We have a small niche behind our cooktop. It was supposed to be wider and taller but we ran into some problems and had to stay within the studs.

Jodi-

We copied willowdecor's niche, almost completely.

Here's how it was framed (the gatorade bottles are sitting on what became the niche):
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Then it was sheet-rocked:
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And after it was tiled, with a marble shelf:

Here is mine pre-tiled. It's about 12"X26".

Cindy in STL

I wanted to have a niche behind my stove but couldn't do it because it's an outside wall. But DH built me some bookcases downstairs, pic shows them done in wood & painted to match all the woodwork downstairs.

I have a Message Center Niche that's recessed into an 8" deep wall of my pantry.

The Niche was framed out like a passthrough (or doorway, just not to the floor).

The sides, top, and bottom were all drywalled as the other interior walls. However, the back has a sheet of plywood on the back w/a very thin drywall over it on the Niche side, and regular drywall on the pantry side. Since we knew we were going to be hanging a calendar & keys in the Niche, we wanted something more substantial than just the drywall to hang them on without going all the way through b/c the other side was the pantry.

Here are the pics of it being built along with the corner pantry:

Pantry, Niche is on the right...

Here it is framed out. It's finished dimensions will be 48"H x 20"W x 7" deep.

Most of the drywall done on the sides, bottom, top...

Plywood back applied. A very thin layer of drywall will be put over the plywood on this side. Regular drywall will be put on the back...it will be drywalled w/the rest of the pantry interior.

Here it is finished!

My cousin built storage into a wall between the studs. It looks like cupboards, but is a one can deep pantry.