A grab bar has to be attached to the studs so it would be impossible to use it as a grab bar safely. if people relied on it, it would be more dangerous than no bar.

I have a grab bar mounted vertically just inside the entrance of the shower which is accessible both inside and outside. I also have a grab bar mounted horizontally along the rear of the shower so the bars are accessible anywhere in the shower as well as if I am getting into the showe or exiting.

I'm doing a bath remodel and wanted to add grab bars, but didn't want it to look like a nursing home bathroom. I found the Kohler Purist line to look less like grab bars than many others. I replaced my towel bar with one and it's close enough to the toilet to be helpful and also stands far enough from the wall that I can use it as a towel bar.

I can't seem to edit my post to add this...I also bought one of these combo grab bar shelves (both pieces are brushed nickel but the pic of the grab bar above showed better in the photo in the gold color):

Olychick, that's exactly what I am tryinig to do! Use pretty grab bars wherever possible in the bathroom! What brand is that combo grab bar shelf for shampoo bottles called? Is it a Kohler? Thanks!

Yeah, it's not so much the idea of using it as a grab bar when you open the glass shower door, because if a person slips holding on to a regular shower handle, they are still grabbing a bar attached to glass, but I wanted the shower handles to match the grab bars in the bathroom that I am also using as a towel holder -

see how pretty this Kohler Artifacts Grag Bar is, or Kohler Decorative grab bar is:

I'm using them in the rest of the bathroom and thought of using the decorative model as a shower handle - just wondering if it can even be installled as a shower handle. The builder doesn;t want to. couldn't find a shower handle to match the twoel/grab bars.

Maybe it's just too heavy. I just wanted thing to match!

But that's a good point - shower heandles come with both sides ready to mount - a grab bar has only one side and I guess the hardware attachemenit is different. But why can't companies make a whole line of matching items - grab bars, shower handles, towel bar, toilet roll holder. I'm piecing together different items forcing them into trying to match. yOu can get some of these to match, but the shower handles seem to be just random.

You're right about the matching issue! I used the Kohler Purist line for my grab bars partly because it's so plain that it matches plenty of other modern/euro/contemporary (I don't know what you call the style) items from other brands. And some brands (like Kohler) do offer just about everything EXCEPT shower door handles. And I think they even make shower enclosures!

Fori, Kohler makes shower door handles, including Purist. https://www.us.kohler.com/us/Purist-14-pivot-handle/productDetail/shower-door-handles/425723.htm

Ingrid, here is the info on the grab bar shelf. Moen makes one almost identical for less $$, but I thought this one coordinated better with the Kohler Purist line I was using. I originally was going to go with Moen grab bars and shower fixtures because I wanted something less modern and more curvy, but when I finally saw the grab bars they were too nursing-homeish for me. But the shower fixtures were already installed, so they don't match. Honestly, it's fine. My tp holder matches the shower better, but once everything is installed no one but me will ever notice the differences. They are all brushed nickel and the finishes are very similar on all the pieces.

HealthCraft Invisia 2-in-1 Shampoo Shelf With Integrated Grab Bar

UOM: Each

Price: $248.94

eta: oops, the shelf is brushed stainless, but it looks fine with the brushed nickel.

I have fairly inncuous grab bars and they don't look institutional. Perhaps it is because they are in oiled bronze finish which matches the rest of the hardware which is ORB and copper.

I spent a lot of time selecting the fixtures for my bathrooms but my actual shower handle is a very innocous rather small handle. It is oil rubbed bronze and I don't think it registers any more than the hinges do.

I am curious as to why one would want a long bar of any kind on what I assume is a frameless shower door though. Part of the attraction to me of my frameless shower is that it creates an open space which allows the beautiful tile that i spent an obscene amount of money on to show off. It also creates a sense of light and space.

I wouldn't want to hang anything in front of the shower doors because it would be visual clutter. I previously had a hideous sliding glass door with a towel bar on it. So I am wondering why the aesthetic and functional reason would be?

I understand why one wants every aspect of one's expensive remodel to work together as I did sweat the details.

The glass on the shower door is tempered. The holes are drilled into it before it is tempered. They are a stress point in the glass, meaning they are the most likely to break. In no circumstance should the handles, no matter if they are grab bars” or not, be thought to hold the weight of of a falling body. The glass will shatter into thousands of pieces.

Thanks, everyone! great input here. Right - I see it's just not safe to grab a shower door handle, remodeling1849 - thanks for that.. My shower doors are rainglass so I was thikning a long horizontal handle could hold a towel for immediate reach when you get out, and it won't hide the inside of the shower any more than the rainglass already does - it was more for convenience of reaching a towle and not getting out dripping wet walking to a towel holder at the other side of the bathroom. And again, just trying to match shower door handle with towel bars - but you make good points here -thanks, Helen, the handle can just be a simple neutral design that goes with everything else, and yes - that Kohler purist handle is nice Mamacita and, Fori - thanks. Thanks for that shampoo grab shelf Olychick. Lots to think about.

I don't know the layout of your bathroom so I can't make a specific suggestion but I don't store my shower towels by the shower but I bring them over to the shower entrance when I take a shower and they are within easy reach.

In my case, my vanity is fairly close to the shower entrance because I have a narrow bathroom so I just place my towel on the vanity. Since I use a "used" towel outside the door of my shower as a temporary mat, any drips go on the floor towel. I am pretty minimal in terms of bathroom clutter so I don't have a mat or rug as I don't want the visual clutter or dealing with a rug or mat - I like my tile floors. I don't want one on the floor and I don't want one hanging around.

You could just put up an innocuous hook and hang the towel on it to grab when you get out of the shower and not have to deal with a permanent towel bar on your shower door.

This is how I handled the where to hang the towel question. The previous owner laid out the bathroom and roughed in pumbing but never got to the point of adding fixtures. We moved the shower faucet to interior wall which took up part of the bench area leaving only a narrow recess. I didn't want to just wall off the space so we added a solid surface base and tiled the space. That towel hook has turned out to be my absolute favorite feature of the shower and if I ever remodel another shower I will try to include a towel recess. I think not having to get out of the shower to grab a towel is a requirement for a luxury shower.