The bathroom is often an area within the house where space is at a premium. Households can sometimes neglect their bathrooms, seeing them as simply utility rooms that serve a pivotal purpose for daily living and nothing more.

Other households think differently. To them, the bathroom is another area for opportunity to kit those vital spaces out with the latest cool features and ensure that they are creating aesthetically pleasing areas to spend time in.

A shower niche box is one of those features. These versatile and trendy design pieces are becoming a staple within all modern bathroom spaces, often taking the place of outdated and clunky storage cupboards.

This article will identify what a niche box is and why you might need one. It will reveal the many benefits homeowners can gain from installing one. It will end with a set of nifty tips and things to avoid when going through the installation process for shower niches.

What is a Niche Box?

A shower niche box, or a bathroom niche, is a permanently recessed space within the bathroom, often located within the shower area. They can also be referred to as bathtub niches if built by the bath or a shower niche shelf.

They are usually uncovered, providing easy access to toiletries and accessories, though they can sometimes come with a glass panel to go in at the front. Most designs are tiled or are pre-built to allow tiles to be applied later, and all are constructed with a long-lasting waterproof finish.

In essence, they are multi-purpose storage spaces that are easy on the eye, subtle in nature, and highly versatile.

Broadly speaking, there are two main types of shower niche boxes.

Tiled Shower Niches

These can either be custom-built or pre-fabricated. Custom niches are constructed from scratch between two wall studs. It is secured with a tile backer board and waterproofed before applying the tiling. These offer the greatest range of customisability and can be tailor-made to size, but they are time-consuming to install.

A pre-fab niche box comes ready-made for installing and waterproofing. It is usually made from plastic or stainless steel and will still require additional tiling. These shower niches are quicker to install but are often limited in terms of the sizes available.

Finished Shower Niches

These can come in either a membrane bonding niche or a retrofit niche. A membrane bonding niche has an additional outer spine that bonds with the waterproof membranes upon the shower walls that attach to the outer tile backer board or wall studs. They often require professional installation.

Retrofit niches are similar to the membrane bonding niches though water-proofing must be done separately. They must be attached using a strong adhesive instead. This can make them less secure than membrane bonding niche boxes.

How and When to Use a Shower Niche Box

There are two fundamental purposes for a niche box within a shower or a bathroom.

Effective Storage

First and foremost, they are used as efficient storage spaces. Bathrooms are often limited in space, and if you happen to find yourself in a house share (or if you have a large family), you will know the experience of shampoo and shower gel bottles being strewn all over the shower floor.

Additionally, many of the storage choices found in the average bathroom are not fit for purpose. Metal containers are prone to rust, and most other furniture takes up vital space.

A shower niche offers a practical and easy-to-access area to store all the necessary toiletries and products usually found within a bathroom.

A Design Feature Item

Some households choose to install a shower niche shelf to add an aesthetic appeal to their bathroom. The placement of a niche box is largely versatile, and if you select a custom-made option, you will also have some control over the size of the box.

They are an ideal space to place ornaments, potted plants, and candles. They can provide the space for additional lighting within the room without feeling too intrusive.

There is also considerable scope when it comes to tiling and cover options. You can fully integrate the niche box into the design aesthetic of the bathroom, or it can be set apart as a centrepiece of the room.

The Benefits of a Niche Box

Niche boxes are becoming a staple of most modern showers and bathroom designs, and it is clear to see why. A well-designed, well-installed niche box can have many benefits for an area, including:

Additional Storage Space

Depending on the size of the room, niche boxes can effectively summon additional space out of nothing! They are simply the re-purposing of an area within an existing structure that you can use to hold all of your bathroom essentials.

Removes Clutter

Many households enjoy a minimalist, streamlined aesthetic in their rooms. Shower niche boxes take all the trinkets and bottles often left lying about on the shower floor and place them into an easy-to-access, practical space.

Room Versatility

Though the main focus of this article is bathroom and shower niches, a niche box can be constructed within any area of the house that has the capacity for one within its structure. You can also use them outside to create subtle spaces protected from the worst weather, though these can compromise insulation.

Size and Height Versatility

A bathroom built from scratch can fully implement design choices for niche boxes. However, as long as there is no plumbing or ventilation already in place, existing bathrooms should be able to accommodate any height and size within the parameters of the wall studs.

Things to Remember When Installing Your Niche Box

Here are a few considerations you will need to take before installing your shower niche box.

Waterproofing

This is easily the most essential thing to get right. Whether a builder, a contractor or yourself fits the installation, ensure that the waterproofing is fully integrated. This is one of the reasons why retrofit shower niches are perhaps not the best choice for a bathroom, as it doesn't feature a waterproof membrane.

The bathroom environment is tough on structures and features already. It needs to be spared additional complications caused by poor waterproofing.

Wall Structure

There needs to be a balance between opulence, practicality, and safety when installing shower niches. Many horizontal shower niches can compromise the structural integrity of a wall because parts of the wall studs are often removed.

When this happens, the rigidity of the space is reduced. This can then lead to problems with the tiling, such as cracking and delamination, as tiles are not made from flexible materials that will allow for movement.

Plumbing and Ventilation

Additionally, integral plumbing and ventilation might also be in place behind many of the bathroom walls you may be looking to modify.

Before committing to the installation, you will need to pinpoint exactly where these areas are.

Positioning and Purpose

Before you start to modify your bathroom structure, make sure you are clear on exactly what you want to get out of your shower niche.

Are children going to need access to the niche? This will have an impact on the height of the niche. Is the space going to need to accommodate the possessions of just one person or multiple? This will have an impact on the size and capacity.

Finally, will it be used for storage or aesthetic ideas? If it is the latter, it may be prudent to position it further away from the valve and water supply.

Final Thoughts

Shower niches are a great addition to any bathroom, though, as with any home modification, the installation process should be taken seriously. Failure to conduct appropriate due diligence and skipping vital steps could lead to serious issues further down the line.

Here at Trade Warehouse, we have supplied our customers with first-class quality showers and bathroom features for over ten years. Whether you are undertaking a full renovation project of your bathroom or looking to upgrade particular infrastructure and accessories, we have got you covered.

Visit our website today to search through our extensive range and sign up for our newsletter to receive 10% off your first order.