You need to think about what you are going to put in there and who will be using the niches because those are the things that should drive your decision. Also remember that by the time you put in the wall studs to shape the niches, you will lose both width and height. In our case, our outside shower wall is L-shaped--there is a very narrow (9") floor to ceiling column and then the 40" knee wall forms the rest of the structure. We decided to put our niches in the column and knee wall so they would not be visible from the outside of the shower. In the narrow column, we built three niches that from top to bottom are 15", 5" and 15" high, respectively. Because the column is so narrow, the niches are barely 4" wide, but they are just wide enough for giant Costco bottles of shampoo and conditioner. The middle niche is for soap. We then have a 12" x 15" niche in the knee wall. Since the knee wall is only 40" high, the top of the niche is only at about 36", which was a bit short for my very tall husband, so my stuff will mostly go there. In there will go the body wash, the pumice stone, the body sponge, etc. Generally, I think it is a good idea to try to work it out so you have tall and wide spaces (for tall shampoos, etc.) combined with some smaller, more efficient spaces. Taking up too much space in a large niche for a razor is not space-efficient. The razor and other small items are best placed in a series of smaller niche, but too many small nithes will reduce your flexibility. So it is balancing act at the end of the day.

These are inspiration pictures I have saved in my bathroom folder.

We put 1 in our guest bath and have recently discovered it isn't enough for all our stuff. I plan to put 2 larger ones and 2 smaller ones in our masterbath.

I measured the products we normally use and made sure I had space for them. My daughter's bath has two: one low for bubblebath, and then this tall one for shampoos, daily shower cleaner, and a shorter bottom shelf for razor and soap (it's MUCH more filled up with junk now!)

In our master shower, we have a similar tall, skinny niche. Love them!!!

This is our niche right after the grouting was finished. We installed a tempered glass shelf that sits in the middle of the diamond embellishments. We love it, wouldn't change a thing!

Noble niches are pre made water proof niches and ready to tile. Thats what I went with.

Originally wanted to tile it with the shower floor river rock to tie it in with that and do a glass shelf through the middle similar to one of the pics here but since the niche I got already has a shelf I might just tile it in some extra 3x3 glass tiles. though I worry they may be a tad big?

Thanks for the comments and photos. Super helpful!

We did his and hers niches. DH has a regular shower head on his side(straight on in pic) I have a rainhead and handheld on my side(left side of pic). We did matching niches with a small ledge for razors and tiled in the accent tile.
Not grouted pic:
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The Shower Niche and Shower Bench are two key design features for your next shower renovation.

Take a look at this "Ideabook" for more creative ideas.

John Whipple
North Vancouver

Here is a link that might be useful: Shower Niche Design Pictures