Shower Niches

A shower niche is a recessed storage shelf set into the wall, so your shampoo and shower gel sit flush in the tiling instead of crowding a corner caddy that drops off every six months. Ours come in two sizes, 300 x 300 mm and 600 x 300 mm, and four finishes: gunmetal, brushed bronze, brushed brass and matte black. They go in during tiling, recessed into the wall, so a niche is a job to plan before the tiler starts rather than a quick afterthought.

The buying guide and quick answers underneath cover sizing, finish and fitting, and the full range sits below them. There is more for the shower in our shower accessories range.

What to look for in a shower niche

A niche is one of those things you only get to fit once, because it goes in behind the tiles. Get the size, position and waterproofing right at first fix and it is sorted for the life of the bathroom. Get it wrong and the fix is a retile. Here is what actually matters.

Size: 300 x 300 mm or 600 x 300 mm. Two sizes cover most bathrooms. The 300 x 300 mm is the compact square: it holds the daily essentials, shampoo, conditioner and a bottle of shower gel, without eating into the wall, which suits a single shower enclosure or an ensuite where space is tight. The Gunmetal 300 x 300 mm Recessed Shower Niche at £79 and the Brushed Bronze 300 x 300 mm Recessed Shower Niche at £89 are both this square format.

The 600 x 300 mm is the larger format, with twice the opening of the square. That gives you room for a family’s worth of bottles plus a razor, which makes it the better pick for a main bathroom or a shared shower. The Brushed Bronze 600 x 300 mm Recessed Shower Niche at £94.99 is the larger size in bronze.

Honest steer: if you are not sure, go larger. Nobody finishes a bathroom and wishes their niche was smaller, and in bronze the step up from the £89 square to the £94.99 larger niche is small.

Finish: match it to your brassware, not your tiles. The trick is to match the niche to your taps, shower valve and waste rather than to the tile, so the metalwork in the room reads as one set. There are four to choose from. Brushed brass is the warm gold tone, and the Brushed Brass Shower Niche 300 x 300 mm at £89 pairs with brushed brass brassware. Brushed bronze is a softer, warmer metallic, gunmetal is the dark, moody grey-metal, and matte black is the safe modern default that goes with almost anything.

A practical point the brochures skip: a brushed or matte finish hides watermarks and fingerprints far better than a bright polished one, which matters in the one spot in the house that is permanently wet.

Recessed means it is a first-fix job. This is the bit people underestimate. A recessed niche is set into the wall cavity and tiled around, so it has to go in before or during tiling, not bolted on afterwards. It needs a stud depth or a built-out wall that can take the box, and on a solid wall you may need to build out a frame, so tell your tiler and fitter at planning stage, not on the day.

The opening then gets waterproofed (tanked) along with the rest of the wet wall, and the tiles are cut to the niche edge. A recessed niche relies on the wall behind it being properly tanked, so the waterproofing is on your installer, not the product. For position, aim for roughly chest height on a side wall, out of the direct line of the shower spray so water does not pool on the shelf, and avoid the wall the showerhead is fixed to.

If that sounds like more than your project can take on, that is the honest trade-off of the recessed look. The reward is a clean, built-in shelf with nothing to knock off and nothing to clean around.

Built for a wet wall. The gunmetal and brushed bronze niches are stainless steel, which is what you want for a fitting that lives in a shower wall, and the brushed brass niche is built to withstand wet room and shower environments. If you want the niche to match other bits in the room, browse by colour through our brushed brass accessories and matte black accessories ranges.

Quick answers

What is a shower niche? It is a recessed shelf built into the shower wall to hold your shampoo, gel and soap, set flush into the tiling so nothing sticks out or drops off. Instead of a hanging caddy or a corner shelf, the storage is sunk into the wall cavity and tiled around, which looks neater and gives you nothing to clean around. Ours come in 300 x 300 mm and 600 x 300 mm.

What size shower niche should I get? Two sizes cover most jobs. The 300 x 300 mm square suits a single enclosure or a tight ensuite and holds the daily bottles. The 600 x 300 mm has twice the opening, so it suits a main or shared bathroom where more people keep more bottles in the shower. If you are torn, size up: in brushed bronze the larger niche is £94.99 against £89 for the square, and the extra room always gets used.

How do you fit a shower niche? It goes in during tiling, not after. The niche box is recessed into the wall (a stud cavity, or a built-out frame on a solid wall), the wet wall is tanked, and the tiles are cut to the niche edge. So it needs planning in with your tiler and fitter before the tiling starts. Position it around chest height on a side wall, out of the direct shower spray. It is a first-fix job, which is the trade-off for the clean built-in look.

Do shower niches need waterproofing? Yes. A recessed niche relies on the wall behind and around it being tanked (waterproofed) as part of the wet area, the same as the rest of the shower wall. The niche is the shelf, not the seal: waterproofing the opening is part of your installer’s tiling and tanking work, not something the product does on its own.

What finishes do shower niches come in? Ours come in four: brushed brass (warm gold), brushed bronze (a softer warm metallic), gunmetal (dark grey-metal) and matte black. Match the niche to your taps and shower valve rather than the tiles, so the metalwork in the room reads as one set. Brushed and matte finishes also hide watermarks better than polished ones.

Can you put a mirror in a shower niche? Yes, as a tiling detail. Some people have a mirror or a contrasting tile fitted into the back of the niche as a feature, which is something to agree with your tiler on site alongside the rest of the tile layout. It sits in the wettest spot in the room, so expect to wipe it down like any other glass in the shower.

Are shower niches a good idea? If you are already tiling or building the shower, yes. They give you built-in storage with nothing to knock off, nothing hanging around to clean, and they look far tidier than a caddy. The one catch is that they are a first-fix, recessed job, so they suit a new build or a full retile rather than a quick refresh of an existing shower. If the tiles are staying put, a niche is not a retrofit.