Better Homes & Gardens Bath Rug Corsair
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The Best Bathroom Rugs and Bath Mats
By
Alex Arpaia
Updated July 23, 2021
A great bath mat will brighten up a bathroom, keep your feet toasty, and perform the all-important job of protecting you from slipping on wet floors. After 30 hours of researching and testing dozens of rugs and mats, we've picked three that we love for their style, comfort, and functionality. Each should last through many washes, and will make your bathroom look and feel a bit more luxurious.
Our pick
If you're really concerned about your mat slipping, the Lands' End Supima Cotton Non-skid Bath Rug is the best nonslip mat we tested. Although many other nonslip mats we tried had thin coatings on the bottom that flaked off in the dryer, the Lands' End mat's thick latex backing held up well and didn't deteriorate with repeated washings. Unlike other rubber-backed mats, this one still dries quickly in the dryer (but not as fast as a towel-like rug does).
Our pick
Frontgate Resort Bath Mat
A thick, hotel-style mat
This towel-like mat isn't as grippy (it doesn't have a nonslip backing), but it's easy to hang to dry between showering and will fit under a low-clearance door. It comes in lots of colors but is available in only one size.
The Frontgate Resort Bath Mat is our favorite simple towel bath mat. Although its terry cloth feels thick and luxurious underfoot, this mat is still slim enough to fit under a low-profile door—something other mats couldn't do. It's pricier than some we tried, but we think it will last for many, many trips through the wash. We also found the Frontgate to be more absorbent than other towel mats. Its densely packed loops didn't feel soggy after one person drip-dried on this mat, whereas others we tried soaked through immediately. Available in a wide range of colors, the Frontgate will match with almost any decor—even our pick for bath towels. It comes in only one size, 21 by 34-inches, but that should work well in most spaces.
Our pick
The ToiletTree Products Bamboo Bath Mat is the best option we found for a wooden, platform-style mat. It feels better constructed and more stable than other wood mats we tested, with rubber feet to prevent it from slipping across the floor. The ToiletTree was also better sealed than other mats—some of which lacked any sealant at all—with water pooling and dripping off the wood right away. After testing this mat for the past three years, we've found it's held up well to a constant stream of visitors in our test office, with no wear or cracking on the finish.
Everything we recommend
Our pick
Our pick
Frontgate Resort Bath Mat
A thick, hotel-style mat
This towel-like mat isn't as grippy (it doesn't have a nonslip backing), but it's easy to hang to dry between showering and will fit under a low-clearance door. It comes in lots of colors but is available in only one size.
Our pick
Why you should trust us
Half the battle of keeping a great bath mat around is making sure it's easy to clean and maintain. That's why we sought out experts who could give us rug- and mat-cleaning advice, including Jolie Kerr, who has written about cleaning for The New York Times and Esquire, and cleaning researchers Elaine Cella, Liz Eggert, and Mary Johnson of Procter & Gamble. We also looked at hundreds of bath rugs at a range of online retailers and closely considered customer reviews.
The grippiest rug: Lands' End Supima Cotton Non-skid Bath Rug
Our pick
How it feels: Soft and thick, with terry cloth loops on a rubber backing.
Why it's great: The Lands' End Supima Cotton Non-skid Bath Rug was the most secure mat we tried, thanks to a thick latex nonslip backing. Many of the nonslip mats we tested had thinner backings, which we've found are quicker to deteriorate and flake off in the wash. But after a year of long-term testing—including half a dozen washes—the Lands' End mat's backing looks as good as new. Some of the rubber-backed mats were also slow to dry in the dryer, but even with a thick backing, the Lands' End rug dried fully in one cycle. After being used for a morning shower, it had air-dried by evening.
This rug is made of extra-long-staple Supima cotton, which felt more absorbent than the materials of other mats we tested, especially the synthetic and memory-foam rugs. Wirecutter staffers who own the Lands' End mat agree that it doesn't slip, it's durable, and it's more absorbent than previous bath mats they've owned. One user complained that the loops tended to compact underfoot, but added that a wash fluffed them back up. They like that the mat has a low profile, so it fits under a low-clearance door. Lands' End also offers a fantastic unlimited return policy.
Flaws but not dealbreakers: In our tests, the Lands' End's cotton pile dried slower than the material on some competitors—particularly synthetic rugs—so if a quick-drying rug is a priority for you, look to our other picks. We think this rug will dry at a similar pace to a medium-weight terry cloth bath towel.
Sizes: 16 by 23 inches, 20 by 33 inches, 23 by 39 inches, 23 by 59 inches, contour
Material: 100% Supima cotton, latex backing
Colors: Nine colors, depending on availability—mostly neutral and blue shades
A luxurious towel mat: Frontgate Resort Bath Mat
Our pick
Frontgate Resort Bath Mat
A thick, hotel-style mat
This towel-like mat isn't as grippy (it doesn't have a nonslip backing), but it's easy to hang to dry between showering and will fit under a low-clearance door. It comes in lots of colors but is available in only one size.
How it feels: Soft and spongy underfoot, like a dense luxe towel.
Why it's great: If you like to hang up your bath mat between uses, or you have a door with very little clearance underneath, then you should consider a hotel-style mat. The Frontgate Resort Bath Mat was our favorite—it's thicker, softer, and more absorbent than any other we tested. Most hotel-style mats are about as absorbent as a regular towel, but the Frontgate has densely packed loops that don't get soggy after a single person drip-dries on it. Although this mat might not be the best for a family with small kids (it won't protect very well against slipping), it should be absorbent enough to work in a household with multiple people.
The Frontgate is pricey compared with some other hotel-style mats we tested. But considering that the other mats felt soggy underfoot and couldn't hold up to the wear and tear of our testing, we think it's worth it to spend a little more. This mat is available in a wider range of colors (14 at the time of publication) than many other bath mats we found, so it will work with almost any decor. If you want to coordinate your bath linens, this mat is part of Frontgate's Resort line and will match our top pick for bath towels.
Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Frontgate doesn't offer much flexibility—it's available in only one size. If you want more size options, try our nonslip pick from Lands' End.
Size: 21 by 34 inches
Material: 100% cotton
Colors: 14 colors, including various greens, grays, blues, browns, and some lighter pastels
A spa-style wood platform: ToiletTree Products Bamboo Bath Mat
Our pick
How it feels: Smooth and sturdy; softer than an untreated teak platform, but rougher than a woven mat.
Why it's great: Of the four wood mats we tested, the ToiletTree Products Bamboo Bath Mat had a sturdier build, its rubber feet felt more stable on the floor, and the sealant was better at repelling water (drips pooled and slid right off the wood). It also didn't creak when we stood on it, unlike at least one of the other mats we tried. We've been long-term testing the ToiletTree mat for almost two years, and it's held up wonderfully—we haven't noticed any splintering or wear on the finish.
At around $40, the ToiletTree is much less expensive than many of the wood mats we considered. Although we've noticed that some people use wood mats inside the shower, we don't recommend this because it can encourage mildew. If you're looking for a grippy mat to use inside the shower, check out our guide to the best shower mats.
Flaws but not dealbreakers: As with other wood mats, with the ToiletTree mat you'll need to regularly address the puddle of water underneath. But this may be easier with the ToiletTree because it was the tallest wood mat we tested, sitting about 1½ inches off the floor (the others ranged from 0.7 inch to 1 inch).
Size: 25.3 by 15.7 by 1.3 inches
Material: bamboo
How to choose a bath mat
After years of testing and gathering feedback, we've found that people often aren't happy with their bath mats. To avoid this happening to you, we recommend considering the following questions when you're shopping:
- What size is your bathroom? Be sure to measure your bathroom before choosing a mat. Mats are available in sizes as small as 17 by 24 inches and as large as 25 by 39 inches. You may be surprised by how small a 17-by-24-inch mat actually is. Some people like to use two bath mats—one in front of the sink and one near the shower—so measure those areas separately to get the best fit. If your bathroom door needs to clear your mat, make sure to check the mat's height as well.
- How will you store the bath mat? If you want something you can leave on the floor and forget, we recommend getting a mat that has a thicker nonstick backing or a heavier wood platform. If you want to hang the mat between showering, you're probably better off with a hotel mat or a thinner rug without a backing.
- Do you need a nonslip backing? If you have kids or often slip in the bathroom, look for a mat with a thick piece of rubber attached to the back. It will have the most skid resistance. Some mats have a thinner, brushed-on coating that's likely to wear off more quickly in the wash.
How we picked and tested
Bath rugs and mats rank among the highest-traffic floor coverings in the home. In addition to the advice we received from cleaning experts, we used our common sense to determine the most important criteria for a good bath rug or mat:
- absorbs water efficiently
- dries relatively quickly
- washes well (capable of withstanding weekly or biweekly wash cycles for a few years)
- available in multiple sizes (though we focused on the 20-by-30-inch size, which should be appropriate for most bathrooms)
- available in solid-color options (since many people use patterned shower curtains in their bathrooms)
- receives good customer reviews and is widely available
Woven rugs are probably the most universally appealing, since they're comfortable underfoot, made to absorb well, and easy to clean. We tested both cotton and synthetic mats. Cotton tends to absorb better but takes longer to dry, while polyester or nylon synthetics don't absorb quite as well but dry much faster.
We held the wood mats we tested to slightly different criteria. These mats don't really absorb much (if any) water, so they're great for outdoor showers or bathrooms with central drainage. They also give a bathroom a clean, stylish look, and they can feel nice underfoot if you don't like the soggy feeling of wet fabrics. A decent wood mat should feel sturdy, with rubber grips on the underside to keep it stable when you step onto it. We dismissed wood mats whose reviews frequently complained of splintering, cracking, color bleeding (from dyes, sometimes), and chipped finishes. We found that wood mats were generally made of either bamboo or teak, but we didn't strictly prefer one over the other; a main difference is that the bamboo mats have a finish, and the teak ones usually don't.
We looked at more than 100 options from places like Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, IKEA, Target, Crate and Barrel, and L.L.Bean, and we discovered that most stores sold very similar versions of the same thing. From our initial scan of a hundred-plus models, we tested the 27 with the best specs and owner ratings.
We washed and dried all of our test rugs three times to evaluate durability and simulate one or two months' worth of washes. We disqualified rugs that didn't hold up (if, say, the nonslip coating came off or the rug showed wear), those that didn't dry fully in the dryer, and those that felt unpleasant to stand on.
I took the most promising rugs and mats home for personal testing. This gave me a good sense of how the rugs fit in a bathroom, stylistically and sizewise. I noted how long the woven and memory-foam rugs took to dry between showers and how they felt underfoot. I tested the wood bath mats by repeatedly splashing water on them and stepping on them to test their steadiness.
Care and maintenance
After speaking with Jolie Kerr and the cleaning experts at Procter & Gamble, I can almost definitively say that most people aren't washing their bath mats nearly enough. Although it may seem as if your bath mat is in a clean part of the house, it really isn't. In addition to the near-constant moisture, bath mats absorb numerous soils while they're innocuously sitting on your bathroom floor. Dead skin, kitty litter (if you have an indoor cat), bacteria, and urine spray will all end up in the fibers of your bath mat over the course of regular bathroom use.
Kerr told us that people who live alone can probably get away with washing their bath mats every other week, but if you have two or more people in your house, she recommends that you wash your bath mat weekly. It may seem like overkill, but once you start thinking about all the gunk that ends up on your bathroom floor, this argument becomes convincing. Make sure to read the wash instructions on your bath mat. Especially if you have a nonslip mat, dry on low heat to prevent the backing from disintegrating. In most cases, hot water and laundry detergent should be enough to sanitize your bath mat during regular use. But if you have a fungus, such as athlete's foot, or a mildew problem in your bathroom, bleach or vinegar can be good disinfecting alternatives.
Kerr recommends wiping wood mats with a solution of water and white vinegar, which has disinfecting properties. We also recommend wiping down the floor underneath your wood mat every week or so to address any standing water.
What to look forward to
The competition
Woven
Parachute Home Looped Bath Rug: A lot of our testers liked the look and feel of the Parachute bath mat, but its cotton loops seemed to be showing signs of wear after a few runs in the washer.
Target Fieldcrest Tufted Accent Bath Rug: Our testers disliked the appearance of this discontinued rug. Despite being brand new, it already looked old and ratty.
Amazon Pinzon 100% Cotton Looped Bath Rug with Non-Slip Backing: We had high hopes for this now-discontinued cotton looped nonslip rug, but ultimately it disappointed. After just one wash, the cotton upper shrank and started curling up. We couldn't get it to lie flat no matter what we tried.
Hotel-style
Lands' End Supima Cotton Tub Mat: This was a soft mat that got the job done, but it was thinner and less absorbent than the Frontgate. Plus it was soggy after a single use. If you don't want to pay for the more luxurious Frontgate, this would be a suitable alternative.
AmazonBasics Banded Bath Mat: After one cycle through the wash, this mat was already pilling. Although it felt fine underfoot, we weren't confident it would hold up well over time.
Wood
House of Teak Shower Mat: If we had a beach house with an outdoor shower, this would be the bath mat for us. Unfortunately, it has a weird square shape, and the wood was unfinished. If the unfinished surface had been a bit smoother, we may have been convinced, but it was rough and didn't feel great underfoot.
Oceanstar FM1163 Bamboo Floor and Shower Mat: We were tempted by the low price of this bamboo mat, but we should've known that all too often low price means bad quality. When we stood on this mat for the first time, it emitted all sorts of creaky cracking sounds. We didn't try that hard, but we really felt as if it could break at any moment.
Conair Pollenex Solid Teak Roll-Up Shower Mat: This mat was our next-favorite wood mat, but it's been discontinued.
Memory foam
Magnificent Soft Non-Slip Memory Foam Bath Mat: This mat barely absorbed any water, and the vertical grooves prompted the water that remained on the surface to pill up and roll right off the mat onto the floor. It's since been discontinued.
Sources
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Jolie Kerr, cleaning expert and contributor to The New York Times, phone interview , March 13, 2017
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Elaine Cella, Liz Eggert, Mary Johnson, researchers at Procter & Gamble, phone interview , March 27, 2017
About your guide
Better Homes & Gardens Bath Rug Corsair
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-bathroom-rugs-and-bath-mats/
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