Tile Niche Examples

With sweeping regulations regarding everything from soap dishes to toilets and shower valves, it is hard to beat a simple tile inset niche for soap, shampoo, conditioner, tooth brush, razor or whatever shower accessories you require.



The neat part is these can be customized to reflect the different materials and design elements you may have in your bathroom. If you have Granite for a vanity top, you might picture shelves in a niche made from the same material, even as corner shelves.



In this example from several years ago you can see how we incorporated the glass pencil liner in the middle of this shelf and the 4x4 glass to highlight the insets.Surface cap was used top and bottom of the shelf and it really took some time to build out but it looks clean, useful, and attractive.

  In this example we have a simple and really boring niche

that the homeowner had us install in a rarely used shower.



The cost of installation between these two would be understandable. Costs for built in niches run about $75 as a minimum for something like this simple niche and up.The cost of a niche begins in the framing of the shower and there are a number of different types.

There are prefabricated boxes that we can install into the Hardie Backer that come in various sizes and shapes and there are hand built niches like all these examples.

   In this example you see a molded ceramic corner shelf that we are still installing today. In my view these are inadequate for most well used showers but sufficient for moderate use.



A well used shower requires more shelf space for all the accoutrements needed in my view than is depicted here.



These units like soap dishes are generally installed during the grouting stage.

Here we used design element tiles to enhance the niche we installed here just a bit. This shower received a frameless glass enclosure upon completion.



When we demolished the old shower we had to remove the the back wall including the exterior siding. We were walking through the shower into the back yard. Water damage and insects destroyed the 2x4 plate stock and studs.



We ended up re-framing, the space, added new insulation, vapor barrier, exterior insulation and exterior siding and trim.



The finished product worked out nice.

   In this example I installed shelves in this niche that were made from a man made Granite type material. I had some left over from another project that was too small for anything significant and too big to just throw away. So, I set it in a corner of my garage till I could find a good use for it.



This shelving material matched the dark Marble Checkerboard design element along the top and

really enhanced the appearance of this niche.



When ever you go about building a shower and have an idea you might want a niche you might ask the installer or contractor if they might have a piece of Granite or other material you could use for shelving that would work into your general design. Granite shops always have pieces, sink cut outs, misfit parts that you may be able to obtain at a significant discount or possibly for free if you don't need a lot and someone wants to get rid of stuff laying around.



These are just a few examples of niches we have done. Many were very sophisticated and took hours build and fit with exotic materials but I don't always remember to carry a camera

when they are complete. These are but a few that we did catch.