A Niche for Niches
As we discussed in A Class in Glass, clean unobstructed sight lines make small spaces feel larger, and more inviting. Frameless glass showers make excellent use of this concept. Even a small shower feels far larger when you are not surrounded by bulky plastic and heavy framed doors.
A common mistake we see in far too many otherwise beautiful showers around Calgary, is the builder/contractor/diy’r not planning for storage of all of those bathroom products.
As the old adage goes, form must follow function. If you design and build a shower without storage not only are you failing to include a crucial part of the function, but the form suffers as a result. Clutter on the curb and floor or tacky stick on shelving effectively ruin the open, inviting feeling you’ve worked so hard to create. Not to mention the risk of damage to either the shelf or one’s own hand during the crescendo of your shower-song rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.
A niche (pronounced nee-sh) is a recessed alcove allowing for storage of small items while keeping them out of the way. They can be finished with the same tile and mitered edges for a nearly seamless look, or something a bit funkier for a touch of detail.
They are typically around 3 ½” deep. There are many, many options for size and placement, but 12” wide x 24” tall is typical in an average sized shower. Extra wide niche’s are an option, we’ve done some nearly the length of the shower wall.
Most recently we installed this double stacked niche for a client.
They did not need a full second niche and I thought the smaller upper niche added balance to the aesthetic.
There are some limitations to niche size and placement. The framing in the shower wall is altered to allow space for the alcove.
Depending on the wall you may need to stick to a narrower taller niche. If you want your niche running through the plumbing wall great care will have to be taken when roughing in the plumbing. Other rules of thumb are not to have a niche on an exterior wall, and not to have a niche in a place where they will be consistently hit by water.
If you’re short on wall space for some reason, and thinking you can’t put a niche in an exterior wall, don’t fret! You still have options.
The issue with putting a niche on an exterior wall is that you are forced to remove insulation to make space for the alcove, reducing the R-value, and compromising the integrity of the buildings envelope - At least this is the assumption.
By doing so incorrectly you can create a cold spot on an exterior wall where ambient moisture will naturally condense into water. This could potentially allow mold growth - among other problems.
There are two main work arounds for this. You can either widen the existing exterior wall, allowing space for an alcove against the existing insulation, or you can swap the traditional 3.5” batt insulation for much thinner rigid foam insulation. We did a combination of the two to still get a full 3.5” niche on this recent project (shown here in the upper right corner).
If you’re wondering what potential down-sides there could be to adding a niche to your new shower, there are only two real disadvantages; the cost, and potential for leaking, if not installed properly. Shotty workmanship and cheap products have given niches a bit of a mixed reputation.
If placed directly in the main path of water there is the potential for water leaking into the framing - and therefore other parts of the house. In my experience, done correctly, with modern shower system technology, like that from Schluter or Wedi, a niche will not fail.
We discuss these two systems in more detail in our ‘Shower systems’ blog.
Niches are subtle, functional, safe, and can add a little extra “pop” and detail to a space. Considering the cost of an entire shower build, I would not consider the marginal added cost of a niche to be anything other than money well spent.