Tasty Topic, Shower Shelving.

I'd do it in pieces of solid surface that matched to color of the tile. The S.S. dealer can shop-fabricate the whole mini-bookcase thing with glued joints, put a nice edge on the front, and size it properly so you can just tile up to it, assuming you shim it into the framing correctly before you put the backer board up. Won't be cheap, though. Lotsa hand work. A cheaper alternative would be several of those premade shower nook shells that are sized for 'perfect tiling'- no cuts needed, square corners, etc. One of the home improvement shows featured them a year or so back- looked like a real cute trick.

aem sends...

How about solid surface material (corian or the like). Looks good, easy to clean, unlike tile with a million grout lines.

I assume you mean stone tile because ceramic tile already has many options for finishing edges including bullnosed tile and edge and corner moldings. Check out tile intended for kitchen and bath countertops.

For stone tile you can have the edges bullnosed (about $7 a foot around here) or use a metal edge bead or outside corner bead. You can bullnose tiles freehand with a belt sander but it dosen't look as professional. You can trim with wood like Teak or mahogany but poor maintenence will have it looking like crap before long.

Maybe you can frame and tile a large rectangular niche and provide glass shelves fitted to the opening. (my best solution)

Finally, glass shelves on those new modern brackets that just stick straight out of the wall without the usual angled part on the bottom

Now thats a good idea for this project. The shelves on either end will be recessed. Plenty of room too..

I like the glass Idea. very easy to hang, and they definetely match.

The corain someone suggested would probably look equally nice.

Glass would probably be cheaper, we have a good glass company up the street. The only thing...if someone ever fell and went to grab... the glass may break where'as the corain or similiar may just hold them.

Depending on how much water exposure you expect, you could simply build wood shelves.

I built a pair of simple quarter circle shelves for our shower out of an old redwood 2x10 (recycled from an old deck). Planed it to 1 inch thickness, used a router and a pivot point to cut out a half circle, then cut that in half for two quarter circles. I rounded the front edges, sanded them smooth, then applied three coats of a spar urethane. I mounted them in the corner of our shower using simple metal "L" brackets and stainless steel screws.

Our shower is large, about 6 feet square, so our shelves don't see any direct water exposure. But, they do get wet when we reach for the soap, from the shampoo bottles, etc. They've been up more than a year now and look as good as the day I installed them.

Just another option...

Anthony

High-density polyethylene sheet, cut into boards and welded. Pick your color.

Use 3/8" thick tempered glass and they won't break very easily but might chip if they fall on the tiled floor.