I can't help with the towel warmer issue but though I'd mention that to solve the towels on the floor problem we put in hooks instead of towel racks in our new house and it has worked for us--this was a recommendation from the bathroom forum. It doesn't seem like a hook would be that much easier to use than a rack, but it is. Good luck finding the towel warmer.

We took out the towel rod in our master bath and replaced it with hooks. The hooks work much better than the rod ever did. Credit my wife with coming up with this one. Actually, she did the work, too.

I contributed my approval to the project. :-)

Various types of heated towel racks and shelves here.

I'm skeptical about an enclosure - you'd probably need an exhaust fan associated with it.

Claire

I really like the Warmrails products, but wonder how warm do they really get? If a side of the cab is open & the front & possible the other side allowing air flow...??? And it's not touching any of the cabinetry, except at the base?

Does it really need to be enclosed? Some of them are really good looking, it would be almost a shame to hide them. The cab would make it harder to build, and less likely to be used in day to day life.

But if you really have to hide it, I think what you need to find is a heater with a maximum heat that's a known quantity.

IIRC, many have a preset max around 110 degrees because anything higher could make a towel stored there [as in, not used for several weeks] hot enough to burn human skin.

If the heater can't get higher than 110, the inside of the cab can't either. If all the materials are capable of constant exposure to that heat, you should be fine.

Still, I'd allow at least a foot of space in front of the towels for air circulation, and a similar gap bottom and top to let the warm air create a chimney effect.

But this sort of 'off label' adaptation could be problematic in all sorts of ways-- bet your insurance company wouldn't be thrilled, for instance.

So I'd get a big, whole room heater size, display it proudly, and put it on a timer so it ran for a couple hours before and after your normal shower time.

You could also use a portable screen or a pull-down shade to hide the rack while still allowing air circulation.

Claire

Thanks all - I don't mind the looks of some of them, it's just that I need towel storage & hate to waste all that space above. Think an upper only cabinet or just shelves wouldn't look all that great...

Have you looked at the Jacuzzi towel warming drawer?

Space isn't deep enough, but I'll look again.

We installed a $2,500 Myson towel warming unit on the assumption that we'd be drying ourselves with towels that felt like they just came out of the dryer. WRONG! The unit gets really hot but the only part of the towel that feels warm is the part resting over the top bar. It may contribute to drying to towel quicker but we've never noticed because now we rarely turn it on. We wired it to a wall switch that has a timer so it can turn on each morning before we shower. But it also has a switch on the unit and so we just keep that turned off all the time.

In fairness, we live in CA and don't have this stuff called humidity that apparently afflicts other states and makes it difficult for things to dry. And during the 4-5 winter months when we have rain, the radiant floor heating probably helps the towels to dry faster. In any case, we simply don't seem to have a problem with damp towels.

Were I to do it over again, I'd install a warming drawer to warm the towel before use. But that wouldn't work at all for drying the towel.

Bob