Shower niche for shampoo bottles - has anyone got one?

[ThisCatCanHop]

Has anyone got a little shelf built into their shower for bottles of shampoo, etc? If so, would you recommend it or is it easier to stick with a tray? We are currently mid loft conversion and apparently the shower room is plasterboarded now so would be much more work to put one in - trying to work out if it’s worthwhile. We would have to have it on one of the two walls inside the quadrant shower, with the other being for the shower itself.

Yes, we have one with 2 glass shelves.

My husband decants everything into Jo Malone containers so it looks nice 😁

We have this: big enough for about 6 pump bottles, dead easy to clean. I love it.

https://amzn.eu/d/5eXtRw5

Yes. Love it.

We put in a stainless steel niche which makes us easy to clean. Then it's tiled around.

Always wondered how you made them. Addicted to Flip or Flop and that is their signature thing. Love them.

I have one in the main bathroom, it's great and I really wish I had put one in the en suite.

We have one tall vertical with two glass shelves so it’s like a three shelf thing. It’s great, but we have it because there was going to be a hollow bit of wall otherwise because of the layout. So we didn’t actually lose any useable space - we just gained the niche. I’d also be happy with properly screwed to the wall solid shelves there too, as long as they’re positioned so you don’t bump into them. I haaaate the sucker type, wire caddies. Always wobbling around and not enough space for my larder-unit-quantity of shower gels I like to keep on the go at any one time.

If you do get one which needs extra glass shelves in it, make sure you get bathroom person to do it and not leave till later cos we did, and it was v expensive to have someone cut shelves to size and fit them - we were too chicken to drill into our beautiful tiles ourself!

We have one and I will really miss it when we move. If we were renovating, I’d make sure to have one built in, even if it was annoying to do.

I hate every other option though (hanging caddies, suction shelves, drilling into tiles). So if you’re less fussy than me maybe it doesn’t matter as much.

We have a niche no issues with mould or water pooling as it tilts slightly have enough room for body wash/shampoo/conditioner which I decant into a set of three from next (they are plastic as thought safer than glass bottles) also have another niche on another wall which is longer where I keep folded flannels & decorative glass jars for cotton wool/face washing pads/loofahs

Had one with a mirror at the back, loved it

I advise against a niche, as it can leak inside the wall, and you will not see the damage until it comes through the ceiling below.

It's very important that shower cubicles and walls beside baths have no weak points.

If you are lucky, you might go through your whole life without seeing a leak. Builders and plumbers are not so lucky.

Thanks everyone, this has been really useful. Plenty to mull over before I next speak to the builder! It’s not going to be a big walk in shower - 900mm quadrant - so a shelf or ledge is out, I think.

@Sharksinthepool - now that’s what I call a niche!

@PigletJohn do you think a niche is likely to leak even if it’s installed “properly” and planned into the shower room? Or is it that you think any weak spot in the tiling is potentially going to cause a problem?

It’s great - would recommend. Neto’s everything streamlined.

We have one in our shower room, it’s really useful. It’s actually a solid unit that was fitted in as the tiles were being done so should be possible to fit it to the plasterboard (it’s not meant to be tiled so really easy).

We have a glass shelf. In the smallest cubicle it’s 18 ins up from the tray. You don’t bump into it because it’s not at the widest part of your body. Niches require space. You get space with hidden plumbing which @PigletJohn wouldn’t recommend either. We have several showers with hidden water supply and they’ve been fine. If you do this a niche is easy. I’ve one in a holiday house.

I had one when I put in an en suite and I loved it. I don’t have one where I live currently (main bathroom is too small even for a full size bath, and has a shower over). So my bottles just clutter up the end if the bath. I’d do it if you can (and it’s not that big a deal if just plasterboarded currently- builders hate having to undo something they just did, but tough).

You can buy ready made ones that just need sinking in the wall, they can have a track for LED lighting & can be matched to your colour scheme. Look on Drench website for ideas.

@Nat6999 You can only put these on if there’s a cavity behind the wall. You cannot remove bricks for example,

We don't have a niche - the design of our shower cubicle doesn't really allow for one - but I ordered one of these when we had our en suite refurbished.
https://showergem.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20061721851&gclid=Cj0KCQjw097CBhDIARIsAJ3-nxddk_VdQ-b6svO7aGL8f1-JHeanyqJe6mA93spAUGtzamMOgxJ7Lm0aAk3TEALw_wcB

Absolutely fantastic!

Never gets mouldy, so easy to fit and clean plus it never moves. 👍

We have three in our bathroom: in the shower, above the bath, and over the basin/loo. They have lights and look really pretty plus they're so useful. We have a small artificial green plant in each recess, and of course shower gel etc. I love them.

Thank you! This was so helpful. We decided to go for the niche in the end 😊

Removed

I have one of these, they're great.

Our nobhead of a builder (and he truly was a nobhead for many, many reasons) put the new stud wall up in the wrong place which left a gap between the end of the shower tray and the wall.

As luck happened, the space left between the end of the shower tray and the wall was the perfect depth for a niche! He put up a new plasterboard wall at the end of the tray and then cut out two large niches before it was all tiled.

Looks beautiful and so practical. I'm very happy that he made a mistake in measuring up as we never would have got our lovely niche!