Tile shower shelves vs. shower baskets

[Koolkat]

Does anyone have any pros or cons about these in showers? We're getting our shower redone (fiberglass surround). The walls are going to be large format tile in an off white. The shower alcove is roughly 60x30 inches. The shower has a shower head/hand held spray attachment/bar/etc. This is a pic, but doesn't show the bath water outlet. It will be this color.

west slope shower sm.jpg (16.89 KiB) Viewed 12381 times

The bar will be on right side of knobs as shown, the right side is to the "outside" of the shower alcove. To the left, in the corner, we were debating whether to have the tile guy put in a shelf, or use a shower basket.
The shelf would not be too thin, something like this:

shower-corner-shelf-top-of-tile med.jpg (21.52 KiB) Viewed 12381 times

If we were to use shower baskets, it would be something like this:

FR Gold medium basket kohler sm.jpg (9.17 KiB) Viewed 12381 times

https://www.us.kohler.com/us/Medium-sho ... dId=785110

Does anyone have any pros/cons to shelves vs. baskets? I've heard both can be hard to keep clean!
Any pros or cons to one vs. 2 shelves?
Any pro or cons to one vs. 2 baskets?
Do you think the baskets in the left corner with all that shower hardware be too visually busy? You can't see the front of the shower from the door or at the sinks.
The tub has a rim shelf that could be used to set things on (not huge, but adequate), we do that now with shampoo/rinse so we are already trained in that way. The baskets would be primarily for soap (going to start using liquid vs. hard as paraffin from hard soap is such a headache to clean).

Thanks for your thoughts/experiences! The tile guy is coming this week!!

[piedmontfields]

I think the shelf would be easier to clean! Are you in the habit of placing bar soap on a drain plate/something? That helps. But make sure your shelf is big enough for that.

[Wicky]

The problem with shelves is that they tend to collect water especially if you have bar soap. Nevertheless, I had one put in because I liked the look, rather than baskets. So I vote for a shelf.

[Koolkat]

I think the shelves are suppose to have a 1% angle on them, don't know if this is not really sufficient. I'm leaning toward the shelves now, the idea of trying to clean up under that grid next to the wall. . . Wicky, what is the length of your shelf (wall side)? Is the hypotenuse straight like in the pic above, or do you have a curve? Are you happy with the size? I'm thinking 2. . .

[Canyon]

Our step-in shower is about 32" x 58", with a shower head at each end. When we had the shower redone, the tile guy suggested including a shelf, recessed between the studs. The shelf is about 12" square, 3" deep. Three sides are bull-nose tile; the bottom tile is 4 1/2" deep with a rounded edge. I can fit 3 large pump bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and soft soap, plus a bar of soap. The bottom tile is slightly angled down toward the shower; I have never had a problem with water pooling or the shelf being hard to clean.

He also added a triangular tile seat in the far corner, about 15" on the right-angle edges. I wanted the seat all the way across the far short end, but he thought that would be too much weight (shower is on second floor). I like the seat, although it tends to accumulate too many extra bottle of shampoo, etc. It is handy to prop up a leg when shaving!

[Tanga]

Two tile shelves all the way. Much easier to clean. Always put more than you need. You an just not use one if you don't want it. You can't add one later.

The baskets never stay up well and you can never really get them clean.

[texsuze]

We have tile shelves in all showers. They're stud depth, which is really a bit narrow, but for me adequate. DH uses 7-8 bottles of "product" (WTH!) so has to put some on the ledge of the acrylic block window at the top of the shower Ours were not angled downward to drain water, but if you can do that and still have bottles remain standing it would be good. Be sure to measure height of your largest container and make the shelf tall enough and wide enough, allowing for thickness of tile to going inside the shelf. The less grout you have within the shelf the better.

Cleaning those baskets is a pain, IMHO.

[Wicky]

shower.jpg (73.25 KiB) Viewed 12290 times

My shower is rather like Canyon's, I think.

[Wicky]

Mine is NOT on its side! LOL.

[Chancellor]

We used to have those little baskets in our time share in St Maarten. they were a pain! Little bottles of shampoo would fall over. Now granted you aren't likely to have little travel bottles at home.
I have shelves in mine and I love them

[Bip]

Our shower has both and they are both full So my vote is one of each

[Koolkat]

We're going with shelves! Trying to figure out a way to make it work due to tile issues (tile is ceramic so is not white all the way through, a clay edge would be exposed), but I think there is a solution. We're just doing 2 triangular shelves in corner, I didn't want to push in to adjoining closet with nook.

Wicky - you have towel rack in your shower? I wanted to put a rack across the back of ours, but contractor poo-pooed me out of it. We need a place to hang wash clothes. Anybody else have a towel rack in shower? We're revisiting this!

Nature abhors a vacuum, Bip!

[Wicky]

It is actually a grab bar that I use as a rack. It is great. Just tell them that you want a grab bar parallel to the floor!

That reminds me - I'm buying a small place in Wellington, and will have to make sure it has a grab bar (or two)! Cheap to add, but I may have to do it.

[Koolkat]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! We ended up with a shelf, they put 2 tiles together back to back (they're ceramic, so the white does not go all the way through the tile), and then used 2 Schluter strips to cover the clay colored part of the tile. It turned out well! I can't believe this project is almost done AND how long it took. I did all the homework on it, sure learned a lot about every day things you take for granted in your bathroom. Sweated over the design, too! Houzz was an invaluable resource, highly recommend them, the discussion board was a huge help.

DDBB resized.jpg (10.94 KiB) Viewed 11989 times

[Koolkat]

FINALLY the bathroom is done! The worst part was the lockdown that started at the end of March (WA state) when they were just a few days away from being done. And they hadn't put in the shower curtain rod so we couldn't use it! So it sat unused for six weeks. . . . They came in last week and finally finished it. And we still haven't used it, LOL, it's soooo shiny! As to the shelves, now I wish I'd gotten 2 put in, but this will work just fine. Does anyone have recommendations on liquid soap? The paraffin scum that coats everything with the solid soap can be such a pain to remove. And how about dispensers? Are ceramic dispensers practical, or are they knocked down/broken too easily?

DDBD shelf pic.JPG (16.74 KiB) Viewed 11438 times

[PhoenixRising]

That looks fantastic!

Until I started using a friends sheeps milk soap, I used Dr. Woods raw liquid blacksoap exclusively.
If I couldn't get the sheeps milk soap anymore, I'd go back to it. They have a peppermint version too that I LOVE.

https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Woods-African ... 776&sr=8-2

[Canyon]

Oh, that is beautiful! We use Olay Ultra Moisture Body Wash which comes in a plastic pump bottle. I don't think it leaves a scum, but our tile has a matte finish and gets wiped down regularly - so not sure.

Ceramic bottles would not be a good idea for us; we're both klutzy!

[Koolkat]

Thanks for the suggestions, we'll try them! Canyon, I think we're going to go with the plastic dispensers also, the day that ceramic container breaks and scratches something would be a very sad day. . .

[blob]

I have glass dispensers that I fill with liquid soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Looks so much nicer than random bottles and makes me feel fancy.