Many people discover their homes lack sufficient places to hang the towels which are in use. They may decide to add hooks or some basic towel bars and towel rings—but designers have provided these users with numerous other options, too.

One small luxury that many users appreciate is a heated towel bar. Besides providing some welcome warmth, these bars also dry the towels, avoiding musty odors. The towel warmer above, from Tubes Radiatori, comes in versions heated by electricity, hot water, or a combination of the two. Users getting the electric version may want to consider not heating the warmer 24/7 in order to minimize power usage as well as the resultant electricity bill.

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Designers have provided users with many options when it comes to towel warmers. The Montecarlo from Tubes Radiatori, designed by Peter Jamieson, comes in a rectangular form and a square form, allowing it to fit where other towel warmers won't.

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Towel warmers don't have to be wall-mounted; the Scaletta comes in both free-standing and wall-mounted versions. However, free-standing towel warmers can't be positioned with the flexibility of other free-standing towel racks, since they still need to be plugged in.

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Another towel warmer design that can save wall space is the Totem, since it mounts perpendicular to the wall. It will tend to serve as a small partition, which will work well in some rooms and not in others.

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The Linea double swivel towel bar from Zack uses the same space-saving design principle as the Totem towel warmer, but it has the added advantage of letting the two bars swing apart, making it easier to hang the towels and providing more air circulation for drying—useful here, since there's no heat to dry the towels.

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These towel rails from Decor Walther look nice, but many people I know would never take the time to nicely roll the towels to fit into the rails.

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This product from Antonio Lupi's QJini line of bathroom accessories combines a towel rack and a shelf, which will help some people make the best use of limited space. The Qjini is made from lacquered stainless steel. It was designed by Daniel Debiasi and Federico Sandri of Something.

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Here's another combination of shelf and towel rack; this one comes from Ethnicraft. In this design, one side has the towel rack while the other, larger side has the shelf. It looks lovely, but it's going to be somewhat harder to hang the towel up than with other designs—so it won't work well for all users.

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People lacking in both floor space and usable wall space might appreciate a ceiling-mounted towel rack; this one from Decor Walter is called Move.

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Wash basins that incorporate a towel rack provide a handy place to hang a towel or two. This one from Planit, made of Corian, has the towel rack off to the side, where it's less likely to get in the way than if it were right in front of the basin.

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The Cup wash basin from Artceram shows just how creative a designer can get in incorporating a towel rack into the basin's design. That's an easy place to toss a towel, too.

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There are lots of countertop towel racks—and sometimes that's just what the user needs. But this Handi hand washing valet is the only one I've seen that incorporates a valet for jewelry the user removes while washing up. It's such a good idea that I'm surprised to not find more designs like this. This one also incorporates a soap dispenser, which would save countertop space but would also mean fiddling around to refill the dispenser, so it's got both pros and cons.

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Another combination product that might work well for the elderly or anyone concerned about bathroom falls is the Grabcessories combination grab bar and towel bar. Sometimes people try to use a handy towel bar as a grab bar, which doesn’t work; this product might avoid such problems.