I agree, Niche's are great and have fun with them. I did 2, one is very large and holds lots of stuff but I keep it to a minimum it also doubles as a foot rest when shaving and the other is long and skinny with 4 shelves that are pretty much out of water splash zone. The top shelf is for a stack of wash cloths that are stocked at all times, never will I have to hear the pounding on the walls followed by "Can you bring me a wash cloth?" Next shelf for Face wash like Noxema and 3rd shelf is for his and hers razors the bottom shelf is a bar of soap that sits on a folded clean dry washcloth so that the soap dries nice and no soapy mess to ever clean up. Have fun with it! And build in the organization.

I've done both. The ceramic pre-fab corner caddies are OK for subway tile or traditional 4" tile, the soap doesn't slide out and they have a drip cutout.....aside that, I think they generally look cheap. For a porcelain or stone-type shower, I generally fabricate a corner shelf out of marble or granite and set it into the tile. Some tile stores sell these and they don't look bad....but, as was said, they provide an obsticle that can be chipped or broken. Niches look the best, don't protrude into the shower and are the hardest/most expensive to fabricate. There are "ready made" ones that you can tile on and they do have a slope built into them (as should the ones you fabricate) so there is no collecting water. Here is one I fabricated for a houseboat shower. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/Lazarus/BoatTile009-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/Lazarus/BoatTile019.jpg[/IMG] And one I did in a "Subway Tile" shower (walls not grouted yet) [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/Lazarus/kerdishowerpics005.jpg[/IMG]

Why not both? If you only do the corner shelf, you can't sit on it because it will have shampoo and soap on it. Use the handmade tile for an accent that includes a niche, and add a small white corner shelf for use with leg shaving or to sit. For something as small as the photo above, I would use a solid surface rather than tile so you don't need to be concerned about the edges. I would not make it a big feature. You do need to plan ahead so the shelf has support in the wall.

Since marble is used for steps and such on exteriors I would say it is not going to deteriorate faster. It may stain a little more easily. The reason I asked is because in the last place I had my marble shelf mounted high enough to be out of the shower spray and although it was mounted with the polished side up, I could see the underside standing in the shower.