Over the Toilet Storage: The Figure With Two Different Names
Over the toilet storage comes down to one sum: your tank height plus the lid lift has to be smaller than the gap the listing publishes under its bottom shelf.
Two of those three numbers you take yourself, at the toilet. The third is printed on the listing, under a label that changes from shop to shop. On the three units I read in full, one calls it Toilet Clearance Height, one buries it in a sentence, and the third does not publish a figure of that kind at all. What decides this is what the unit leaves underneath it, not how tall it stands above.
- 34Toilet Clearance Height (in.), Zenith 2501W, in its Specifications table
- 36″Toilet clearance under the bottom shelf, Kenney KN61561, in an Overview bullet
- NoneWhat the IKEA FRÖSJÖN publishes, in the seven sections I read
- 10 lbsPer shelf, from Zenith customer service in Questions and Answers, May 2023
They do not say the same thing, so read your own. Their words, with their sections. IKEA’s Good to know, on the FRÖSJÖN: “Must be secured to the wall for a safe installation.” “Different wall materials require different types of fixing devices.” “Use fixing devices suitable for the walls in your home, sold separately.”
The Safety and compliance section of that same page carries “WARNING! Tipping hazard”, says the product must be securely anchored, and adds: “Use suitable screws and plugs for your home. If you are uncertain, seek professional advice.”
The Kenney page puts it differently, in its Overview: “can also be mounted to the wall, with included wall mounts, for added stability”. A can is not a must. Read your own page and the instructions in the box. Furniture tipping over is the subject of Anchor It, a public campaign from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Take A and B on paper. The free Bathroom Fit Planner has a box for each, and three more measurements for the rest of the room. Five printable pages. Get the free planner
Over the toilet storage comes down to one sum.
Your tank height + the lid lift < the gap on the listing
Work out your three numbers ↓Over the toilet storage: the three numbers that decide it
A + B < C
A is floor to the top of your tank. B is how far the lid has to rise to come off. C is the gap the listing publishes under its bottom shelf. The first two you take yourself, in two minutes, at the toilet. The third is the one the page has to give you, and on the three listings I read it carries two different labels, and on one of them no figure of that kind at all.
A Floor to the top of your tank
B How far the lid has to rise to come off
C The gap the listing publishes under its bottom shelf
A + B must be smaller than C
A and B you take yourself, at the toilet. C is printed on the listing, under a label that changes from shop to shop.
How to take the three numbers
A
Floor to the top of your tank
Tape on the floor, up the back of the toilet, to the top of the lid as it sits now. Not the seat, not the bowl. The lid.
B
How far the lid has to rise
Lift it once, with both hands, and measure to the point where it actually clears. This is the number nobody takes, and it is the one that catches people.
C
The clearance figure on your listing
The name changes from page to page. Read what your page says the figure is measured to before you use it. If your page does not publish one, that is the question to put to the seller in writing before you order.
Will the lid still clear the bottom shelf? Put your three numbers into the tool below and it does the sum, and tells you what the sum does not settle. Work it out
Will the lid still clear the bottom shelf?
Three numbers. Two you measure, one you read off the listing.
Tape on the floor, up the back of the toilet, to the top of the lid as it sits now.
Lift it once, with both hands, and measure to the point where it actually clears.
The name changes from page to page. Read what your page says the figure is measured to before you type it.
Tight alcove? Two more, otherwise skip them.
Measured at the height the legs would stand, not up at the tank.
Leave both empty if the space beside your toilet is wide open.
Nothing is hardcoded. The tool holds your measurements against the figure your own page prints. The three listings we read are named at the foot of this article, with what each one publishes. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
C has two different names, and that is the trapthree listings, two labels, one that publishes nothing
Three listings, read in full. Two print the gap. They do not call it the same thing, and they do not put it in the same place.
| Unit | What the page calls C | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Zenith 2501W | Toilet Clearance Height (in.), in the Specifications table | 34 |
| Kenney KN61561 | toilet clearance under the bottom shelf, in an Overview bullet | 36″ |
| IKEA FRÖSJÖN | no figure of this kind | none in the seven sections read |
One is a labelled row you can scan for. The other is buried in a sentence. And neither page defines its label against the other’s, so use the figure your own listing prints and read what that page says it measures.
Note the trap in the numbers. The taller unit, 69 in, has the smaller gap. You cannot work C out from the height.
Quick answersclearance, shelf load, and whether it has to be fixed to the wall
How much clearance does it need?
It depends on your toilet, and the two units I read that publish the figure do not agree. Zenith publishes 34 in its Specifications table. Kenney writes 36″ of toilet clearance under the bottom shelf in an Overview bullet. Measure A and B on your own toilet, add them, and that is the figure the listing has to beat.
How much weight can the shelves hold?
Across the sections of those three pages that I read, I found only one figure, and it is not in a specification table. In the Questions and Answers section of the Zenith page, the brand’s customer service account answered in May 2023: The maximum weight is 10 lbs per shelf. In the Dimensions and Details tables of that same page I found no weight capacity row. Where your own page publishes none, ask the seller in writing.
Does it have to be fixed to the wall?
The IKEA FRÖSJÖN page and the Kenney page both speak to the wall, and they do not say the same thing, so read your own. IKEA’s Good to know says it must be secured to the wall for a safe installation, and its Safety and compliance section carries WARNING! Tipping hazard. Kenney’s Overview says it can also be mounted to the wall, with included wall mounts, for added stability. Those are their words, and your own page and the instructions in the box are where to read yours.
Where these figures come from, and what I could not checkthe three listings, line by line
The three listings, read in full
- Zenith 2501W, at Home Depot, internet # 203821070. Specifications > Dimensions: Toilet Clearance Height (in.) 34, Product Height (in.) 69 in, Product Depth (in.) 14 in, Product Width (in.) 23.25 in. About This Product: “Able to fit around standard sized toilet measuring up to 34 in. tall.”
- Kenney KN61561, at Lowe’s, item # 6598284. Overview bullet: “Fully assembled, the etagere measures 65″ H x 23″ W x 9.6″ D with 36″ of toilet clearance under the bottom shelf”.
- IKEA FRÖSJÖN, 605.749.05. Seven sections read: Overview, Product details, Weight and measurements, Materials and care, Assembly and documents, Good to know, Safety and compliance.
What I could not check
- The Zenith page contradicts itself on shelf depth. Its Questions and Answers section carries 8.5 inches, 9 inches and 14 inches as answers to the same question, so I report no shelf depth for that unit. The 14 in the table is the depth of the whole unit, a different measurement.
- On the Kenney page, the Specifications heading is there but no rows rendered for me, on two separate reads. I cannot tell you whether that page publishes a specification table. I can only tell you it did not render.
- In the seven IKEA sections listed above I found no clearance figure, no shelf spacing and no load figure.
- Three units is three units. Your own page may call the gap something else again, or not publish it. If it does not, that is the question to put to the seller in writing before you order.
Our guide to bathroom counter organization takes the surface below. Our medicine cabinet organization guide takes the shallow cabinet on the wall.
Taking the tape round the bathroom?
The Bathroom Fit Planner has a box for A, a box for B, and three more measurements for the rest of the room. Five printable pages, and every published figure carries its source.
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