14 Shower Niche Ideas for an Updated and Functional Look

Add Warmth With Wood-Framed Storage

Regardless of the tile in your shower, a natural wood niche can add warmth to your bathroom design while providing ample storage space for bathing essentials. If you have a separate tub and shower, you can install two niches so you can easily reach items in either place.

Bathroom Shower Niche Idea: Stacked Shelves

Sometimes a single shelf just isn’t enough. Multiple stacked shelves provide plenty of storage space for all the essentials you need for your showering routine. This is especially useful for a shared space among families or roommates, as each person can store their own products on a specific shelf.

White Niche In a Wood Shower Room

While many niche ideas for showers blend into the surrounding tile, you can create contrast with a niche of a different color, pattern, or material. In this cozy wood-paneled shower room, the storage niche is white, matching with the bathroom outside for a cohesive design strategy. Luxury bathroom mirrors reflect the wood shower, adding warmth throughout the monochrome interior.

Go Bold With Playful Patterns

A modern bathroom shower with glass doors, white subway tiles, and an accent strip of gray herringbone tiles. There are shelves with personal care products and both a fixed and a handheld showerhead present.

Turn a subway tile shower niche idea into its own work of art with a decorative accent tile that stands out from the surrounding wall. The artisanal style of this smaller niche tile pattern pairs equally well with the larger white tiles and the strip of black stone in this shower. Paired with luxury bathroom mirrors, this design easily reflects light, making a smaller space feel more open and expansive.

Create Storage for a Standalone Bathtub

A shower isn’t the only place where you may need convenient storage. A niche at just the right height for a freestanding tub can provide an easy way to access all your bathing essentials and keep the space organized. For extra bathroom storage, consider adding classy medicine cabinets above a double vanity.

Tub-Shower Niche Idea

A clean and modern bathroom with a white bathtub, sage green tile surround, a white shower curtain, and various bath accessories on built-in shelves. — Credit: @changoandco

With a recessed niche for your tub-shower combo, you get ample storage space while still showing off your carefully chosen tile pattern. The subtle white of the framing in this niche matches the tub and grout.

Keep Your Niche Design Subtle

A modern bathroom with white subway tiles, including a glass-enclosed walk-in shower with a rainfall showerhead, a branch of greenery in a rustic vase on a wooden stool, and a hanging beige towel. — Design by Holly Gagne Interior Design, Photography by Jared Kuzia

To add convenient storage to your shower without drawing attention away from your design, a built-in tile shower niche that blends into the wall can be the ideal solution. This subtle shower niche keeps focus on the rest of the room and its decorative touches and details, like luxury medicine cabinets, while still providing space to store showering essentials.

Choose a Neutral Color

A modern shower area with beige mosaic tiles and a recessed shelf housing black shampoo bottles, featuring a stainless steel showerhead and control.

Whether your tile pattern is a single color or multiple shades, a neutral wall with a shower niche serves as both a visual accent and a complement to the tile. The double bathroom shelves in this niche provide ample storage space for users of varying heights.

Add a Simple Cut-Out to Stone

A minimalist shower space with a black shower head and hose on a white textured wall, next to two recessed shelves and a black control panel. — Credit: @kallistadesign

For a sleek look in a stone shower, a simple cut-out design offers space for storing body wash and shampoo without interrupting the minimalist aesthetic. Paired with Matte Black or Gunmetal fixtures like this handshower, the resulting look is clean and functional.

Let a Shower Niche Blend In

A modern bathroom interior with a white sink, patterned grey tiles on the walls, and a shower curtain hanging in the background.

If you want your decorative tile accent wall to be the focal point of your shower, a recessed shelf on a plain white wall is subtle and practical. In this mostly black and white space, the playful pattern on the back wall of the shower serves as the centerpiece, while the shower niche provides almost-hidden storage just out of sight. Small details like towel hooks or lighted magnification mirrors can easily fit into this aesthetic.

Add a Wood Shelf

A modern shower with a rainfall showerhead and a hand-held sprayer, tiled walls with grey and white tiles, wooden accents, and a niche with toiletries.

Add warmth to your oasis with a wood shelf, ideal for storing bottles of showering products. Paired with neutral tile and other wooden details throughout the room, this shower niche exudes a sense of luxury and relaxation with its cozy design.

Pair a Niche With Built-In Shelves

A modern bathroom interior with marble walls and flooring, featuring a built-in bathtub, a dark wooden vanity with a sink, a large mirror, and decorative items.

For extra storage space, install a shower niche and built-in shelves to ensure every bathroom essential has its place. In this simple, neutral design, the built-in shelves and shower niche fit flawlessly into the room's warm and inviting sensibility.

Two Niches Provide Storage for Showering and Bathing

Modern bathroom design with a built-in bathtub and recessed wall shelves holding various toiletries and decorative items.

With a combination shower-bathtub, two niches can provide convenient storage at the perfect heights for both showering and bathing. Store bath bombs and other bathing items on the lower shelf for easy reach, while showering essentials can sit on the top shelf. For additional space, consider adding a ledge above the bathtub faucet for essential oils or candles.

Install a Multifunctional Bench

A modern bathroom with white tiles, a walk-in shower with glass doors, gold fixtures, and a plush bench. — Credit: @kallistadesign @hommeboys

If you don’t want to add a built-in niche to your shower, consider installing a bench as a convenient place to organize essentials. Not only does this space serve as storage, but it also provides an area to sit and relax as you prepare for the day or wind down in the evening. For extra storage, add luxury linen cabinets near the shower for easy access to towels and other items.