Whether you are an individual considering the benefits of purchasing a cremation niche, a church member, or a cemetery manager considering the advantages of purchasing a columbarium, the following list is designed to highlight the top 7 reasons for choosing cremation niches.

1- Above Ground Interment Appeal

Some families are searching for alternative cremation interment options that do not involve in-ground burial. Although some cemeteries allow for cremation urns to be buried on top of existing family member graves or in designated cremation gardens, the concept of in-ground cremation burial or scattering may not be to everyone’s liking.

Outdoor and indoor cremation niches provide families with the opportunity to place their loved one’s urns in a niche that is solely dedicated to them. Some families prefer the concept of above-ground interment compared to in-ground burial. They are comforted by the thought that they can see the niche door at eye level. They find the raised elevation more to their liking as they can see and touch the niche as the memorial is higher above the ground.

2- Memorialization is easy and can be personalized

A columbarium niche serves as both a place of disposition and a monument. Depending on the columbarium design, the columbarium niches stand boldly within a cemetery setting and act as a prominent memorial to those who are interred in the columbarium niche. Not only does the columbarium serve as a monument, but the granite shutter or niche door also provides a place for memorialization.

Based on the church or cemetery regulations, the columbarium niche doors can be artistically personalized. Some columbarium niche doors are designed for sandblasting inscriptions, or laser etching, while another option is to predrill holes in the niche doors to attach bronze plaques once the niche is sold.

For clients who select a columbarium niche door that requires inscription or laser etching, the fonts and inscription designs for the names and dates can be planned with a local monument dealer in advance. The template can be designed to include personal graphic art, epitaphs, and porcelain photography. The fonts and sizes are often preselected by the cemetery board or management to add continuity to the columbarium. Sometimes additional space is available on the granite niche door that will allow for the attachment of additional items such as bronze appliques or a vase.

The other form of memorialization that is popular on a columbarium niche door is a bronze plaque. There are several bronze manufacturers that provide specific sizes and shapes of bronze plaques that are designed specifically for a columbarium niche door. If the columbarium niche is large enough to hold companion urns, there are bronze plaques that allow for the second names to be added later. The styles can be rectangular, wreath shaped, or even a granite insert set within a bronze picture frame. Often the cemetery has predetermined the bronze supplier and they have selected the style of a bronze plaque in advance. All that families need to provide are the names and dates once they have purchased the niche. The church staff or cemetery management is responsible for ordering the bronze plaques and attaching them to the cremation niche door.

3- Companion or family-size niches are available

Columbarium manufacturers and cemetery management understand that couples often wish to be interred together. They also respect the desire for personalization and choice when it comes to urn selection, and they try to accommodate a niche size that will work with these standard upright urn shapes. Our standard niche size is a deeper 16” niche which allows for more room for the standard 11”h x 6.5” w urn sizes.

Some cemeteries are ordering custom columbaria niche sizes with larger family-size niches that can hold 4 or more urns within the niche. The companion niche and family niche sizes provide value for cemetery clients, churches, and institutions as this trend towards family interment continues to grow. Look for columbarium niche sizes that can accommodate standard upright urns.

4- Interment flexibility

The advantage to choosing a cremation niche is that the funeral service can be arranged based on the family’s timeline since the cremains can be easily stored for any desired length of time. Funeral arrangements can be made without stress or urgency. Families can spend their period of mourning supporting each other and choosing a funeral service date or celebration of life ceremony date that best suits everyone.

5- Beauty

Let us just say that some columbarium manufacturers and landscape architects are raising the bar for cemetery columbarium garden designs. Churches, municipalities, institutions, and private cemeteries are fast realizing that there is a value-added to purchasing beautiful columbarium niches that attract attention and provide a place of interment and memorialization. Families are embracing the new innovative designs and they are excited about purchasing cremation niches that are a part of a beautiful columbarium project and landscaped setting. Look for a columbarium manufacturer that can help you achieve these goals with your best interest at heart.

6- The convenience and ease of an outdoor ceremony

Some cemeteries have created specific gathering spaces for outdoor funeral services prior to a columbarium niche interment. The outdoor columbarium niche easily allows for this form of the ceremony as the urn can be set on a podium beside the columbarium niche, or it can be set within the open niche during the service. Some families are comforted by seeing the urn inside the niche as they gather around the niche to pay their final respects. Some cemeteries allow families to add mementos or cards or letters inside the niche to personalize the experience. Custom columbarium designs can be created with reliquary ledges on a side wall or in front of the niche doors. These design features are wonderful for presenting an urn during service or adorning the ledges with flowers.

7- Ease of interment access when preparing for services

For cemetery staff and management, one of the most valued reasons for providing cremation niche interment options is that inclement weather or frozen ground no longer impacts the date of service. Cemetery managers appreciate the ease of preparing a columbarium niche for an interment service verse preparing a site for in-ground burial when the ground is frozen or wet. All that is needed are the columbarium tools to open the granite shutters and the key for the inner locking security door.

In Europe and Asia, cremation niches have been used for centuries. As the trend towards cremation continues to grow in North America, so too are new ceremonies and traditions. Families, cemeteries, and churches are beginning to recognize the benefits of providing cremation niches for families by creating beautiful columbarium gardens that pay tribute to those we love.