Where to hang a towel by the wash-hand basin? Our advice!

Nobody likes walking into the bathroom to wash their hands only to find there isn’t a towel within arm’s reach. When you have to go hunting for towels, fishing them out of laundry baskets or – worse! – off the floor and from other corners of the bathroom, any enjoyment of the space disappears. And that room feels cosy only when it’s functional, too. So where should you hang a towel near the basin so it’s always to hand?

Bathroom functionality and towel rails

For such an intimate space as the bathroom to work smoothly and feel cosy in every corner, it needs to be laid out properly. That means more than just dealing with the bathroom’s aesthetics. Above all, it’s about choosing and positioning the fixtures and accessories it needs to work well.

One such accessory is a towel rail by the basin. Place it in the right spot and you hardly have to think about it, as your hand will naturally reach for it. Put it a bit too far away or somewhere completely impractical and you’ll spend frazzled minutes hunting for it as you rush to work. Towel rails should therefore sit very close to the basin, so water dripping from wet hands doesn’t make it onto the floor.

It’s worth noting, though, that you position a towel rail in a small bathroom a little differently than in a bigger room. There’s a functional reason for everything, because limited space calls for particular solutions. And there’s the challenge! Where do you hang a towel in a small bathroom, and where in a large one?

Where to place functional towel rails

When the space around the basin allows, it’s best to mount towel rails right beside it, on the same wall it sits against. The side doesn’t matter much when space isn’t a constraint.

How do you hang towels in a small bathroom? The towel by the basin in a small bathroom should, if possible, be placed right beside it. If there’s no room on either side, you’ll need to move the rail to the adjacent wall. Also pay attention to the door near the basin. You can use its surface, provided you opt for rails that don’t require drilling.

When the bathroom isn’t large but the basin is a countertop model, towels in a small bathroom can simply go under the basin counter. In the case of a built-in basin with a vanity unit, you can easily fix the rails to its side panel.

Towels in a small bathroom – freestanding or wall-mounted?

A small bathroom means limited space. Inevitably, it’s harder to fit the ever-popular freestanding towel rails. They’re undeniably charming and do wonders for the room’s look, but in small bathrooms they may not pass the test. In larger ones they really shine, look great and don’t take up much space.

Wall-mounted rails work brilliantly in both small and large bathrooms. Broadly speaking, there are two main types: fixed to the wall and stuck onto the wall. The difference is that a rail stuck onto the wall is usually attached with adhesive or a suction cup. The upside is quick, easy installation; the downside is that these rails often fall off under the weight of heavier, damp towels.

Rails fixed to the wall require slightly more invasive installation, but their clear advantages include handling the weight of wet towels and offering distinctive designs. They can be fanciful or simple, very large or suitably compact, so alongside functionality they have huge aesthetic potential.

That’s the long and short of where to hang a towel by the basin. The rules are similar in bathrooms big and small: the rail should be close to the basin, take up little space and, above all, stay out of the way while making the bathroom easier to use at any time of day!