Can a niche go on any wall?

Only where the cavity is clear. Exterior walls contain insulation you do not want to compromise, and wet walls carry the supply and vent lines. We identify a suitable bay before committing to a position, and if the wall you wanted is unavailable we will say so rather than build a shallow niche as a compromise.

Is a niche or a corner shelf better?

A niche holds more and cannot be knocked off, but it must be planned before waterproofing. A corner shelf can be added to an existing shower and works well as a supplement, particularly for a razor at a convenient height.

Can you add a niche to my existing shower?

Only as part of rebuilding the wall. Cutting into finished tile means breaching the waterproofing behind it, and patching a membrane after the fact is not something we are willing to warrant.

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Shower Niches & Shelving in Meridian, Idaho

Recessed storage framed into the wall before waterproofing, sized to what you actually keep in the shower.

Short answer

A shower niche is a recess built into the wall cavity to hold bottles, soap and razors without a hanging caddy. Because it is a hole cut into a waterproofed wall, it has to be framed, sloped, waterproofed and tiled as part of the shower rather than added afterwards. Its position is a design decision worth making early: a niche in the wrong wall fills with spray every time the shower runs.

Size the niche to the bottles, not to the tile

The most common complaint about a niche is that a pump bottle does not stand up in it. Standard wall framing gives about three and a half inches of depth, and once the substrate and tile are accounted for the usable depth is closer to three. Height is the variable to spend: a taller opening, or a second shelf, takes far more than a deeper recess ever will.

Measure your tallest bottle before the wall is framed, not after
A single tall niche beats two short ones for most households
A dividing shelf keeps a wide niche from becoming a shelf of clutter
Plan a razor or soap ledge separately if the shower is shared
Position the opening below shower-head height so it stays out of direct spray

How a niche is built so it does not leak

A niche multiplies the number of inside corners in a shower wall, and inside corners are where waterproofing gets tested. Ours are framed with blocking, waterproofed with the same system as the surrounding wall, and every corner banded with preformed pieces rather than folded membrane.

1Confirm the bay is free of plumbing, wiring and structural members
2Frame the opening with solid blocking on all four sides
3Slope the sill slightly forward so water drains out rather than standing
4Waterproof the recess continuously with the wall system and band the corners
5Set tile with a mitred or trimmed edge so no cut face is exposed
6Grout, then seal the joints at the sill where water sits longest

A flat niche sill holds a shallow puddle after every shower. In hard water that puddle becomes a permanent white ring. The forward slope is a small detail that decides how the niche looks after a year.

Making the niche part of the tile layout

A niche looks deliberate when its opening aligns with grout joints on the surrounding wall, and accidental when it does not. We set the niche position from the tile layout, which sometimes means moving it an inch or two from where it was first sketched. Common treatments include running the field tile straight through the back of the niche, using a contrasting slab or mosaic as a back panel, or lighting the recess from a concealed strip at the top edge.

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