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Where to put things when there is no cabinet

Most small bathrooms have one cabinet, or none at all, and a counter two people share. The storage has to go somewhere else, and there are only three places it can go.

Above the toilet. It is the one stretch of wall nobody is using. A unit that straddles the tank, or two floating shelves, turns dead wall into the place spare towels and refills live. Measure from the floor to the top of the tank lid first, because the lowest shelf has to sit clear above that.

Under the sink. This cabinet is easy to waste, because the plumbing runs straight through the middle of it. A plain rectangular bin assumes an empty rectangle, and there is not one in there. What works is anything shaped for the pipe: a U-shaped pull-out that goes around the trap, or two narrow bins either side of it rather than one wide one.

The back of the door. An over-the-door rack holds everything you reach for daily and costs you no floor at all. Check the thickness of your door before you order, because the hooks only fit a range.

Everything after that is a container decision, and containers only help when they match the shelf they sit on. Measure the shelf depth before you buy, not after.

Four measurements, in the order they rule things out

Four measurements rule bathroom organizers in or out, and they are the ones product photos never show you. Take them once, keep them on your phone, and shop from the numbers instead of the pictures.

1. Floor to the top of the tank lid, then tank lid to the lowest shelf. The first number tells you whether an over the toilet storage cabinet clears the tank lid at all. The second is the one people skip. A toilet tank lid is a loose slab that has to come straight up and off whenever anything inside the tank needs attention, so leave room above it to get your hands on the lid and lift it out. A unit whose lowest shelf sits right on the tank turns a ten minute repair into dismantling the shelving.

2. Inside depth of the cabinet, not the outside. A bathroom cabinet is shallower inside than it looks, and the door hardware takes more of it. Order bins to the outside measurement and they will stop the door closing.

3. Door thickness, plus the gap above it. Over the door hooks are built for a range of door thicknesses, and a thick door or a tight frame will stop them seating. Check both before you order.

4. The wall surface itself. What is your wall actually made of, and what is the mount rated for? Read what the mount is rated for and match it to what you actually have, especially in a rental, where coming off cleanly matters as much as going on.

Towels have two jobs, and one of them usually loses

A bath towel is the bulkiest thing you have to find a home for in a bathroom, and it also has to dry. Those are two different requirements, and a lot of bathrooms are set up to meet only one of them.

A wall mounted towel rack dries a towel properly only if the towel can hang without folding back onto itself. On a short bar it doubles over, the inside face stays damp, and the towel starts to smell. Measure your towel folded once and compare that to the length of the bar.

Hooks solve the drying problem and lose the folded look. They need height rather than width, which is usually what a small bathroom has more of. One hook per person, spaced so two towels never touch, beats one long bar holding three overlapping towels.

Spare towels are a storage problem, not a drying problem, so they belong in the closed space: the cabinet, the over the toilet unit, or a basket on a shelf.

Inside the shower

Here are five ways to get a shelf into a shower, and in each case the shower rules it out, not your preference.

A caddy that hangs from the showerhead needs an exposed shower arm, the short pipe coming out of the wall, so it is out in any shower with a ceiling mounted or concealed head. A tension pole corner caddy braces from the tub or the floor up to the ceiling, so it needs a corner that is reasonably square and a ceiling it can push against, which rules out a sloped one. A tension rod is a different thing: it spans two walls facing each other, which most showers do not have. An adhesive shower shelf is specified for a smooth, non porous surface, so check what yours is rated for before sticking it to textured tile or across a grout line. A recessed shower niche takes up no room at all, and it is also the only one of the five that means opening the wall.

Whichever you pick, it needs to drain. A flat shelf holds water under the bottles, and that is where the film comes from.

Bathroom storage questions, answered

Can I put up floating shelves in a rental?

That depends on your lease, not on the shelf. Where drilling is out, the options that carry real weight are freestanding: a narrow unit beside the toilet, or a shelving unit that straddles the tank and stands on the floor. An adhesive or tension mount carries what its own label says it carries, and that is the figure to read before you trust it in a bathroom.

Why do my under sink bins never fit?

Because the trap runs through the middle of that cabinet and a rectangular bin assumes an empty rectangle. Measure the clear width on each side of the pipe separately, buy to the smaller of the two, or use an under sink organizer shaped to go around the pipe instead of beside it.

What should go above the toilet and what should not?

Things you reach for weekly rather than daily, and nothing you would mind picking up off the floor. It sits above a hard surface, so glass jars and anything heavy belong lower down.