Different types and styles of shower niches
Completed simple shower niche
Here is a photo of the niche I’ve used for these posts and these series of photos. If you simply want a regular hole in the wall the exact size of one tile this is all you need. If you don’t have any idea what the hell I’m talking typing about, start at the beginning here: Building a Shower Niche Part 1. More likely you’ll want to bling that bad boy out in order to make the neighbors and in-laws jealous, no?
That is what I will cover in this post. Hopefully you are reading this before you’ve cut a hole in your wall or anything else. The size, shape, location, just about everything depends on what you want your niche to look like. I will only be able to cover some very general examples since there are, literally, endless possibilities for a shower niche.
If you have any questions pertaining to your particular installation you can always leave a comment below. I do answer every one of them – I’m just super-cool like that. 
Photo 1
You can click on any of these photos for a ridiculously large very detailed view of my lack of photography skills.
Every (except one) niche on this page was built in exactly the same way as I’ve described with these posts with only small variations in sizing, placement, etc. Small changes just to enable the design elements.
The first (photo 1) is simply a taller niche with a shelf in it (for your rubber ducky). The elements that make this niche stand out are the glass and travertine liner that run into the sides of the niche and the same liner on the back wall of the niche turned 90 degrees. Other than those it is built exactly the same as the one above.
To create a shelf in this niche I’ve used two of the bullnose tiles, the same tile used for the sides of the niche, and placed them back to back. You can use an epoxy or just regular thinset to sandwich them together. That’s it – that is your shelf.
Photo 2
To install it just place it into the niche and figure out exactly where you want it to be. Measure from the bottom of it to the bottom of your niche and that is the size to cut the first two side pieces of your niche. They are the two pieces below the shelf supporting it.
The order of the pieces for the interior of the niche are back wall first, bottom piece, two short side pieces – the ones you just cut, shelf pieces – the two that you just sandwiched, top piece of bullnose, then the two remaining side pieces cut and installed after everything else. This ensures an exact fit for all your pieces.
In photo 2 is the niche in the other side of the same shower. Both niches are the same size. Due to framing they are not placed in the same spot in the field tile, though. In photo 2 the sides do not line up with grout lines. And you probably never would have noticed it. 
That is exactly what I mean when I say type that it is not always possible to lay out the niche where you want it. Framing dictates everything you attempt to build into the wall. if it is a supporting (load-bearing) wall you don’t have many choices without major reconstruction. So either move the niche four inches or rebuild the side of your house. You choose.
Photo 3
Photo 3 is another simple niche like the one at the top except it is built into a subway-style shower. The big thing about getting these to look right is ensuring the pattern follows through in the back of the niche.
The order of installation is the same – back, bottom, top, sides. However, the side pieces are twice as long as the height of the field tile, make sure you line up the grout lines or it won’t look right. It will look ‘busy’ (that’s what designers say, I have no idea what it means. I guess you don’t want your tile to look like it has a job.)
You can always offset the grout lines in the sides of the niche with the field tile, however, in doing that you must also offset the back of the niche with those grout lines. That will break the flow of your horizontal grout lines. You don’t want that, keep the horizontal grout lines flowing consistently.
Photo 4
Photo 4 is another subway style shower with a shelf in the niche. The order of installation is the same, however, you need to find a larger tile to use for your shelf. The subway tile in the field will not work, they are too small. Your rubber ducky will fall down.
In this case I cut down some of the same tile in a larger size for the top, bottom, and shelf of the niche. Notice, though, how the pattern still flows all the way through the niche. Keep it consistent.
In both subway showers the liner is running above the niche rather than through it. You can do it however you want – its your shower. Whatever looks best to you is the right way. If you do run the liner through the niche, run it all the way through. Don’t stop the liner on the sides, have regular bullnose all the way around the niche, then continue the liner across the back of the niche. It breaks up the liner and looks like an afterthought.
I’ll send Guedo after your ass! 
So don’t do that.
Photo 5
Number 5 is a double niche with shelves in the center. There are several aspects of these that really make them stand out.
First, obviously, is the fact that the backs of them are a different color – the same as the liner. Really makes them stand out.
I normally do not place the shelves in the center of the niche, no real reason to have four identically sized shelves. On these, though, I decided to line them up with the diamond I placed between them. Flow Baby! Yeah! 
You will notice, however, that the layout and everything else is exactly the same as the rest – top and bottom line up with a grout line and the design and consistency flows through the niches. Make it look like it fits! That is the secret and the difference between a professionally designed and installed niche and a hole in the wall.
Photo 6
Photo 6 is the same as all the others with a shelf in them. Noticing a theme here? 
There are a couple of differences.
You will notice the diagonal (on-point) row flowing through it. You want to keep the pattern consistent so that if you look at the niche straight on the grout lines do not jump, break, or move. They are consistent.
The shelf is also lined up with a grout line. The flow is more important than a specific size or height for the shelf.
You will also notice (I hope by now) that the bottom of the niche does not line up with a grout line. Remember when I said typed that it wasn’t always possible or feasible? That is what I meant. In this case it wasn’t very feasible. If I did line it up on the top and bottom it would either be 17″ tall with a shelf – that’s small, or 30″ tall – that is ridiculously huge. It actually looks better with the L-cuts. If you choose a grout that matches your tile you will never notice it. Or, you know, if you haven’t read any of my posts – ever – you would probably never notice it.
It’s all right to break the rules! Well, the design rules, anyway. There is nothing set in stone (that’s a pun, in case you missed it. A tile guy pun.) If it looks good to you do it. I’m just giving you guidelines to have a more professional looking installation.
Photo 7
Number 7 is another rule breaker. A couple of ways. By now you should be able to spot them. Pay attention, there will be a quiz later.
The only grout line that matches is the top. Neither the sides nor bottom match. Looks like hell, huh? Or at least doesn’t look right. It’s because I did not build the niche spaces, the framer, homeowner, and drywaller did. Please do not do that then expect your tile guy to create perfection. Perfection does not start with the tile guy, it starts with the plan. Plan first! Whether you are the tile guy (or girl) or not.
I do have it there for a reason, though. Notice the vertical grout lines in the niche sides? Those are six inches deep. That’s great if you have the space in the wall. But, if you don’t you do not want that back piece to be 1/2″ wide, that looks like hell.
I’ll get guedo again so don’t do that.
The bottom of those niches is also a solid surface material rather than bullnose tile. These are products such as corian, surrell, granite slab, etc. If you use something like that it allows you to extend the niche shelf out from the wall a bit.
Photo 8
Photo 8 is (an awesome shower!) a marble shower. All of the shower walls, as well as the ceiling, are on-point (installed diagonally). I want to apologize ( I don’t do that often, by the way 
) because this is the best photo I have of the niches themselves. I was so happy with the outcome of that shower I nearly pissed myself with joy and forgot to get good photos of the niches. So I’ll just have to describe how awesome they are.
The wall the niches are installed into is a diagonal wall and, as such, I was able to make the niches a foot deep. Talk about rubber ducky storage!
The most difficult thing about placing niches in an on-point shower is that you will not be able to line up the grout lines. No big deal, it doesn’t make a difference in this application. The hard part is making the cuts in the field tile up to the niche look right. They have to be perfect. Install your entire niche and hold up your tile to the sides of it exactly in the right spot to mark them. Then take your time cutting them. If you slip or make a small mistake – start over. Just take your time, it’s worth it.
All the sides and top and bottom of these niches are full tiles which I bullnosed on the edge. Doing this eliminates any grout lines inside the niche. Nice and clean. The secret to this application is to install the entire niche then cut the field tile to it rather than the other way around.
Photo 9
Photo 9 is another marble shower (I like marble). This particular niche has a solid piece of marble slab on the bottom for the shelf, which allows it to stick out a bit, and a small arch in the top.
This is only a small arch so it only had four pieces making up the top of it. If you click on it you can barely make out how they step around the arch.
You can do this with regular bullnose or, with natural stone, you can bullnose custom pieces to fit. Doing that also allows this niche to be five inches deep without vertical grout lines in the sides of the niche.
You will also notice that the sides extend past the vertical grout lines in the field tile. The grout lines follow through in the back of the niche – everything lines up.
Photo 10
Number 10 is another arch. In this case the arch is framed. That simply means that the bullnose pieces are placed on the outside of the niche to form a frame around it.
Notice, again, how the pattern follows through the niche. This is one way to do an arch with ceramic or porcelain and regular sized bullnose. Doing this you can also make the niche as deep as you want since the tiles inside are simply field tiles which are cut down to size.
Photo 11
There is another way to so an arch with regular ceramic or porcelain and standard bullnose. That is photo 11.
The bullnose is placed inside the niche as normal but the top pieces are cut into smaller (shorter) pieces to conform to the slope of the arch.
Install everything around and in the back of the niche first then do the top arch pieces. With the field tile already installed it helps guage the sizes you need for the arch. Try to work it out so that they are all the same size.
And follow your pattern through the niche, damnit! Oh, sorry, did I mention that before?
All of the niches except number 7 (that was already framed in and finished before I showed up) were built nearly identically. The same as the simple niche I’ve described in all these posts, the one at the top of the page.
They were all framed the same (except the arches) and cut and created after part of the field tile was installed. Doing it in that manner will ensure that your design flows and your niche is not an afterthought. I hate that!
Don’t do that! You know what happens.
If you have any question pertaining to your specific niche installation just leave a comment below and I’ll get back with you as soon as elvenly possible. (That’s just like ‘humanly possible’ – but with elves.)
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello,
Great website, it has helped me a lot. I am now tiling our shower, in which I built a recessed niche. My plan is to tile it just like photo 1 of the How to build a shower niche 4, but was wondering about spotting the back. It was a debate between doing exactly what is in picture 1 where our liner tile would be at 90 degrees, but I don’t know if I can fit two strips in the shelf. So I also thought about doing small 1″ squares that are very similar to our liner tile in the back. Either way these pieces are glued down on mesh and I was wondering how to spot them, especially is there are two pieces? Do I just put a few smaller, as you say “globs”, on there or what is the best plan. And do I worry about the side tiles covering up a bit of the pattern?
Thanks for all your help and your easy to follow instructions.
Hi Rustain,
When you use a mosaic or liner of any type for the back of the niche you do not want to ‘spot’ them. The main reason for spotting the tiles in the back of the niche is to allow adjustment of that tile either in or out without the need to pull it completely out, add or remove thinset, put it back in and check it, pull it back out…..knowwhatimean? With a mosaic or liner tile you do not need to do that.
Just spread thinset on the back wall of the niche as usual and place your tile up there. Small adjustments can be made as required without the need to spot the entire sheet.
Now, if for some reason you need to be able to adjust the entire sheet as one you can cut a piece of kerdi just a bit smaller than the back of your niche and install your mosaic or liner or whatever to that, allow it to fully cure, then install it. As long as the thinset is fully cured it will be like having one single piece of tile. That can be installed in the niche just like a regular piece of tile. (The kerdi on the back of the mosaics does not need to be in full contact or overlap anything since your niche is already completely waterproofed, right?)
The sides tiles of the niche will cover part of any ‘pattern’ or anything on the back. How much depends on how thick your tile is. You need to have a full spread of thinset behind any mosaics or small liners. Look at it like each individual 1″ square is a completely independent tile – because it is. Every one of them needs to have thinset behind it.
Hope that helps.
Thank you very much for the info, I greatly appreciate it. I have one more question, sorry, my niche is just under 4″ deep without the back mosaic in, but the problem is I am a poor planner and just realized that if I put bullnose in, I will have to cut a very small piece of tile to fill the hole. Do you have recommendations on how to get around that? Should I just try to cut the edges at 45 degrees and have them meet the sides that way?
Thanks for your time,
Rustain
Hey Rustain,
The best thing to do would be to build out that back wall (where the back mosaic goes) so that your niche, with the mosaic, is three inches deep (or however wide your bullnose is). This is usually accomplishes simply with 1/2″ or 1/4″ drywall or a combination of the two to whatever depth you need.
Do not just stick your drywall in there, you need to waterproof it too, but you knew that.
Install it with thinset, not screws. There is usually something on the other side of that niche that you don’t want the end of a screw sticking out of, like a bedroom wall.
I think I read that you should backbutter the bullnose inside the niche. Where a vertical meets a horizontal, is there grout or do they simply rest on top of each other? Its hard to tell from the photos. In fact, it looks like in photo 6 of Part 4, that the bottom intersection is mitered, where the verticals above the shelf are square, neither appear to have grout. Thanks.
Hey Ron,
You should back-butter the bullnose tiles inside the niche as well, it ensures full coverage. You can do your corners between vertical and horizontal many different ways, there really is no right or wrong, it’s whatever looks right to you. For instance: the photo number six you mentioned, If there is an L-cut in the field tile I will usually miter the corners of the niche. I do this because, to me anyway, it takes the focus away from the L-cut. If all the corners are square inside that cut everything looks ‘blocky’ to me, knowwhatimean? Just a personal preference.
Although I don’t always do it, you should leave a 1/16″ gap between your vertical and horizontal and CAULK it. I don’t always do that – but I always build my showers and know how much they’ll move. I’m just a hypocritical bastard like that.
Good eye on noticing that on photo six, though!
We have limited experience with tile. We’ve purchase ceramic tiles for our shower that are 3/8” thick.
We want to install a niche but are not sure how to finish the out side corner edges, bull nose is not available. We were shown a metal strip in our home improvement store, and not sure we are in love with the look. We’ve also been told we can miter the tiles… Are we in over our head??????? Thanks!
Hi Susan,
Unfortunately there are not many DIY options available for a ceramic without bullnose. As you’ve stated you can miter the edges but that actually takes a fair amount of experience with cutting tile and knowing when to back up, turn the tile, etc. to get a decent edge. It also helps if you have a saw with built-in mitering ability.
The only other two options is the metal strip you were shown, which can actually be purchased with any finish (bronze, etc.) you want from Schluter systems. They even used to have a few basic non-metallic colors, I’m not sure if that is still the case. If you look at the sides of the tile there is probably one side on each tile which is a lighter or different color. I’m not sure what color your tile is but it may match closely enough to look okay with just the plain edge. You can also poke around some tile stores and such and see if you can find a bullnose that either matches closely or contrasts it correctly enough that it would look all right.
You may also look around for a granite or marble that would look good with your tile and find a professional to bullnose the edges and line the interior of your niche with that. Or glass tile for the inside of the niche. Or a pencil rail listello around the edges and butt the tile edges against it.
That’s all I can think of…
Is there a way to prove that the tile installer used premixed gray thinset(mastic) and not the real powdered thinset? Both mfg. of our tile recommended white thin -set mortar. We used natural stone(travertine) in 2 of the showers and porcelain 12×24 and 24×24 tile in the other shower? Ceilings were tiled also.
We had another tiler look at the installation. He removed 1 travertine tile. The color was gray. I do have some photos.
The travertine showers smell like wet stone. Is that normal? I have some subway travertine tile that were never used. My husband ran some water over them and had me smell them. That is that smell in our showers.
Question of what he used on the shower floor of the travertine shower with the pebble rocks.
Have photos of that also.
Thanks, Deb
Hi Deb,
If you can scrape some of the thinset off the back of the tile or the wall where the tile was removed you can tell if it is actual thinset (powdered) or premixed (mastic). The real stuff will either come off in one big chunk and feel kind of like a sandy rock of sorts (it consists of concrete, sand and lime) or it will scrape off like hard sand, in other words it won’t come off in a big chunk but will scrape away in sandy layers. If it is the premixed crap it will scrape off in a big thin layer and look and feel like elmer’s glue. If you fold the layer it won’t bust apart. It may fold or crack, but it won’t bust like thinset will.
Needless to say he should have used white thinset at least for the travertine. If it is actually pre-mixed ‘thinset’ AND grey, well, it should be replaced. The installation at best is incorrect with the grey adhesive whether it is mastic or thinset.
The smell in the shower should dissipate over a couple of weeks. That is simply the rock releasing natural gasses from the mineral deposits in the fissures of the stone – it’s completely normal and it will go away.
You can send me photos at FloorElf@FloorElf.com if you would like me to take a look at them. I may or may not be able to tell what was used on the floor.
I only had a simple question about cleaning my SANDED grout ( I say that with 100% confidence now after reading your info) but I have found myself reading all your info just because it is so funny! Who knew a tile guy could be so entertaining? You write like a professional and you need to send a few of these article to some newspapers, websites, or magazines and get yourself a little weekly column going!!! $$$$$ Thanks for your posts. I’m headed out now for my tiling supplies now …. I feel inspired to do a tile project!
Hey Mary,
Glad you’ve enjoyed your short trot through my brain! I think when you spend most of your time in other people’s showers (legally) it forces you to entertain yourself (ethically) so I’m just passin’ on my regular (I was gonna type ‘normal’ but aaaaahh…) thought process.
It just happens to be a bit warped – glad you found it useful.
Thanks for the kind words.