He nixed it without even seeing what's inside the wall. I was just going to let it go but I really prefer to hide the niche in the pony wall. I don't want it as a feature. Should I ask him to leave that option open for when they demo the existing shower?

I also wanted to install a Ginger corner basket that is chrome-plated brass and he said it would leak so they won't warranty their work if one is installed.

If you have to go with a visible niche, here is what I did. I went to Bath and Body Works and bought several bottles of shower gel. The shower gels come in clear plastic squirt bottles with silver chrome-looking tops. I emptied a couple of shower gels into spare bottles, removed the labels, and put my other products in the empty BBW bottles. Then I marked them on the bottom with a sharpie to identify: B for body gel, F for face wash, S for shampoo, C for conditioner. You can’t see the sharpie marks. The bottles look really nice in the niche.

BTW I have a custom niche that was sized to work seamlessly with the tile I chose.

EDIT: I would consider doing the border on the bottom of the walls like a baseboard to make the shower floor look bigger.

Re the niche: I was warned about water seepage as well, so I towel dry the niche after every shower. It’s not a big deal. Also, my custom niche was framed out inside the wall so I could put it where I wanted. (My shower is small: 30x 60)

Also think about how much water will be hitting the niche. In the pic with the pony wall, there might be a lot of water coming at the niche. My niche sees hardly any water because the shower spray hits the floor several inches before it gets to the niche wall.

Your tile is very unique! Pretty!

We use bar soap and shampoo bar soap so we won't even use the niche. I'm just putting one in to be nice to the next person who lives here. It would be a Wedi niche so I assume it's leak-proof if installed correctly.

What I really want is a corner basket for soap but he nixed it. He said it will leak even with silicone filling the screw holes. Maybe he'll be willing to build a small soap niche on the shower head wall. Since he's not even building the pony wall, I'm not sure he has final say on whether there's room for a niche and the shower plumbing.

"He said it will leak" This is proof positive that the installer is not a tile setter. Check out Tile Ware products. Your concerns about this so called installer are valid.

He's definitely a tile setter. I know he's even done some big corporate projects in Portland and a Street of Dreams home. The problem may be that he's a meat and potatoes type of setter and he may not want to do custom work. He's near retirement age and his son does the tiling while he does the cutting. Son very carefully placed the tiles on my kitchen floor but when he got to the last row, Dad arrived and started slapping tiles down. He thought he was taking too long. I wasn't as pleased with that last row because there are repeating tiles and I have six leftover tiles he could have selected from. Unfortunately Dad bids the jobs and is first contact. I'm happier working with his son, who has been setting tile for ten years.

It's funny that he thinks a basket will leak but a grab bar won't?

Thank you for the lead on TileWare, Creative Tile. I'd never heard of them in all the reading I've done here in the six years I've been planning bath remodels. Have you installed any of their products? They don't appear to have a functioning website but they have a Houzz account. I think I'll get their soap dish.

https://www.houzz.com/pro/tileware/tileware-products-llc