Bathroom Storage Options

For sheer quantity of storage space in any bathroom, you can’t beat a traditional vanity cabinet or a built-in linen closet. They’re ideal for storing everything you don’t want out in the open and for keeping towels and paper products clean and dry. The tips on page 64 can help you make the most of these workhorse storage units. If you’re lacking a cabinet or closet, perhaps you can find room for a freestanding storage cabinet, such as an armoire or a small chest of drawers.

The medicine cabinet is another reliable standard, ideally sized and located for storing the jumble of small bathroom items you need every day. Recessed cabinets with mirrors are a prime example of efficient bathroom storage: the cabinet box uses the free space between wall studs, while the mirror provides an essential bathroom feature—all with virtually no loss of room space. As an alternative, wall-mounted medicine cabinets with solid-wood doors offer space-efficient concealed storage in a furniture-quality unit. Deeper wall cabinets can hold bulkier items like towels and toilet paper rolls without taking up floor space.

Shelves can be a real boon to a bathroom storage plan because they can take almost any form and fit where other units won’t. A wall-length ledge capping a tall wainscot of paneling or wallpaper provides a natural visual transition and is great for holding glass jars, perfume bottles, and display items. Small glass shelves above a sink work well in lieu of a medicine cabinet or vanity drawers. For a nice custom shelving unit, you can build a niche inside a wall-stud cavity and finish it with tile or another washable surface. And don’t forget the empty wall space above the toilet: it can be filled with custom wall-to-wall shelves or a freestanding or wall-mounted étagère.

Hardworking bathrooms can never have too many hooks or towel bars. Make sure you have them within arm’s reach of the tub or shower, as well as next to each sink. In addition to holding wet towels, hooks are great for hanging bathrobes and clothes, shower bags, and totes filled with extra bath supplies. Empty wall spaces can double your towel storage when bars are mounted with one above the other (you can also find double bars that hang two towels in single file). If you’d rather not use up wall space with standard hooks or bars, you can substitute with a floor-standing towel tree or, for a creative touch, a conventional coat tree. And keep in mind that hooks and some bars can go almost anywhere—on furniture pieces, at the front or sides of vanity cabinets, on door and window trim, or on the bathroom door itself.