Don’t know about outdated - maybe it’s a design decision if one wants contrast tile inside a niche. But, in a new build, I chose corner shelves for more flexibility of shelf height placement & easier to clean. Probably cheaper cost of construction too. with shelves vs niche, you can have more shelves also.

In main bath, I added 2 hidden fastener glass corner shelves and a corner teak bench with bottom shelf for additional storage. In our ADA bath, I have a small tall niche plus 2 of the same glass shelves set within reach of a seated person. In my son’s black and grey bath, I used 4 stainless shelves with decorative drain holes (2 in each corner). Niche is the least useful of all my choices.

All good info! I think we are going with the shelves and not the niche.

I think corner shelves look and function much better than niches.

If you'd like to complicate your tile job and screw up the geometry, get the niches.

I guess I'll be the lone dissenter. I've used corner shelves in showers at some hotels and airbnbs. I have difficulty even fitting my travel toiletries on them. Granted, I use a lot of products in the shower.

I do like the idea of a long ledge. But aside from a long ledge, niches seem to be the only thing that can handle two 1-liter bottles (shampoo & conditioner), plus one or two bottles of leave-in conditioner, plus shave gel, plus one or two body wash bottles, plus face wash, plus possible face scrub, etc. And that's just for one person. Plus, I find I'm not knocking over things to get to other things on a shelf or niche vs. on corner shelves.

FWIW, none of the niches in any of our three bathrooms have accent tile. We just ran the same tile on the back of the niche that's on the wall of the showers.

I prefer a long shelf high at the back of the tub.

Niches are nice when well done, but there are frequent posts about tiling issues, (and subsequently waterproofing issues) and a lot of them are related to niches.

We are considering the Schluter shelves. Has anyone used them and if so, thoughts?

Yes, we got the schluter shelves, rectangular,, not corner i liked them because they have cut out designs which allow water to drain out. we chose white to blend in with the tile. we are really happy with our choice, they look nice and are very funtional