I’ve been writing about bathrooms for years, and one of the most important design rules I’ve learnt is that great storage will make or break a space. Because without well-planned storage, your beautifully designed bathroom can quickly descend into clutter and chaos.
"Storage isn’t just nice to have in a bathroom; it’s a necessity," says Sophie Chapman, associate and interior designer at The Vawdrey House. "A well-organized space will have a direct impact on how you feel – whether that’s calm or invigorated – and clutter will undermine both."
The great news is storage has come a long way since the standard vanity unit and medicine cabinet for the modern bathroom. Where you stash your toiletries and towels isn’t just a functional consideration these days, and storage is now as gorgeous and as intentional as the tiles, taps and sanitaryware you choose.
Whether you prefer fitted or freestanding, modern or vintage, here are 13 brilliant bathroom storage ideas I’ve swooned over this year. This is how to transform bathroom storage from purely functional into a feature that might be the star of your space.
1. Bring Something Antique Into Your Space
A dark wood vintage sideboard has been upcycled into a unique vanity unit with masses of storage for stashing away toiletries
Materials with age and history aren't just a bathroom trend; they're a trend throughout design right now. In this project by Elemental Studio, the clients wanted a vintage style throughout the entire house, and that included the bathroom.
"The vanity unit is a vintage cabinet, sourced on Vinterior, that we adapted to accommodate the two sinks," says Laurence Katz, owner and creative director at Elemental Studio, "and the worktop was the old kitchen slate worktop that we refurbished and cut for the sinks. That way, less was thrown away from the kitchen, which was also being refurbished."
2. Use Storage to Introduce New Textures
We've taken a real shine to this lacquered bathroom cabinet with drawers and cupboard space for all your essentials
Bathrooms have become more and more 'matte' in recent years, especially with the growing popularity of wall finishes like tadelakt and microcement used over tile, but this tall glossy green cupboard from Blockhouse Build is your sign to embrace glossy textures once more.
Sprayed in Pea Green paint by Little Greene, this sleek, skinny armoire is a chic and functional storage cabinet for your bathroom. What’s more, it’s tailor-made with drawers and cupboard space in a range of different sizes, so you can neatly stash all your bathroom essentials out of sight.
3. Streamline With an Open Shelf
Pare it back with a simple marble shelf, the perfect perch for displaying toiletries and candles while you soak
You love open shelving in the kitchen, so why not try this design trick in the bathroom too? It’s an easy way to introduce extra storage while enhancing a light and airy ambience. This marble bathroom is a great example, with a classic stone shelf sitting above the freestanding bath for easy access to toiletries. It looks effortlessly chic but has a purpose.
"One of the notable features in this room is the killer view, so we kept everything pared back," says interior designer Lisa Staton who designed the space. "The homeowner loves a soak, so a standalone tub was a necessity. Marble shelves provide a space for toiletries and candles without boxing the room in with cabinets."
The brackets, like the bath taps, are unlacquered brass, which will develop a beautiful patina over time, "which I love in a classic room like this," adds Lisa.
Lisa is founder and principal designer at Lisa Staton Interior Design, a boutique firm with roots in the East Coast and Seattle. The company brings together handcrafted, antique and bespoke elements that feel personal and enduring.
4. Mix Cabinets and Open Storage
A considered mix of drawers and open shelving creates great storage for a busy bathroom. "If you're planning a vanity for a bathroom bathroom, think about what you actually need to store before you choose the unit, not after," advises Louise Ashdown, head of design at West One Bathrooms.
Planned properly, a mix of concealed storage (drawers and cabinets) and open shelving creates all the space you need, while being visually easy on the eye.
This en-suite for a young family needed to work hard day-to-day and feel like a boutique hotel retreat, so the generous wood drawers and chunky natural stone top of this bathroom vanity tick both boxes.
"The vanity became the real workhorse of the room," says Louise Ashdown, head of design at West One Bathrooms. "We gave it a run of deep, well-configured drawers to hide away everyday essentials, and balanced with a section of open shelving to display nicer things, a stack of folded towels, a scent, a plant. It’s that mix of concealed and open storage that keeps a large bathroom feeling calm rather than cluttered."
The key is planning what you need to store before you choose the unit – not after.
"Tall bottles need proper depth, cosmetics need shallower drawers, so get that right first," adds Louise. "Then layer in open shelving alongside the closed storage to stop the room feeling like one big cupboard."
5. Use a Basin Skirt in a Small Space
Add a playful touch to your bathroom, by swapping a bulky cabinet for a pretty basin skirt
I've been witnessing the renaissance of the sink skirt for a while now — first in the kitchen, and now in the bathroom. It's a simple but super cute way to disguise bathroom essentials rather than using a generic cupboard front.
"In this petite powder room, we wanted to keep the space as open as possible while still allowing for hidden storage for cleaning supplies or a spare loo roll," says Lisa Staton of Lisa Staton Interior Design. "Rather than introducing a bulky vanity, we gave the marble sink a pleated skirt. It adds a little decorative flair and is an easy upgrade to refresh an existing sink."
"I chose a soft, ticking stripe because it feels tailored and plays nicely against all that moody marble."
6. Create an Apothecary-Style Storage Wall
Create a spa-like shower experience with multiple wall niches in different depths to store bottles, soaps and shower products
For the owners of this primary bathroom, the shower had long been the room's weakest link. It was compact, and the only storage was a pair of small corner ledges that could hold a couple of bottles at most (anything placed on them was easily knocked to the floor).
"Our answer was a custom-designed apothecary wall: six niches set into the tile in two symmetrical columns," explains Brenda Thompson, owner and creative director of HouseLift Design. "Four deep niches hold the daily essentials and a pair of slim linear niches take the smaller items. Everything now sits recessed into the wall, so nothing can tip, slide, or be knocked from a ledge."
Get extra storage with this mango wood and brass bathroom caddy. Stack with products and move around your room when you need.
Smaller storage details count so get your soggy towels off the floor with this gold colored towel hook.
A tall freestanding shelf unit made from reclaimed teak - extra storage for stashing towels and toiletries
7. Max Out Storage With Fitted Cabinets
Fully fitted storage with walnut doors and concealed J pull handles creates a slick, streamlined mood
This beautiful bathroom proves that built-in storage doesn’t have to be functional and bland.
"The storage is fully fitted floor to ceiling and full width," says Louise McGarry, creative director at Studio Braw. "The simplicity of the door design is intentional as it allows the wood grain to stand out. The low storage is deep enough for towels, while the glass shelves inside are an effective way to store products, and easy to keep clean."
"We wanted the bathroom to feel timeless and genuinely restorative — a room that earns its place rather than simply looks beautiful."
8. Install a Bathroom Dressing Table
Hamilford Design upcycled an old sideboard into an elegant, all-in-one dressing table and basin with storage drawers underneath
This is clever: bathroom storage that doesn’t look like storage, but more like an elegant dressing table with a built-in basin to one side and storage drawers underneath.
It’s part of a project in the Hamptons, New York, designed by Hamilford Design. "The home has a chateau influence with lots of antique pieces brought over from Europe," explains Manuela Hamilford, founder and creative director of Hamilford Design. "We repurposed a vintage side table with space for a basin and vanity area. It was hand-printed to match the rest of the bathroom. I love it because it’s the idea of bringing non-bathroom furniture into that setting."
Manuela is the founder and creative director of Hamilford Design, a London-based interior design studio specializing in high-end residential and selected hospitality projects. Originally from Italy, her work is defined by natural materials, bespoke craftsmanship and a strong sense of proportion.
9. Soften With a Curved Cabinet
This curved mirrored medicine cabinet breaks up the geometric lines of the bathroom
In small bathrooms, utilizing wall space is key. But cabinets don’t have to be square, so think outside the box with a soft, curvaceous design like this one.
"Medicine cabinets have always been rectangles — they’re practical, and they’re also quite forgettable," says interior designer Alex Alonso, founder of Mr Alex Tate. "In this bathroom we needed the storage, but I didn’t want the mirror to look like a utility. Rounding it into a pill shape turned something purely functional into a feature.
"The curves soften all the hard lines in the room — the flat-fronted oak cabinetry, the stone, the window mullions. It’s also a bit of a wink, because it’s a medicine cabinet shaped like a pill."
10. Introduce a Statement Storage Niche
Create a design feature out of a shower storage niche by using contrasting patterned tiles as shown in this design.
A built-in niche is a popular shower idea these days, but I love how this bathroom harnesses the niche as a design feature with bold, graphic tiles that echo the floor.
"As a family with three boys, one of the main points of the client’s brief was to have lots of storage solutions incorporated within the design," explains Martin McDonagh, owner of Ripples Harpenden. "As well as the two-drawer vanity unit and wall storage, the new bathroom also includes a built-in storage niche to keep shower gels, shampoo and soap within easy reach within the shower area."
And as a fashion designer, the client was keen to introduce color and pattern into her bathroom with bold elements. "The room had to be a functional space, but the aesthetics were a priority," adds Martin.
11. Make the Design More Than Functional
The abstract pattern of this bespoke vanity unit echoes the bold print and earthy tones of the Pierre Frey wallpaper.
If you've got the budget, commissioning bespoke bathroom storage is a surefire way to elevate your space from ordinary to extraordinary — for both practical and design reasons.
This custom floating vanity unit is part of a project by interior designer Victoria Maria Geyer and has been designed to max out every inch of bathroom storage space. Not only that, the abstract, retro-style design on the timber doors adds so much character and personality that the piece becomes almost like a work of art, not simply a functional storage solution.
12. Hide Storage in the Dark
Instil a chic, vintage mood with dark stained bathroom storage to tie in with the rich emerald green backdrop
There is something incredibly chic about this simple bathroom cabinet, part of a dark bathroom project by French architectural firm Label Experience. The made-to-measure timber doors might be simple and slab-style, but the look is elevated by a rich, dark stain and classic knobs.
Yes, the result is pared-back, utilitarian, cool, and ties in effortlessly with the rich emerald green backdrop for a vintage mood. Proof that the simplest things are sometimes the most effective.
The key to the best bathroom storage is planning it early in the design process rather than adding it as an afterthought, especially recessed wall cabinets and shower niches. "Your builder will need to know early on, as it affects how the wall is built out," explains Lara Clarke, founder of Lara Clarke Interiors, "and we always size niches to a multiple of the tile so they finish on a full tile rather than a cut one."
And all the experts agree that drawer storage is far more useful than cupboards where products go to be forgotten and expire. "Things get stacked two deep in the dark, the bottle you need is always in the back, and somehow you end up buying another bottle of something you own more than one of already," says John Maloney McNamara, founder and principal of Coosa. "Deep drawers bring everything into view without requiring you to get on your knees and conduct an archaeological dig."
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