accommodate the dimensions, which are taller than the typical shower niche.
TIP: Dowling advises measuring not only the bottles you have on hand, but also thinking about other products that might need to fit in the niche in the future. She also recommends placing the niche where you won’t hit it with your arms and where it won’t be directly hit with water from the showerhead. Finally, she prefers adding a separate wire basket for gloppy soaps.
TELL US
Are you lucky enough to have a purpose-built niche in your shower? Tell us what you use it for in the Comments below.
MORE
9 Reasons to Carve Out a Recess
How to Put a Bench Seat Into Your Shower
13 Refreshing Shower Design Tricks
In order to please the eye, she placed the niche on the same plane as the handheld shower.
“Niche size is really about the range in size of the bottles and ensuring there was more space than they needed – they didn’t want to have any products on the shower bench,” Dowling says. The framing was able to accommodate the dimensions, which are taller than the typical shower niche.
TIP: Dowling advises measuring not only the bottles you have on hand, but also thinking about other products that might need to fit in the niche in the future. She also recommends placing the niche where you won’t hit it with your arms and where it won’t be directly hit with water from the showerhead. Finally, she prefers adding a separate wire basket for gloppy soaps.
TELL US
Are you lucky enough to have a purpose-built niche in your shower? Tell us what you use it for in the Comments below.
MORE
9 Reasons to Carve Out a Recess
How to Put a Bench Seat Into Your Shower
13 Refreshing Shower Design Tricks
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I just did a bathroom remodel for my teenaged daughters and I wish I would have made the niche a bit bigger for style.
I LOVE the wall tile in the first one.
Thank you :)