8 Reasons Why Corner Shelves are Better than Shower Niches
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Debating on the right storage system for your new shower? Here’s an argument on why shower corner shelves are better than shower niches. You decide!
Corner shelves or a niche? Which is best shower storage solution for your new shower or bathtub surround remodel? Fire your keyboard up for some shower niche love and corner shelf flames in the comments because this is an argument why corner shelves are better than shower niches. We’ve got some functional as well as aesthetic arguments to cover.
1. Corner shelves are easier to waterproof.
Yes, I skipped over looks and went straight for durability: a long lasting, waterproof bathroom.
Let’s face it. Showers are all about water management.
If you are fabricating the shower niche yourself, waterproofing is a multi step process where each surface and corner has to get covered by whatever system you use. With a polyethylene type material, like Schulter KERDI, as photographed below, there is going to be some overlapping of curves and corners, keeping the water at bay.
Even if you are looking at a prefabricated shower niche such as a Schluter offering, you still have to use KERDI-BAND, or some other kind of polyethylene band for waterproofing the niche to the rest of the shower.
If you are going with a fluid applied membrane, this is less of an issue (or more of one).
Corner shelves, in contrast, are waterproofed with the rest of the wall tile. Let’s go one step further and compare waterproofing a shower with no storage versus a corner shower shelf.
There is no difference!
As you can see in this shower, the corner has a continuous sheet of KERDI where the shelves will be installed.
There are no extra steps or bends. The waterproofing membrane is uninterrupted and simple.
Even better, you can extend KERDI through the corner so there is no weakness where the tiles, profile edge and shelves meet, as described in this post: Installing Schluter KERDI Like a Boss
Ask a professional about what causes showers to fail. Drains, curbs and niches are all in the top three.*
*You CAN still mess up a shower with an improperly installed corner shelf, but based on reading and taking to heart the Tips for Creating Corner Shower Shelves Out of Stone Leftovers post, you are less likely.
2. Corner shelves are easier to plan.
Planning for a shower niche starts at the framing. Supporting a niche has to be addressed first, before even the cement board or KERDI-BOARD. Whatever backer board you use has to account for this hole. Then you have to make sure the whole box is waterproof.
Installing a corner shower shelf starts during one of the last steps: the tile install.
3. Corner shelves maximizes your flexibility.
Do you want one, two, or three corner shelves?
Maybe you decide you want them on both sides of the shower?
You can see the second set of shelves peeking in on the right side of the picture. Photo credit: Nemec Photography.
Maybe you change your mind WHILE THE TILE IS GETTING INSTALLED. It’s still OK. That’s flexibility.
When it comes to a shower niche, you are set from go. There are no gobacks.
Well, there are. It’s just really, really expensive…time, energy, money, wasted materials and attitude.
Of course, this point doesn’t apply to you since you’ve read (or are about to read) this post on how to template your storage system–whether you choose a shower niche or a set of corner shelves–so you know this well ahead of time: No Renovation Regret! Template to Ensure Enough Shower Storage
4. Corner shelves are easier to tile.
#1. There are more cuts and outside edges on a shower niche.
Obviously, you are going to cut out where the shelf and niche go in the wall tile (unless you are using these new metal shelves from Schluter). Second, you have a shelf and a bottom of the niche. The difference is, you still have to cut the sides, top and back of the niche along with more outside edge work.
#2. You can place a corner shelf wherever you want in the tile. It looks like it belongs in the corner.
While it is easier to install it at the top or bottom of a vertical tile, a vertical tile can be cut mid-tile and slide a shelf inside.
This is not true for a shower niche.
A well thought out shower niche is the deciding point where tile begins and ends. Meaning, despite the fact the niche is at your shoulder height to stay out of the splash area, when you start tiling at the bottom of the shower you better damn well know where the tiles is going to meet the niche. Otherwise, it may look haphazard or misplaced.
For example, what if a niche ended up at this point? You’d look at the end points of the wall tile and think…WTF?
5. Corner shelves are less likely to limit the height of your soap and shampoo bottles.
Let’s say the Tresemme bottles get taller (that’s the tallest bottle in my shower). If I picked my shower niche based on the height of the tallest bottle and they change the size, I’d be out of luck!
*Now, given, they probably are not going to change the height as they know many people have 12” niches and they would scream.
A more likely scenario is if you change from one shampoo to another. What if the new bottle is higher than your niche? Or what if it is significantly higher and it needs to go in a larger niche that is already pretty full. Perhaps you could spend a little extra time to put your personal hygiene items in another smaller size bottle (which would also have the nice side effect of being easier-on-the-eyes), but I’m guessing most of us wouldn’t.
Compare this situation to a set of corner shelves 18″ apart. A generous measurement like that can accommodate almost any size bottle you throw at it.
6. But what about the looks?
We’re all looking at the same bottles of body wash, shampoo, conditioner and shaving cream no matter where you store them. And with regard to the pretty tile you put in the niche? You are covering it up with the bottles.
You can’t see it.
The one argument where this isn’t true is if you have a niche hidden in the wall that does not face you when you walk in the bathroom. Your stuff can be stashed away. You’d still cover up the tile when you are in the shower, but the line of sight when you step into the bathroom is uninterrupted by everyday items. That is for the two seconds before walking in the doorway…changing the line of sight so you can see there are bottles just other normal people.
7. A corner shelf is less expensive.
Labor and materials are going to be higher for a niche. Framing, detailed waterproofing, the detail work needed to plan out the tile to meet the niche…it all adds up.
It’s not to say there isn’t much work involved in creating a corner shelf. There is! I fabricated my own shelves out of the excess slab from the vanity countertop. Yes, I also had to have the skills and tools to create the polished shelf, but you are going to have to do something similar for the bottom of the niche…and the sides and top.
8. Often a shower niche is just not big enough.
If you have one like shown below, odds are it probably came that way when you bought the house.
Is this one horizontal surface enough when you end up sharing a shower? Probably not!
As for my own personal thoughts on why corner shelves are better than shower niches.
I’ll take my own shower as an example. Let’s say I wanted to put a niche in the wall where I’ve highlighted an ideal spot with a black rectangle:
The niche interrupts the flow of the carefully laid out stone (with the matching curves highlighted since this is a zoomed out shot).
The shelves are less obvious.
There are still some AMAZING niche’s out there, but they are few and far between. It is much easier to find faults due to any combination of the reasons above.
Take for example this model home on the market for $544K. The tile work to get to these two opposing niches are spot on! THEY NAILED THE HARD PART! Just to be clear, the hard part is getting the tile to line up perfectly to the niche–in not just one, but two niches across the entire shower. The side to side tile even mirrors each other across the two sides.
The shower niche mosaic does not match the niche on the other side of the shower.
The shower niche mosaic is cut off at the bottom.
The three issues that kill me on these two niches are:
- Yes, the tile matches the floor, but it’s just not that nice for a house at this price point.
- Why are these shower niches so small?!?
- Why doesn’t the mosaic mirror each other? The diamond is cut across the bottom in one. This may not be obvious when you have all your stuff in front, but when you have perfection on the outside, why stop there? The the installer did 99% of the hard work so perfectly. It is only 1% more effort to match the two mosaics.
Nit picky? You betcha. This is a $544K house (in Phoenix, not NYC)!
The level of detail has to be off the chart to make it look good.
Compare those two niches with this stunning niche from Zack Dettmore (follow him here on Instagram for knowledge and humor! …or hire him if you are in the Rutherford, NJ area):
Everything lines up perfectly. Every tile is in line throughout both walls and the five walls of the niche. A profile edge would be an insult (in all reality so is putting anything in there–why would you want to cover it up?).
It is perfect to the point where you might even look at how well it blends in and take it for granted. It’s not an accident. To achieve something that blends in and fits JUST PERFECTLY, you have to have the foresight of planning and detail.
Some of the larger niches are also impressive, but you’ll only find in a high end home or someone who appreciates a quality remodel with a sizable bathroom that can accommodate these measurements. I came across this article in the past and I wanted to share with you for design thoughts on the niche. I totally agree with the author’s way of thinking style-wise for a niche, along with her examples of large, classic niches that won’t go out of style.
Have a differing opinion? Or do you agree corner shelves are better than shower niches? Let’s hear it! Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Related posts:
The Difference Between a Good vs Bad Tile Job
Should You Place a Shower Niche in an Exterior Wall? Maybe if…
No Renovation Regret! Template to Ensure Enough Shower Storage
Tips for Creating Corner Shower Shelves Out of Stone Leftovers
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