There is no better feeling than hopping out of the shower and wrapping yourself in a nice warm towel.
However, achieving this effect is rather difficult and expensive if you don’t have a towel warmer. Most men who want a bit warmer of a towel post-shower will have to either toss it into the dryer (that’s likely in another room) or simply rest the towel on a radiator or heater (also incredibly dirty).
Towel warmers are great in that they not only get your body towel warm but also hand towels too!
Before you make your purchase, consider the following:
4 Tips for Buying a Towel Warmer
- Dimensions: Double-check measurements and give yourself a few extra inches for clearance if you get a wall-mounted towel warmer. If a floor unit, make sure it is small enough so it doesn’t get in the way of a high traffic area.
- Portability: Having the ability to move your towel warmer around is one of those conveniences you may not realize at first. If you have a pool or jacuzzi, it can be great to have a towel warmer nearby. Also, if you rent a place, you can take the device when your lease is up.
- Automatic On/Off: While not a “big” feature, it can save your electricity bill if you forget to turn it off after leaving the bathroom.
- Weight: If you are buying a wall-mounted towel warmer, be mindful of the weight, especially if you plan on installing it yourself. Anything over 10 pounds may be challenging to hang. Always make sure the unit goes into the studs.
The Best Towel Warmers
1. Amba RHW-SP Radiant Straight Hardwired Towel Warmer
This wall-mounted Amba towel rack is ideal for heat dispersion when warming up your towels or robes.
The horizontal bars heat up to allow for greater warmth distribution, and the vertical bars are used to heat bathrobes. Be careful when retrieving your garments, as this product does not have a safety shut-off that starts the cooling process.
The bars are hot up until you turn the switch off. The advantage of this is that there is no chance of your towels cooling while still showering.
It looks sleek, and it’s big enough to hold one big towel or a couple of smaller ones. The numerous racks enable you to stagger and stack clothing items as well for easy grabbing. It would be nice if this product had an auto shut-off for safety, but it should not cause any problems if you are careful.
Works wonderfully as a heating tool and as a drying aid for towels, clothes, and robes. In the winter months, you can even use this to heat up and dry off socks that have gotten wet from the snow.
2. Amba RSWH-B Hardwired Radiant Square Towel Warmer
The Amba RSWH-B towel warmer, like others of the same name, is a wall-mounted towel warmer and dryer for when you need a warm hug after a refreshing shower.
This stainless steel product heats up entirely, offering a complete warming experience that leaves no spot unheated. The horizontal and the vertical bars heat up when the on switch is pressed and will continue to heat your garments until the product is switched off. This ensures that your towels stay warm until you are ready for them. Then, simply switch off the towel warmer when you are finished.
The RSWH-B does not have any additional safety features, such as an automatic shut-off. Instead, it relies entirely on the manual on/off switch present near the bottom.
As a result, failure to turn off the Amba towel warmer means it will eat electricity until you remember to turn it off. It is wall-mounted and is about 32 inches high by 24 inches long and only juts out 4.5 inches from the wall. This makes it a space-saving alternative to bulky, “portable” box towel warmers.
3. Heatwave Industries Towel Spa Towel Warmer
A compact towel warmer is great for any bathroom.
The Heatwave Towel Spa is just the thing to tuck away next to the shower to ensure that you have a toasty warm towel to greet you after a long shower. This little device measures 7.5 inches deep, 11 inches wide, and 11.5 inches high, perfect for your towel, robe, or clothes to be ready and waiting in minutes.
It doesn’t take long for this little piece of machinery to get hot, and your articles stay warm for hours.
There is a safety feature in place to ensure that you aren’t overheating your towels. Once the inside of this warmer reaches the predetermined temperature, it sits and shuts off after five minutes.
Of course, this does not get your towels steaming hot; instead, it leaves them warm, as though you had just popped them into a dryer for a couple of minutes.
This device does not dry towels; it only warms them up, so putting a wet towel into this device will not change how wet it is.
4. Homeleader 100W Towel Warmer and Drying Rack
This towel warmer by Homeleader looks great and works even better. If what you are looking for is a sleek, smooth towel drying rack that holds and warms your towels for a “fresh from the dryer” feeling, then this may be the product for you.
It is 32 inches high and 25 inches wide, a very balanced height to width ratio that ensures fitting at least two towels simultaneously on this rack.
This sleek product has an inline switch to turn the heating element on and off but does not have any auto shut off to speak of.
The flexible nature of this towel rack is also admirable. Not that it can twist to hold more towels, but you can easily change it from a standing rack to a wall-mounted rack, depending on what you need.
The material the Homeleader towel rack is made of is designed to eliminate first-time odors that are attributed to burning electronics.
A joy to have in the bathroom; nothing beats a warmed towel after a refreshing shower.
5. Pursonic Home Fashion 6 Bar Towel Warming Rack
Towel warming bins are ideal when you want a warm towel after a hot shower and can greatly extend feelings of relaxation even after the water has been turned off.
However, the boxes can heat your towels unevenly, resulting in cold spots.
With the Pursonic towel warming rack, you don’t have to worry as much about uneven heating, as you can drape the towel over all of the bars to get complete heat along the entirety of the towel. Warm multiple towels at once, or use the rack as a drying stand for the next time.
This towel rack can either stand on the floor or be mounted to the wall to save space in a cramped bathroom.
When standing on the legs, it is about 13.5 inches deep. Wall mounting this product takes up about 5 inches, plus it leaves the floor for other things. The Pursonic towel warmer stands at 35 inches high and 23 inches wide, making it ideal for many different widths and lengths of towels.
Multiple towels warming at the same time may reduce how warm outer towels get.
6. Sharndy Electric Towel Warmer Curved
Bigger doesn’t always mean better, and if you only have a few small articles to heat up, the 30+ inch wall-mounted warming racks may not be for you.
Thankfully, the smaller Sharndy electric towel warmer is a mere 16.5 inches high, giving you a compact place to warm your towel while you shower.
It is easy to install and easy to use; hang your towel and turn on the switch to start the heating process.
This product has four horizontal bars from which to hang and weave your towel. Due to its size, it is ideal for smaller items, as longer and bulkier towels will not be heated to their full length.
The towel bars are curved to allow easier placement of your towels, and the shape makes it easier to remove them without burning yourself. The on-off switch is convenient but does not have an automatic shut-off as other towel warmers do.
7. Warmly Yours 4 Bar Towel Warmer
An interesting take on the towel warmer rack, the WarmYours 4 bar towel warmer implements an interesting, heating-element style rack to warm your towels while you shower.
It is 28.5 inches high and 16 inches wide, which is great for longer towels if you drape them over the topmost rung, but less fantastic for very wide towels. Folding wide towels in half should satisfy the width restriction.
Alternatively, you can also hang two shorter towels to get the most out of your heating experience. To save space, this rack is wall-mounted and can swing on hinges to remove it from the wall when in use.
Some of the most prominent complaints about this product are that it does not heat the towels all the way.
Due to the spacing of the rungs, it does appear that the towel should at least get spots of heating throughout, but many buyers state that the only heat their towels get is from the rung on which the towel is hung.
This is problematic, as the rack itself is not cheap.
Meanwhile, other buyers say that, yes, the towel warmer does work as intended, but it doesn’t get hot enough to make the towels toasty. More or less a lukewarm towel. Even still, some customers are happy with the product and have had the model for years.
8. Warmrails WHC Hyde Park 39 Inch Towel Warmer
Just like in the hotels, this luxuriously large towel rack is just what you need to have your towels perfectly placed for when you exit the shower.
This is a floor-standing rack, and, as the name suggests, it is 39 inches high. It is also 24 inches wide, so while it will easily hold your towel lengthwise, you may need to fold it in half to get it to fit on the width.
This product can easily hold 2 towels for maximum warmth.
Of course, it is not limited to simply towels; you can hang your clothes as well to keep them warm so that as soon as you are out of the shower, you are warm.
It plugs into any standard US outlet and uses less electricity than if you were to dry your towels in a dryer. It’s handy and efficient for that out-of-shower burst of warmth.
This product has mixed reviews overall, but there are glowing reviews that state this product does everything they need and more.
9. Warmrails HSKC Kensington 39.5 Inch Wall Mounted Towel Holder
Save space on your floor with this wall-mounted towel rack. It is designed to hold on to your towels and give them a lightly warm feeling.
Ideal for colder climates, as the first rush of air right out of the shower, can be a bit of a jolt. This Warmrails product is 39.5 inches high and 24 inches wide, enough to hold your towels but not wide enough to take up a whole lot of space on your wall.
Installation is easy enough; as long as you have an outlet, this will run. Make sure to turn it off when you’re done, as this product does not have an auto-off switch.
This towel warmer has enough rungs to thoroughly warm your towels, and the bars do get hot to the touch.
Thicker towels will have wildly different results than thinner towels, but given enough time, either kind will eventually get warm.
It’s a completely metal product, except the feet and the holders on the sides, so it retains heat for longer than other materials. It also runs at 105 watts to help save energy.
Shawn Burns is the founder and senior editor of Tools of Men. He started this site with the goal of teaching men proper grooming habits and sensible style. Shawn’s expertise includes in-depth product reviews and how-to articles. Shawn was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal for his expertise.
