apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What is the price range for these things?

In France you're looking at about 150 to 600 euros in somewhere like Leroy Merlin or Castorama (I've never been to the States but from reading AT I guess that would be like Home Depot). "Designer" towel rails can easily go into the thousands.

That turquoise one is $1646. They appear to start at around $1000. Before installation, of course.

I just bought a similar looking one (chrome finish) from Jeeves for around $300. I can't attest to the quality as it is waiting to be installed.

Am I the only person that thinks these are just a temporary fad? Especially at the prices above... :-/

I looked at replacing the cast iron radiator in our very small bathroom with one of these... they are not prevalent enough in the US to make them cost-effective yet. For starters, I had a hard time finding anyone who was willing to even look into installing one. The plumber who did track down the installation info said that it would be tricky because typical american homes have radiator pipes between floors, whereas in europe it's more common to have a pipe between walls. So you'd never get the sleek look of something just hanging -- you'd have to plumb it down to the floor -- unless you wanted to rip out the wall and redo part of your heating system.

I still love them though - would love to have a radiator that does double duty!

They don't necessarily have to be plumbed in - you can get electric versions (that's what I'll be getting when I renovate my bathroom and put some heating in) and you can also get mixed versions that use central heating when it's running and have an electric override function so you can have toasty towels and a warm bathroom even if you're not heating the rest of the house. They've been popular for decades in Britain (my parents have had them for as long as I can remember). The main thing is to get one that's "hot" enough - some of them, particularly cheaper ones, have a pretty weak power output so they're good for warming towels but won't really heat the room.

I have an oil filled Dimplex which plugs into a socket, so I use a timer. It runs from 22:30 to 02:00 which means the towels warm and then dry.

Even though Sydney is temperate, it is also very humid. It has just rained for 12 days straight, and it's not due to clear until Saturday (Thursday as I write). Hooray for dry towels at bath time.

I agree with baltimorerowhouse. They're certainly popular here in France but I don't really see the use. We had one in our bathroom and actually never turned it on. I don't really care if my towel is warm--seems like a waste of energy.

I would love one of these in electric. We have forced hot air heat (which I hate hate, it's only warm when it's blowing), and we had a heat vent in the tub/shower area. In order to stop the wall rot (and subsequent mushroom growth) in the shower area we removed the vent. So now there is no heat source in the bathroom which doesn't get frigid but could use a little bit of extra heat. Just not sure that I have any wall space to fit one in my tiny ancient bathroom.

FYI they also make steam replacement radiators; one of the models would work perfectly for a bathroom as a towel warmer.

I think the website is www.steamview.com or something to the like. My parents are going to be installing one soon in their cold kitchen where the radiator was removed years ago.