Bathroom Accessories

Buyers Guide to Bathroom Accessories

How to Choose Bathroom Accessories

Don’t neglect these seemingly unimportant items when planning, as a fabulous new suite and careful bathroom composition can be spoilt by a towel rail in a mismatched colour or odd style. Once you’ve worked out the placement of your large products, spend as much time ensuring your toilet roll holder, shelves and robes hooks are all going to be in the optimum position. Take advice from an electrician about installing bathroom lighting and be clear about what illumination you want - bright and focused or a more diffused atmospheric light? Most quality manufacturers of bathroom products also offer matching accessories, so their customers can extend their favoured design style, colour and materials to include all those details.

Types of Bathroom Accessories

Toilet Roll Holders

An absolute essential, don’t overlook how important this accessory is to a functioning bathroom, and particularly where it is positioned. Most toilet roll holders are wall mounted, while some form part of a floor standing feature. There are some which fix to the wall using a patented adhesive system that provides the strongest non-drill solution available; suitable for use on ceramics, porcelain, glass, laminates, wood, metals, brick and natural stone. Brands to look at include Inda, Keuco, Smedbo, Imperial and Burlington.

See our toilet roll holders page for a full range of product options.

Bathroom Tumblers

Keeping daily essentials close to hand is the purpose of a bathroom tumbler, in which most people store their toothbrushes and toothpaste. By using a wall mounted holder, it keeps the basin and surround clean and uncluttered, and it is more hygenic to keep these items safely out of the way of potentially falling on the floor, or worse. Most often glass or porcelain tumblers with metal fixings, some brands like Vitra and Joseph Joseph make products with polyresin which are shatter proof. For designer style look at AXOR, Keuco, Hansgrohe and Abacus.

See our bathroom tumblers page for a full range of product options.

Soap Dishes and Dispensers

In preference to gunky bars of soap sitting in pools of water on the sides of basins or baths, these days most people choose a soap dispenser or wall mounted soap dish. Hygiene is ever important in a bathroom so it makes sense to make access to and use of soap as easy as possible with the least mess. Pump dispensers are a good idea - a specialty of Joseph Joseph - or if you prefer a solid soap bar, there are stylish dishes too. Swedish brand Smedbo have some good designs, or for a traditional look view Burlington, Imperial and Perrin & Rowe.

See our soap dish and dispensers page for a full range of product options.

Towel Rails and Rings

Make sure a fresh clean towel is always to hand by planning the positioning of a tall rail or ring carefully - a great new bathroom layout could be spoilt by siting the towels too far out of reach of the basin or shower. Whatever your preference, for a single, double rail, rack or towel ring, there is enough choice so you can find a matching style and material to your other bathroom accessories. For something modern, look at Hansgrohe, Crosswater, Keuco or Inda. Brands like Burlington, Perrin & Rowe and Imperial offer more vintage forms.

See our towel rails and rings page for a full range of product options.

Robe Hooks

A room needs good storage solutions and this extends to robe hooks - taking everything off the floor is always the best plan. Again, positioning is key, and after that you can choose your favoured design style from a low key minimalist hook from brands Crosswater or Inda, a traditional type from Roca or Imperial or a rather swish designer model like the collections from Vitra or Smedbo.

See our robe hooks page for a full range of product options.

Soap Baskets

We have a number of soap baskets (or shower tidies) that are designed to fit neatly into the corner of a shower cubicle, be affixed to the wall or suspend from a shower fitment or hook, or to stand on the side of a bath. Larger storage baskets and shelves are ideal for more washing essentials as well as soap, and the open nature of this type of soap basket means everything dries as quickly as possible. Bayswater and Britton produce some rather elegant large shower tidies and for modern looks go for Smedbo or Keuco.

See our soap baskets page for a full range of product options.

Toilet Brush Holders

Either free standing or wall mounted, toilet brush holders can have lids to offer extra hygiene and discretion; manufacturers Keuco, Vitra and Smedbo. Some brands such as Inda supply a spare removable brush head which can be sterilised when not in use - which is a good plan for busy family bathrooms.

See our toilet brush holders page for a full range of product options.

Grab Bars and Rails

Better safe than sorry is just as applicable in the bathroom as any other room, and so installing grab bars or rails can be a sensible plan for all users. Young children, the elderly or anyone with an injury or reduced mobility will appreciate them. These days grab bars don’t need to look purely functional and rather ugly - brands like Inda, Smedbo, Impey and Crosswater have ranges of much more stylish examples to choose from.

See our grab bars and rails page for a full range of product options.

Bathroom Shelves

Style and function come together in a useful and good looking bathroom shelf. If you have sufficient wall space, a large shelf can be an eye-catching feature and house all your toiletries. For traditional vibes, try the glass and metal shelves made by Imperial and Burlington, or inject some personality to a bare wall with a contemporary style by Keuco, Hansgrohe or Inda.

See our bathroom shelves page for a full range of product options.

Bathroom Lighting

For obvious safety reasons, all bathroom lighting is certified for use in the damp environment and no other kind of lighting should ever be used. All the UK Bathrooms lighting range meets these stringent standards. Task lighting is essentially functional lighting that throws light onto areas where it is needed, such as over a sink or in front of a mirror, whereas decorative lighting is more about creating an overall ambience in the room. Wall lights can create a warm atmosphere; Imperial and Burlington offer some very elegant classic styles.

See our bathroom lighting page for a full range of product options.

Popular Styles

Black Bathroom Accessories

The popularity of monochrome in bathroom design has led to manufacturers extending this look into accessory products to complement their baths, basins, taps and toilets. Black and white work very well together in a bathroom, as the fresh white reflects light and the black absorbs it - giving a clean modern look with a vintage heritage feel. For black bathroom accessories go to the brands Keuco and Crosswater.

See our black bathroom accessories page for a full range of product options.

Gold Bathroom Accessories

Gold bathroom accessories not only add colour and interest, but a touch of opulence too. If you’d like your bathroom to feel like a luxury sanctuary and not simply a functional room, consider using gold as part of your design scheme. The warm lustre of gold accessories from Crosswater and Vitra such as shelves, towel rails, robe hooks and soap dishes really comes into its own with subtle lighting - especially in the evening when a relaxing soak in the bath is most desirable.

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