Our bathroom is similar to your most recent picture. The wall between the toilet and vanity is actually a full-height wall with a medicine cabinet on the vanity side, and then it drops down to a pony wall, a little higher than the vanity. It’s topped there with the same material as the counter, and it is, well, just the right size to set the cell phone (don’t judge me. Due to family circumstances I have to have my phone in reach at all times.) Then, above the toilet there is a cabinet that goes across the entire niche. It takes the place of a linen closet for that bathroom. Since it is behind the wall, you can’t see it unless you are at that end of the bathroom.
I can’t get past walking through the closet like that, though. The walk-in closets I had never look Pinterest-ready, there is always a shoe out on the floor, or something drooping off the shelves, and of course the clothes are not hung in color and length order. And if someone is in there picking out their outfit while the other is trying to squeeze past to get to the shower, well, it just doesn’t seem optimal.
Q