5 Reasons to Consider a Tile Shower Niche

While the shower is a place where you simply go to wash off and unwind, there’s still plenty of ways to spruce it up for both looks and useability. A shower niche is an excellent way to add accessibility, dimension, and even decoration. You can even choose a simple shower niche that only holds a bar of soap or go grand and have multiple shelves with complementing backsplashes.

Here are five reasons you need a shower niche.

1. Dimension

Tired of looking at a flat wall when you’re in the shower? Adding a niche to your shower wall creates depth and dimension to break up the flat surface. You can opt for a different backsplash for the niche to help solidify that dimension as well.

2. Accessibility

For those with challenges bending or reaching, a niche can put showering essentials at eye level or wherever it works best. Plus, it stores items out of the right-of-way and offers more room to move.

Plus, a niche frees up space for you to install shower accessories that further increase its accessibility, such as grab bars and benches. The cost of shower accessories runs anywhere from $75 to $500.

3. Customizations

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Shower niches are entirely customizable in terms of designs. They can range anywhere from a small, simple niche that’s only there to hold your bar of soap to as grand as taking up the majority of the shower wall so you can organize and decorate to your heart’s content.

From there, you can choose the backsplash that you find compliments the shower the best. Maybe you want subtle dimension, in which case you can go for a similar color as the current shower tile but break up the design so it still stands out. Bringing in a bathroom tile installer near you can help create the exact look you want.

Or, you can get bold and really bring attention to the shower niche. Perhaps add dark blue or red while the rest of the shower tile is a typical white. When shopping for bathroom tile, you’ll also want to consider who’s using the bathroom and your budget.

You can then customize the space further by deciding how many shelves you want and how much space you want between them. Maybe you want large spaces and only one or two shelves, so the shower feels more open. Or you can go the opposite way and utilize several shelves closer together to create the ultimate organized shower niche.

4. Decorations

While it may seem impractical to decorate the shower, the shower niche creates a whole world of possibilities. You can add some seashells in a glass jar, fake plants, or even that weird-looking sponge you saw at the store that you thought was cute but impractical to use. Though, you do need to ensure the decorations you choose are waterproof.

5. Space

It may not seem like your shower is cramped at first, but you’ll certainly notice how much space you have after you’ve put in a shower niche. Eliminating items off the edge of the bathtub or getting rid of a hanging shower shelf from your shower head will show you just how much space you truly have in your shower.

Can You Install a Shower Niche Yourself?

There are prefabricated options out there for shower niches, but you should still bring in a professional for installation. A pro will ensure the tile shower niche is grouted correctly, so the tiles don’t come loose and no water gets into the wall and causes mold. You’ll also want to call in a pro before you even buy the prefabricated option to ensure the one you buy can fit into your current shower setup.

If no current prefabricated options fit your wall, then you’re likely going to have to go custom. Prefabricated shower niches are anywhere from $75 to $300. Custom shower niches will range anywhere from $300 to $700, depending on the project’s scope.