I like them. Though I do agree with you, that if you were Samantha and could twitch your nose to do a redo, I'd match the grout colour to the tiles. But, I would definitely not do it over now! Linelle is right, and as others have pointed out, once the niches are jam-packed you won't give it another thought! You have no idea how much work and how much I fussed over the mosaic limestone back to my niche. Can barely even see it. In fact my sister just saw it for the first time, and as she has JUST finished re-tiling her BR by herself, she was totally closely inspecting ours. I don't think she even noticed the limestone in the niche.

They make pre-formed waterproof shower niches that you can install and then tile over. We used Duk Liner. Recess-it is another brand. Here is a link that might be useful: Duk Liner

When I was doing my very first bathroom remodel -- almost 20 years ago(!) -- a wise cabinet guy said to me "this is America, and you get what you pay for". That being said, there are laminates and there are laminates. Some are good quality and will hold up great, others will start to delaminate quickly. I would find out what brand your guy is recommending and ask about it here....someone is sure to have some info. I can say that the previous owner of this house put laminate cabs in the master bath, and they are lovely and hold up great & look high end (even tho laminate is not my thing). I saw on the kraftmade site that they have a new line of laminates that look high end in the pics, altho I have no personal knowledge of them, so I can't offer an opinion. If you do go with lam, I would probably suggest going with white or black to keep to the theme. If you go for wood, just try to keep it coordinated overall -- if you use a warm wood-tone be sure to use a warm paint color and carry the tones through in the accesories.

The tower cabinet is still there. I was trying to show the niche so it cut off that part of the room. The niche is cut out of the right side of the tower cabinet. The replacement vanity is the same size as the original 36". I agree extra storage is good to have but I doubt I'd actually use the niche. I think I'll need to lose the niche if I lower the lights. Does the tower cabinet look weird? Or was it the right call to keep it? It's a 1 bed/1 bath condo so no need for double sinks. I think 2 people in the room would be cramped.