How many corner shelves should a walk-in shower have?

Ella does not publish a required number of corner shelves for a shower, and the count is settled by who reaches for the shelf rather than by a rule. The pattern inside Ella's own wall systems is one or two corner shelves within the bather's reach plus a soap ledge or niche for everything else: the cultured marble shelving package adds two 7 inch corner shelves and one 15 inch soap ledge, and the add-on corner caddies come with one or two shelves. Every built-in and add-on shelf Ella offers is listed in What shelving does an Ella shower have, and how big are the shelves?, and this page turns that list into a count and a placement for your own shower.

Start with Who Reaches for the Shelf

The most useful way to decide the number of corner shelves is to answer the two questions Ella asks before it builds a 5-piece shower stall. On that stall the soap ledges are formed into the wall panels, and because the panels are made for your order, the team confirms their placement with you before the stall is built. The questions are which side the bather reaches toward, and whether a seated bather needs a ledge lower on the wall.

Those two answers decide the count in any Ella shower. A bather who stands under the shower head needs a shelf on the side they naturally turn to, at a height they reach without stretching. A bather who sits on a bench or a molded seat cannot reach a shelf placed for a standing person, so the seated position needs its own shelf lower down. One corner shelf covers one of those positions. Two corner shelves cover both, which is why Ella's cultured marble package lands on two. The cultured marble shelves and ledge are positioned to your reach rather than fixed at a factory height, so the second shelf can sit where the seated bather actually reaches.

• One bather, standing only: one corner shelf on the side they turn toward, plus a ledge or niche for bottles.
• A bather who sits for part of the shower, or a standing bather and a seated bather sharing the shower: two corner shelves, one at each reach height.
• A caregiver who helps from outside the spray: keep the shelves on the bather's side so the caregiver's side stays clear for standing and reaching in.

What Ella's Wall Systems Give You

The table shows why there is no single right number. Three Ella systems arrive with storage already decided, and one of them, the cultured marble package, decides it as two corner shelves and one ledge. The acrylic 3-piece surround, the SMC subway kits and the acrylic 3-panel kits have no shelf in their descriptions, so on those walls the count is whatever you add, and the caddies give you the choice of one shelf or two. If you want storage without taking corner space, the flush mount single shelf and the SMC triple niche put it on a flat wall instead.

Built in Before the Walls Are Made, or Added After

Timing matters more than the count, because built-in storage cannot be moved once the panels exist. The Acrylic 6-Piece Wall Panel Kit in Carrara White measures 36 inches deep by 60 inches wide by 92 inches tall, arrives as six acrylic pieces 1/8 inch thick, and has its storage shelves built into the left side. If the bather turns to the right, raise that before ordering rather than after the panels arrive. The kit's shelves and how it compares with the shelf-free surround are in Acrylic 6-Piece Wall Panel Kit: Size, Shelves, Thickness and How It Compares.

The solid white glossy 3-piece surround is a different footprint, 40 inches deep by 60 inches wide and 97 inches tall, with a 1-inch bend at the panel edges, and its description includes no shelves. Because it is deeper and taller than the 6-piece kit, confirm your ceiling height and alcove depth before choosing it, and plan on an add-on if you want a corner shelf.

Cultured marble surrounds are a natural quartz and granite composite with a gel coat surface, molded in stock sizes and trimmed to fit, and the shelving comes as package option 3. Because the two 7 inch corner shelves and the 15 inch ledge are positioned to your reach, tell the team the bather's standing and seated reach before the surround is made.

Everything else is an add-on ordered as its own item: the corner caddies with one or two shelves, the flush mount single shelf and the SMC triple niche are all listed with the doors, seats and grab bars in Shower Doors, Seats, Benches, Grab Bar Sets, Niches, Soap Dishes and Acrylic Trim. Add-ons are the right path when the wall system is already up, or when you want to see how the bather uses the shower before fixing a second shelf.

Corner Shelf, Flat Shelf or Niche

A corner shelf is the easiest storage to reach from a seat because the corner is usually beside the bather rather than behind them. A flat shelf at 2 1/2 by 16 1/4 inches holds a row of bottles on the back wall where a corner would be too tight. The SMC triple niche is recessed 3 1/2 inches into the wall at 16 inches wide by 39 inches high, so it gives three levels of storage on one wall without anything projecting into the shower. Ask your contractor whether the wall behind your kit can take a recess of that depth before you order one, and ask the team which wall systems the niche pairs with, because the published specs list its size but not its pairings.

The wall system you choose sets how much flat wall there is to work with. SMC subway kits cover 36 by 60 by 96 inches in the 12-piece version, with a 9-piece kit at 72 inches high and a 6-piece kit at 48 inches high, and the acrylic 3-panel kits run 40 by 60 by 98 or 40 by 60 by 105 inches. The printed sizes of every wall system are side by side in Wall Kit Sizes at a Glance. On a 48 inch tub surround there is far less wall above the rim than in a floor-to-ceiling stall, which is a reason to keep the count to one shelf at the height the bather uses most.

Where to Buy a Corner Shelf and What to Tell the Team

Corner caddies, the flush mount shelf and the SMC niche come through your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, and you can also open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support. When panels are ordered together with a tub, they ship with the tub order, so decide on built-in shelving at the same time you decide on the walls.

1. Name the wall system you have or are ordering, since built-in storage is only available on the 5-piece stall, the 6-piece Carrara White kit and cultured marble option 3.
2. Say which side of the alcove the bather turns toward, and whether anyone showers seated.
3. Say whether you want one corner shelf or two, or a flat shelf or niche instead of a corner.
4. For the 6-piece kit, ask for both the product page and the spec sheet, because the spec sheet is a separate document with the drawings your installer needs.

Related Guides

• Installing Shower Seats, Folding Benches, the Fold-Up Chair, Teak Seat, Grab Bar Shelf and the Caregiver Curtain Rod

Common Questions