I dislike shower niches so I rarely design them for clients as for this one IMO probably a better choice than a badly installed tile one but what are you using for shower walls and i assume this is stainless and if not don't do it. I much prefer a caddy that can be cleaned properly and honestly I have no idea why people want to high light shampoo bottles .

What material is the rest of the shower wall?

I like the functionality of a well designed niche. I tend to bump products off shelves and find caddies to get in the way when they're hung on the shower arm. I prefer the niches to be tucked into a side wall rather than showcased.

It is stainless steel steel. This one is powder coated with black but I’ve seen powder coated in white also. We’re looking at shower walls by transolid in white venito.

This is I guess an inspiration picture. some of the other details will be different if we go this route. I don’t want a replica of some other person’s shower!

The metal niches are awesome. Some go behind the tile so you will need a bullnose or pencil edge for the tile and others the tile butts up to them. Some models also let you put tile on the back of them as well.

I sell the ones from Y-shelf

We sell steel rebates that slip into the wall face - seen in this picture used here for inset lighting. Can also be applied to a shower and tiled over or painted as you need.

Whether this would suit your project is really dependant on the size of the rebate you're after. Metal niche rebates such as this typically cannot be as large or carry as much weight as a standard shelf. If you are building from scratch this isn't an issue as you can have the rebate be supported by a stud behind it. If you are just renovating though, just something to note when looking into this.

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"We’re trying to avoid tile/grout."

What are you using for the rest of the shower surround?

Our contractor wanted to put a niche in our shower. Nope nope nope. We’ll use the teak bench, the pony wall ledge, even the grab bar, rather than a niche, which I find hard to clean, and mold factories.

@millworkman we were going to use solid surface shower panels.

Unfortunately, some things came up and we're postponing the remodel. I'm still planning on some cosmetic updates in the meantime.

Michelle... do you have a link to the black powder coated niche you pictured above? It looks like it may work for our remodel. Thanks!

Its by AKDY. Here’s the link for it on home depot. it might be on so e other sites also. https://www.homedepot.com/p/AKDY-16-in-W-x-12-in-H-x-4-in-D-18-Gauge-Stainless-Steel-Bathroom-Shower-Wall-Niche-in-Matte-Black-SN002-2/317157652