Short answer: Decide the niche before the wall is framed, and size its opening to the tile that runs across the wall, so its edges land on grout lines instead of thin cuts. Tile the back, the sides, the top and the base. Then choose how the front edge is finished: mitred tile, a metal trim or a rounded trim piece. The base should fall slightly towards the shower so water runs out, and the niche is waterproofed with the rest of the wet area before any tile goes on. Rubi's tiling guide notes that small tiles such as mosaics are easier to place in a small space. By area, a niche 300 mm wide, 600 mm high and 90 mm deep takes at least five sheets of Carrara Petite Herringbone to cover all five faces.
A niche is a small piece of wall with four extra edges, and that is where it usually goes wrong: a sliver of tile down one side, a pattern that does not line up with the wall around it, a base that holds water. This page works through the decisions in the order they have to be made, with the sizes recorded on the product pages here, and links to three installed showers where the tile carries into a niche.
1. Decide the niche before the wall is framed
A built-in niche is a box framed into the wall cavity, so its position and size are fixed when the frame goes up, well before the tiler arrives. Just in Place, a Sydney bathroom renovator, puts planning it too late first among the mistakes it sees most often: the niche has to be framed and waterproofed before tiling, and adding one after the tiler has started is a costly change. Rubi's guide for tilers adds that a niche should not go where plumbing, wiring or a load-bearing structure sits, and that an outside wall can interfere with insulation.
Two dimensions come from what you will put in it. Just in Place suggests a depth of roughly 90 to 100 mm, so larger bottles sit securely, and at least 300 mm of height for taller ones, placed within easy reach but out of the direct spray.
Rubi also describes the alternative to a framed box: a preformed niche, a ready-to-install unit in plastic, fibreglass, stainless steel or foam board. A preformed niche comes in fixed sizes, so the next section works the other way round: choose the size on offer that lands on your tile.
2. Size the opening to the tile, not the tile to the opening
If the opening is set first, the tiler has to cut whatever is left at each edge, and a niche has four edges close together. If the opening is a whole number of tiles wide and high, and one edge sits on a joint line of the wall's set-out, the wall joints run straight past it and every edge lands on a grout line. The set-out depends on where the tiler starts the wall, so agree it with the tiler before the frame goes up and mark the niche from it. Just in Place gives the subway example: make the niche the height of one tile, or two.
Here is what that means in millimetres for the wall tiles recorded on this site. Each figure is tile faces only; add one grout joint between each pair of tiles, at whatever width your tiler sets. With a 2 mm joint, for example, three 100 mm columns come to 304 mm.
| Wall tile here | Face size | Opening widths that land on joints | Opening heights that land on joints |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio Chalk and Studio Linen, laid vertically in a stack | 100 × 300 mm | 200, 300 or 400 mm (two, three or four columns) | 300 or 600 mm (one or two tile lengths) |
| The nine 75 × 300 mm subway tiles, laid horizontally in a stack | 75 × 300 mm | 300 or 600 mm (one or two tile lengths) | 300, 375 or 600 mm (four, five or eight courses) |
| Studio Pure White, laid upright | 300 × 600 mm | 300 or 600 mm (one or two tiles) | 600 mm (one tile length) |
| Studio Pure White, laid on its side | 600 × 300 mm | 600 mm (one tile length) | 300 or 600 mm (one or two courses) |
These are finished sizes, where the wall tile stops. The framed opening is larger, because it has to allow for the wall board, the membrane, the adhesive, the tiles on the returns and the edge finish, so ask the tiler to work the frame size back from the finished size.
Two things change the table. In a brick bond, every second course is shifted by half a tile, so a vertical edge of the opening can sit on a joint in only every other course; in the courses between, it meets a half tile. Half a tile is a clean cut, so an opening a whole number of tiles wide still works. With a one-third offset, the edge meets a third or two thirds of a tile in the courses between. A stack bond, where every joint runs straight, is the easiest layout to frame a niche into. And where a cut cannot be avoided, a common setting-out rule is not to leave a piece narrower than a third of a tile; the 1/3 rule turns that into millimetres for each format here.
Large tiles are the hard case. Just in Place notes that formats of 600 × 600 mm and larger often look out of proportion inside a small niche, and suggests a smaller format for the inside while the large tile carries the surrounding wall. A mosaic is one way to do that.
3. The back of the niche: the same tile, or a mosaic
There are two approaches, and the installed showers on this site show both.
Carry the wall tile into the niche. In Studio Chalk in a brass shower, a 100 × 300 mm subway tile runs up the wall in a vertical stack, and the back of the niche carries the same tile, so the columns continue into the recess. In Carrara Petite Herringbone in a main bathroom and across a bath and shower, a herringbone mosaic covers the whole shower wall and the niche is simply cut into it. The niche reads as part of the wall rather than as a feature.
Set a different tile in the back. A contrasting back makes the niche a feature; Just in Place mentions a bold mosaic contrast tile as one niche finish. Rubi's guide notes that smaller tiles, such as mosaics or penny rounds, are easier to place in a small space, though full-sized tiles also work. The Carrara Petite Herringbone product page describes it as a fine 30 × 60 mm chip for detail areas and niches, and the twelve sheets here are in mosaic tiles.
Mosaic pattern decides how the edges look. A grid of squares, a stack of bars or a set of strips can fall on a joint where the opening matches the pieces; where it does not, the cut is one straight row or column. A herringbone runs on the diagonal, so every straight edge of the niche needs cut pieces, whatever size the opening is. Herringbone tiles compares the three herringbone sheets here, and Kit Kat tiles covers the finger and strip mosaics, whose straight joints make that one-row cut simple to plan.
4. How many mosaic sheets a niche takes
Count all five faces: the back, the two sides, the top and the base. Take a niche 300 mm wide, 600 mm high and 90 mm deep.
| Face | Working | Area |
|---|---|---|
| Back | 0.300 m × 0.600 m | 0.180 m² |
| Two sides | 2 × 0.600 m × 0.090 m | 0.108 m² |
| Top and base | 2 × 0.300 m × 0.090 m | 0.054 m² |
| Total | 0.342 m² |
Divide by the area of one sheet, as recorded on each product page, and round up.
| Mosaic | One sheet covers | 0.342 m² ÷ sheet | Sheets by area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrara Petite Herringbone (natural marble, 270 × 262 mm sheet) | 0.0707 m² | 4.84 | 5 |
| Carrara Hexagon (ceramic, 282 × 325 mm sheet) | 0.0916 m² | 3.73 | 4 |
| Carrara Stack (natural marble, 305 × 305 mm sheet) | 0.093 m² | 3.68 | 4 |
Those counts are area only, with no allowance for cuts, and a niche has a high share of cut pieces for its size. Tile wastage by pattern, size and room sets out the allowances, including for herringbone. Where the base is a stone or solid shelf rather than tile, it comes off the count. How to measure a tiling project sets out how to measure each surface separately, and the tile calculator works from your own measurements.
5. Finishing the front edge
Where the niche meets the wall, the cut edge of the tile shows unless it is finished. There are three ways.
- Mitred tile. The tiles on the wall and on the return are cut at 45 degrees and meet at the corner, so no edge piece shows. Just in Place notes that mitring is usually the more expensive option, and that some tiles do not mitre easily or are more prone to chipping.
- Metal trim. An aluminium or stainless profile run along each edge. Rubi names a metal rim as one of two ways to finish the edges of a niche, with the bullnose tile.
- Rounded trim piece. A bullnose tile or a narrow pencil trim, in ceramic or stone, laid along the edge. Rubi names the bullnose tile; Just in Place mentions stone and decorative trims as a way to make the niche stand out.
Trim profiles are made in heights to suit a tile's thickness, so take the thickness row from the product page to whoever is buying the trim. On the tiles here, the mosaics record 6, 7 or 8 mm (Studio White Finger records none), the subway tiles 8 mm and Studio Pure White 10 mm. We do not sell trims, so match the profile to the tile with your tiler or a trim supplier.
6. The order of work
Rubi's guide sets out the sequence for tiling a niche once it is framed:
- Apply the waterproofing membrane to the inside of the niche and the surrounding area, following the manufacturer's instructions.
- Tile the back of the niche first, level and aligned with the surrounding tiles, using spacers to keep the joints even.
- Tile the sides, the top and the base, setting the base tiles with a forward angle so water runs off.
- Finish the edges with a bullnose tile or a metal rim.
- Grout, let the grout cure, then clean off any haze.
- Run a bead of silicone sealant around the edges of the niche.
7. Water: the base, the membrane and the silicone
The base of a niche is a small floor that the shower hits directly. Just in Place and Rubi give the same instruction: set the base with a slight fall towards the shower so water runs out instead of pooling.
The niche is waterproofed as part of the wet area, before tiling. Just in Place states that in Australia this work must comply with AS 3740, the Australian Standard for waterproofing of domestic wet areas. How to check the waterproofer's licence, and which record to ask your building certifier about, are covered in wet areas: which documents to ask your waterproofer for.
8. Mosaic on the shower floor
The same mosaics often appear on shower floors, and the question comes up next. None of the twelve mosaics here records a slip class; tile slip ratings lists the 36 tiles that do. A product page here also has no row saying where a tile goes, which wall tiles vs floor tiles explains. The building code's slip table for houses covers stair treads, ramps and landing edges, not shower floors, so take the product name and the fact that no class is recorded to your certifier or installer, who decides what the floor needs.
Questions people ask
How do you tile a shower niche with metal trim?
Rubi's guide names the metal rim, with the bullnose tile, as a way to finish a niche edge. Choose a profile whose height suits the tile thickness, and fit it to the trim maker's instructions.
Can you use mosaic tiles in a shower niche?
Rubi's guide names mosaics and penny tiles as easier to place in a small space, and Just in Place mentions a contrasting mosaic as one niche finish. The Carrara Petite Herringbone product page describes it as a fine chip for detail areas and niches. Waterproofing and the fall of the base apply to a mosaic niche as to any other.
Can you add a niche to an existing tiled shower?
Just in Place says it is possible but a significant job: the tiles in that area come off, the wall is framed, waterproofed and re-tiled. Unless you are re-tiling at least one wall anyway, it suggests building the niche into the next renovation instead.
How deep should a shower niche be?
Just in Place suggests roughly 90 to 100 mm, which holds larger bottles securely, and at least 300 mm of height. The depth available also depends on the wall framing, so it is set with the builder.
To see a wall tile and a mosaic together before you decide, order a sample piece of each.
Where these facts come from
Tile sizes, thicknesses, materials, sheet sizes, sheet coverage and product descriptions come from the product pages on this site, read on 23 October 2026. The three installed showers are photographs published on this site. Planning, sizing, depth, edge, order-of-work, fall and waterproofing guidance is attributed in the text to Just in Place and Rubi, both read on 23 October 2026. The sheet counts are arithmetic on the recorded sheet coverage and include no allowance for cuts.
References
- Just in Place, Bathroom niche ideas: how to get it right, accessed 23 October 2026
- Rubi Tools, How to tile a shower niche: tips for pros, accessed 23 October 2026
- Standards Australia, AS 3740:2021, Waterproofing of domestic wet areas, catalogue entry, accessed 24 August 2026
Search with Google? Add Tilekind as a preferred source and Google is more likely to show our guides in your Top stories.