Must haves in a bathroom

[vbrown38]

I am about to fit a new bathroom. What would you say the must haves are.

Should I get a steel or acrylic bath? What taps are best? Is there a particular bath store I should be looking at?

I have room for a bath, sink and toilet. I'm also thinking a shower over the bath?

Any advice will be welcomed

If you have the space then a separate shower rather than over the bath. Don't just have a fixed shower head for a shower, it makes it really difficult to clean effectively and to avoid getting hair wet if you don't want to wash it. If you have a separate shower, make sure there is a shower spray as well as taps on the bath - really useful for hair washing when you don't want to get in the shower and easier to clean and rinse the bath out.

Storage - to keep clutter out of sight and dust free. Also storage for loo rolls, etc. Where will you keep spare towels?

Towel rails, including somewhere to hang a towel for the shower.

Where will toothbrushes, tooth mug and so on go.

Put a mirror above the sink. I'm not keen on cabinets above sinks as you can bang your head and if something drops out of the cabinet it can damage the sink.

plastic baths (apart from expensive thick ones) are much more flexible. They will sag a bit from the weight of the water and the people in them. Skilful installation can minimise this, but they are always going to be more likely to have gaps where they meet the walls so water can get through.

Ordinary steel baths are more rigid. For a low to medium price, I think I would go for steel.

Some steel baths are made extra-thick so they are even more rigid. I have no experience of them. They are not as heavy as cast-iron baths, whose thermal mass is very great, meaning they absorb a lot of heat from the water when you fill them, meaning the water is chilled. I would not have another iron bath.

Next time I buy a bath it will be a Carronite. This is a reinforced plastic with thickened shell for rigidity and insulation. They are made in an extended range of sizes, including some old imperial sizes to fit older bathrooms. They are a bit expensive.

Get a double shower head - fixed rainfall AND adjustable height normal head so you can not have your head in the water / sluice out bath.

Definitely lots of storage, preferably hidden away, and a detachable shower head over the bath. Maybe get an L shaped bath if you don't have space for a separate shower. Personally I prefer bathroom cabinets to just a mirror because it increases the storage space. Easy clean fixings. A smooth shower hose so dirt doesn't get trapped in it. Accessible plumbing - don't hide a cistern away behind tiling that needs to be detached every time it needs to be fixed!

Heated towel rail. And I agree with storage.

We redid bathrooms recently as part of a full house renovation and thought a lot about what we wanted.

First was that we didn't want our house to look like a hotel but we definitely wanted our bathrooms to be as close as possible to a good hotel bathroom - warm, clean, nicely tiled.

Second was that we needed to keep one bath for resale but otherwise could do walk in showers - no one in our house takes a bath ever but I know lots of MNers do every day.

We wanted the bathroom to be warm. As well as heat we put in underfloor heating - it is blissful

I wanted loads of storage so no cute pedestal sinks - instead a sink unit with drawers etc.

Heated towel rail.

Neutral colours in tile etc so easy to change. We mostly went with slate tile floors and white tile with a grey/white accent.

Double showerhead - fixed rainhead and adjustable shower that double as a grip. Love it.

Don't forget safety features for when you get older or have injuries etc. Get them to put the grips in now (can double as the adjustable shower head)

We've got a Carronite kitchen sink PigletJohn. It is great in most respects but it is a bugger to clean unfortunately.

Tea stains, onion skin, carrots, coffee?

For a kitchen I would only have stainless.

Wasn't our choice, it was the previous owners...

But not so much those kind of stains, more it just never "feels" clean like steel does. The surface just feels odd.

I think creating storage is a good idea. I don't know about you but I hate the sight of loads of bottles and potions hanging around. We have recently had two bathrooms done, and each of them has a sink/vanity unit. The cupboard underneath holds so much stuff, all neatly out of sight. Small unfitted bathroom cupboards put in after just don't look the same.
I would second a steel bath, as you don't get the flexing with it, and loosening of sealant if it's against a wall.
I hate towel rail radiators! They are not large enough generally to dry a towel, unless you take all the other towels off, so you can open your one wet towel out. If used for hanging your (carefully folded and co-ordinating) towels, the towels block the heat. The rails are also terrible dust traps. I know a lot of people won't agree, but that is what I have found practically.

Get the biggest P shaped bath you can fit in - good for showering and great for bathing too.

Defo think about storage. I got a sink with drawers under and has some recessed shelves built in next to the false wall built to hid the toilet cistern. (Toilet cistern is accessible by just lifting the MDF top).

I wanted wall hung but couldn't afford it so went for back to wall. 100% got for back to wall to wall hung - makes cleaning so much easier.

Getting nice looking baskets to hide my stuff to go on the recessed shelves was v expensive tho! Could have got an actual storage unit for the cost of all those nice baskets....

Sockets for recharging electric toothbrushes.

Built in storage flush with the wall - you don't need much depth to store bottles etc. A mirror that doesn't steam up. Hooks. A window that opens. I'd like a built in ledge in the separate shower for leg shaving but I've never seen that!

Sockets for recharging electric toothbrushes.

A mirror that doesn't steam up.

Yes yes yes

I got the nicest slim mirror cab ever off amazon that has a built in socket and demister pads. Its fab. Was pretty expensive but so so worth it.

I would have a shower with minimal places for mildew/general yuck to accumulate, I've been thinking that when I redo my bathroom, I'm going to have tiles that have a curve where the wall and floor meet (if they even exist!) rather than a right angle, and some sort of shower screen that doesn't involve a rail that you need to scrub out with a toothbrush - cleaning the shower is my least favourite job and I would love to make it easier!

There was an amazing thread on this a while back that went on for pages and pages. What mistakes to avoid in planning a bathroom or something similar.

Found it in AIBU: what bathroom mistakes you have made. It's not linking though.

Grout always stains so have as little as possible (big tiles, spaced relatively close together). Keep extra tiles under the bath in case you ever need them.

Make sure your shower can be easily fixed without having to remove tiles and that parts will be available for years to come.

Have a toilet which uses a standard size, easily available toilet seat.

Grey grout for floor tiles, as white will never look clean

Don't get a WC cistern that is walled up, tiled over, or has a button in the lid

If you get a bath with a flimsy plastic panel, throw it in the bin and install a better one. It will save you the inconvenience of removing the flimsy panel when it cracks the first time your knees touch it swabbing the bath.

If you get a weird shaped bath you will never find a replacement panel

Don't get a weird shaped WC unless you have a weird shaped arse. You will never find a replacement seat.

Do the bucket test before deciding to buy flashy Italian taps that will have a life as long as a hampster.

Heated Towel Rail - as large as you can fit

Storage

Slow close toilet seat

If in hard water area dont bother with glass shower screen and instead get a decent quality shower curtain and rail. (Not a cheapy plastic sheet with plastic tension fit rod).

Plastic baths - you get what you pay for. If you are going traditional style the Burlington range of baths are insulated and strong plastic so they dont flex or creak.
We went for an extra wide bath as we could fit it in and glad we did.

I prefer separate hot and cold taps rather than mixers, but thats definitely a personal decision.

We also went for the largest sink we could fit.
If we had huge bathroom I may have considered 2 sinks, but one wide one is good enough to fit two people using it at the same time. (brushing teeth)

Have as few lines/grooves on fittings as possible. The more grooves the more soap/toothpaste etc gets trapped so an oval or round basin is easier to clean than a D-shaped one as there are no 'corners'.

If possible have a recessed cabinet above sink so you get storage space without risk of banging your head.

To echo pp go for fitted storage around sink unit so much nicer than having a freestanding unit.

"or has a button in the lid"

What's the issue with cisterns with lid buttons? Two of our loos have them and we have never had any problems.

Agree with all of the above except for separate taps. I hate them. Mixer taps every time for me. I want to wash my hands and face in warm running water, not scalding hot or ice cold water.

I'd like a built in ledge in the separate shower for leg shaving but I've never seen that!

We have this in all the showers now - set of three inset ledges/shelves. Use it for shaving legs and also storing shampoo etc.

• Lots of storage. Touch latch cabinets are good but remember if the touch point is mirrored you get fingerprints that can look messy

• Towel rails. I don't have but would like one of those carriage shelf types they have in hotels - so you can store incoming clean towels as well as ones in use.

*Make sure the tap spout you choose has enough clearance over the edge of the sink you choose when fitted. There are few things more annoying than one that is too short for the sink so you can't wash your hands without touching/knocking the back of the sink.

• Pay more for a loo lid that is stronger. Plenty of them say "this is not guaranteed to sit on" and will crack and break. Watch out for flimsy loo seat lids.

• Get a bath with built in handles. This may sound stupid if you are able bodied but you never know. If you have a sudden leg injury (twisted ankle, skiing, cycling) you are recuperating from, handles are a god send.

• if you have space, a tiled "shelf" all along/around the wall side of the bath is a godsend as broad as you can fit.

• Check that the side of the bath isn't have too wide on the side you get out of. I've come across this a lot in hotels. It looks stylish but is actually dangerous to get out of because the width of it as you step out with wet feet makes you unstable and there is nothing to hold on to.

• Sockets for charging razors/electric toothbrush - EVEN if you don't use them. lots of people now have electric toothbrushes and absence is one of those little details that may put people off when you come to sell because breaking tiles to fit stuff later is never going to give a clean result.