Do you use towel hooks or bars? This is the big decision:)

15 years ago

I am considering not using any towel bars in the new main bathroom remodel. I go kind of crazy with crooked towels and don't want to continue to obsess; especially with my 4 year old grandson and son who are now living with us....life is just too short. I figure a towel on a hook looks planned and a crumpled towel on a bar looks like it needs my undivided attention.

So, have any of you gone for just hooks in the tub or shower area and maybe just a towel ring near the sink? This bathroom is also the guest bath and that is why it is a harder decision.

If you do use hooks, are there styles that hold towels better than others? Any other hook tips? Any help is appreciated.

Featured Answer

toadangel

15 years ago

i use hooks because they're faster than draping a towel, plus the rods take up precious space. i've never had a problem with a towel not being dry the next day or getting mildewed... maybe it's also an issue of dampness overall in the bathroom rather than just hook vs rod

i use hooks that have a definite hook or scoop to them, same as i do for hanging my coats up - the hook needs to be able to hang on to the towel, or else your need to straighten will definitely kick in with a damp towel on the floor :)

lisa

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Comments (10)

mmme
15 years ago
The "hooks" in the bathroom I have now are actually knobs. You have to drape the towel just so to get it to stay there. Stay away!

I do find that the towels do not dry as well on a hook as they do on a bar. In fact, I just got out of the shower and discovered that my towel (draped over the knob-style "hook") was still slightly damp from yesterday's shower. Yuck!
ladycfp
15 years ago
Heated racks here and wouldn't have it any other way. I lived for years with hooks (NO wall space for a towel rack- madness, I say!) and the towels wouldn't dry and smelled of mildew.

My husband has many abilities but hanging his towel correctly on the heated rack is not one of them, so I rehang his twice a day since it only bothers me. It's not a big deal to me, and I'd rather have clean smelling, dry towels.
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I'm sort of doing both too. But our bath redo is at a stand still, so I just put these up temporarily. Please ignore the walls, which will come down when the project is restarted. First, the train rack which stores and provides a towel bar as well. It will have the blocking to support it placed behind the new walls. The towel ring as shown was the one we used before, the old one, and I might find a place to put it but who knows. And here is my favorite hook of all time, which I purchased from Lee Valley Tools. It can go behind a door and it folds up. It is also a very nautical design, since boats are always short on space. It makes a good mudroom rack where you can hang a hat on top, and then spread out the other hooks for your gloves and jackets. And then this one, on clearance at Pottery Barn and sold as a bathroom magazine rack, but it is a fantastic towel bar/rack too. Not bad on the price either, if it is still available. I'm using it now beside my sink in the bath undergoing redo.
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We're in AZ, so everything dries within 24 hrs or less. We always had bars and folded the towel long-ways in half and then over the bar. It was always dry by the next morning in this doubled manner. When we redid the old bathroom, I opted for a bar again for myself (because I also have a washcloth) and a hook for DH because he's not a very neat folder. His towel was still always dry by the next morning. I could see the mold potential, but if you get one of the big hooks that holds the towel out a little from the wall, I don't see how it would differ from the depth of a bar from the wall. In our new house, we're currently sharing one bar on limited wall space and I fully plan to switch DH to a hook again when we remodel. We also didn't have a hand towel bar when we moved in, so I just put up a removable plastic hook for the meantime. It's worked out very well (as DH ALWAYS removed the towel from the bar and didn't put it back) and I plan to hang both bathrooms' hand towels on hooks permanently as well!
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We are planning to use hooks in our new home. I'm thinking of either bear hooks - one of our bathrooms is going to be "barely a bathroom" or wooden pegs. They will be big enough to easily hold a bath towel...Our other bathroom will have an outhouse/forest theme, so hooks/pegs related to that will work..and in an "outhouse", pegs will be very appropriate. Casual. We are building a log home, so the more casual hooks will work well for us. Besides, it seems like no matter how much time I spend hanging towels on bars, they always look a bit untidy. At least hanging them on pegs - they always like they are supposed to be casual.. I hope everything dries well...it's just my dh and me, so we don't have a lot of wet towels. But I hope this peg thing will work. He likes the idea, though!
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I mixed it up for different reasons. Master bath: hooks near shower & tub for bath towels, rings for hand towels @ sink. I'm really, really, really loving the hooks for the bath towels. I used double hooks, and I like that I can drape a towel over both "prongs" to help open it up for drying. Don't actually take the hand towels off the ring unless I'm swapping them for clean ones, so the rings are fine. Guest bath: towel bar at sit-in shower for bath towels, smaller towel bar at sink for hand towels. This was more of a space issue. It was a very typical "galley" type bathroom layout. I went with double towel rods so that each guest (generally my parents) could have two towels without taking up the entire wall. Hooks would have worked, too, but I wanted to be able to fold them over something and free up some wall space. The shorter towel bar at the vanity allowed space for two guest hand towels to reside on one wall, without taking up counter space. Half bath: Open ring for hand towel (because it was the best looking option that came in my faucet's line, and I wanted them to match). :) Hollywood bath (DD's): No towel bar, rings for hand towels. Her shower area is small and the only wall that would fit a towel bar is the wall the door opens up against. I didn't want to have to choose between open door or dry towels. So I bought an over the door hook, and really cute coordinating towels.
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mahatmacat1
15 years ago
I went with hooks this time, based on --well, johnmari's advice -- I trust her implicitly (and obviously explicitly as well) -- and it's been fine so far, even with DH's huge oversize bath sheet.

We got *big* hooks, though, and I made sure that the towels would stay clear of the wall when put up on them. We got the Motiv Frame hooks (I don't even think these were the biggest, but they weren't the smallest, and they swivel) and we're very happy with them. I got one for each of our towels, and then a swivel-multi-hook (very cool looking :)) for right near the shower.
annindc
15 years ago
I just redid our small master bathroom and the kid's bathroom, and I used hooks in both. It was a great decision - no more gritting my teeth when I saw unfolded towels, and happier husband and kids. Towel slippage was a problem in one bathroom, because the hooks weren't very hooked, but I solved the problem by putting a dollop of clear silicone adhesive on the ends of the hooks. That created enough friction to keep the towels in place.
folkman
15 years ago
I'm a towel bar man. My girlfriend has the hooks and the towel always slips off. I think it looks even messier on a hook than old a bar actually
suero
15 years ago
I have a towel bar (30") for bath towels and a hook for the bath mat. No problem with towels staying where they're put, but occasionally the mat falls off the hook. The hook looks great, though, so I'm happy. Also, the hook takes up much less space than a towel bar. Oh, and I have towel rings for the hand towels. They're good for small towels only.
freedee
15 years ago
I got the "train rack" from Renovation hardware. It has a shelf for folded towels and below that it has a row of hooks. you can hang several towels on the hooks, or hang one towel over the row of hooks. It's much easier to hang over the row of hooks than a bar. It provides storage for towels and I think it's very good looking too.
poshspace
15 years ago
Freedee-
Thought the train rack sounded like just what I needed--looked for it online--almost $800.00--I am guessing it must be a real sturdy, substantial rack...was not expecting them to be that much $$$!!
Susan
coachark
Original Author
15 years ago
This is just great feedback from all of you. I just now went online and found a gazillion robe hooks but was able to eliminate most based on the advice given from your experience....looking for that deep hook that will hold the towel and keep it away from the wall for faster drying. I'm definately going with the hooks in the shower...and probably a bar in the tub area. Love the train rack idea with hooks but the budget won't let me do that one.
Folkman, I'm impressed that you are a bar man and appreciate the look of a nicely displayed towel...I'm married to "drop man", but he has a lot of other fine qualities:)

Thanks everyone!

Do you use towel hooks or bars? This is the big decision:)

toadangel

Comments (10)

mmme

ladycfp

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mahatmacat1

annindc

folkman

suero

freedee

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Do you use towel hooks or bars? This is the big decision:)

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