I will put my 2 cents in. I hate shower niches , I have no idea why anyone wants to high light shampoo bottles and in my experience unless done by a very good pro when the shower id being built they leak and are always skuzzy and hard to keep clen. get a nice over the wall caddy and save yourself many headaches . if you really want help show your shower as it is now. This is not something you add later it is part of the beginning of the shower construction.You can get prefab shower niches and IMO if you insist that is the way to go if this is creating an issue already .

Presuming you are building a new shower, the shelf is installed as the niche is tiled, the tiles support the shelf and lock it in place.

@HALLETT & Co. Yes, I am building a whole new shower. I believe you are talking about this kind of work. See photo below. I can absolutely do the photo below no problem.

I am just struggling with the two photos I posted earlier because the shelf looks as if there's nothing supporting it if you look closely at their cuts. Do you know how to do achieve that?

Unrelated, but the tetris-shaped marble tiles in the first niche are pretty rad.

as stated, it's resting on the tile for support. you just can't see it well in the photo, but it's there.

did it here w/this one. the only reason you really see it is the two diff colors

same here. we set the shelf on the side pieces, and cut the top side pieces to fit on top of it

@patriciacolwellconsulting, you’ve made this comment before. I disagree. The niche can be built on a wall that’s not visible upon entry to the bathroom, depending on the design of the room. They can (should) be waterproof and are very easy to keep clean. Also, they’re far more custom and high end looking than an over the showerhead caddy from Target or Bed, Bath and Beyond. What’s even tackier than a caddy is shampoo bottles lined up on a window, visible to the outside. If starting from scratch, I say go for the niche!

Kimberly - I understand the question you were asking about the two niches you posted above. Those two niches are different than many niches I’ve seen because of the solid sides. Most niches have the shelf supported by laying on the top of the tiles used for the sides of the niche. I assume that the way those two niches were built was by using biscuits or something else as suggested by Fix It above.

What did you decide to do in your niche? My niche will be built this week (FINALLY). My tile setter is experienced - and I’m sure that he knows how to accomplish this look. I just am trying to understand how difficult it is before meeting with him to finalize everything in a few days. If it’s very time consuming/difficult, I may just have him support the shelf by laying it on the side wall tiles. However, if it’s fairly easy, I‘d rather have the final product look like the ones you’ve posted above. Let me know. Thanks!

@Kimberly Lin

Good question!

(edit: whoops -- I was looking at the incorrect post above when I first replied.)

Hmm. I once made wooden shelves by cutting an L-shaped bite out of the shelf edge and a U-shaped cut in the back the two long thin vertical support boards, then sliding in the shelf to lock it in from the back, allowing it to look seamless from the front. Perhaps they did something similar here?

Or perhaps sandwiching the back of the shelf edge between two rows of back tiles provided enough stiffness to simply caulk the edges on the sides?

@Kimberly Lin, did you unlock the mystery of the universe? Funnily enough, I am sitting here asking myself the same question!! Maybe some sort of fancy routing?

It is done similarly to many other floating shelves with concealed metal brackets and a ”slipcover” over them. In this case, the slipcover is stone. The custom fabricated brackets are similar to this Schluter metal shelf bracket, done in stainless, with the stone mitered with a slight gap between the pieces. Or a slot milled into thicker stone. The space is filled with a stone safe adhesive, and the stone is slipped over the brackets. The tile pattern in the custom niche has to be carefully planned out by an expert. It is not a cheap or easy detail. It is not a DIY detail unless you own a granite shop and are an expert tile mechanic both. Plus have a friend at a steel fabrication shop with a CNC plasma cutter, TIG, and brake.

@Rachel L - my understanding, based upon information received by tile professionals over at John Bridge Tile Forum, it was installed by using some type of metal biscuit + epoxy. Professionals over there have used metal washers - others have used pennies.

I am installing a long marble shelf in a tub/shower surround (decided not to put a niche because the wall I want to locate storage is an exterior wall) - and metal biscuits are being added for additional support. I did discuss the shelf in that exact niche above in a dm conversation with an extremely experienced tile professional - he said metal biscuits + epoxy would be an easy way to add strength vs. just having the weight supported by the back tile.

I think that other adhesives are sometimes used in place of epoxy - if you head over to that forum, professionals are very willing to help DIY’ers with tiling issues - inclduing how to construct custom shower niches. You will receives suggestions quickly (at least I have every time I’ve asked for advice/opinions).

I believe the fabricator used an epoxy to “glue” the stone shelf in. It was definitely not supported by tiles underneath it.