Customer Reviews

Warmrails Hardwire/Softwire Kensington Wall Mounted Towel Warmer and Drying Rack, Satin Nickel

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Length:: 0:30 Mins

Decent build, fairly easy to install (after all, I installed it myself). The most important issue to remember if you are thinking of buying this is this device will not produce steaming, hot towels like you would get at a spa.

The temperature is not adjustable.

Otherwise, works as advertised.

I've been very happy with this towel warmer. I recently renovated my bathroom and had the builders install this, so I can't speak to the difficulty of hardwiring this personally, but after a professional installation this works very well. Keep in mind, your towels don't get toasty hot, they get dry (and warm). My only quibble is that Warmrails puts some really cheap-looking clear plastic stickers on this. Once you take them off, which you'll want to do because they don't even bother to put them on straight or to make sure they aren't crimped, they leave a sticky residue. I haven't been sure how to clean this off, but I guess it hasn't bothered me that much because I'm sure I could figure it out pretty easily. This is an easy and inexpensive way to turn your bathroom into a bit of a spa, and I'm glad I purchased this.

We have purchased several of Warmrails over the years and been quite satisfied. The construction and finish were as advertised. However, the latest units are JUNK. They have a painted "brushed nickel" finish, not even close to real brushed nickel. The attachments of the rails to the vertical supports is now a cheap poorly made screw. Most were loose when received and impossible to tighten because the wires run thru the middle of the nut. The old ones were brazed or otherwise solidly connected rails to supports.

The pictures from the suppliers show the old (good) style, but that is not what you will get. This is gross misrepresentation of the product and should be pulled by Amazon.

This towel rack was the perfect solution for us. The hardwire/softwire option allowed us to begin using the Warmrails right away (by pluging it in) and eventually we will hard wire it with the included parts. Our towels are always dry now and they never smell (which used to be a problem since they didn't dry out). There are now less towels in the laundry each week since they can be used longer. Hopefully, that energy savings will offset the relatively small amount of energy used by Warmrails.

We purchased two smaller Warmrails towel warmers from Amazon for our master bath in the spring of 2007 and liked them so much we decided to add this large Warmrails towel warmer for our guest bath. All of them are superb. One of the best features is that, in the humid summer weather here in Vermont, the towels get quite dry within several hours. In the winter, of course, the towels are toasty warm. If someone wants really hot towels, this towel warmer is probably not the best choice -- towels get warm but not hot-hot. We fold our towels so they are 4 layers thick, and put them over the towel warmer (i.e., 4 layers over the front and 4 layers in the back), and 3 of the layers are quite warm.

We purchased the towel warmer with a plug-in option. The cord is fairly long, and our electrician was able to thread the cord through a hole right behind the towel warmer, and plug it into an outlet in a closet behind the bathroom. This made the cord practically invisible in the bathroom. Finally, the towel warmer metal rails are quite warm, but I can put my hand on them for a few seconds without feeling like I will get burned. I would highly recommend the Warmrails product.

Finally an eloquent simple solution to cold damp towels. The hardest thing was deciding on the best location in our bathroom. It was easily installed and works extremely well. Its great for drying towels after use as well as warming them for you. Installation is quick & simple using the soft wire solution although using the hard wire option (if you so choose) takes careful placement. Picked this particular unit for its large size we need with our large family. Took down a towel rack & installed the unit there by myself. Look great and works amazingly well. Only negative which is minor is the tacky sticker/label on part of the unit which I removed (should have been silk screened or airbrushed onto the metal directly).

Ok, where to start...

The item is cheap! Don't mistake it for a high end warmer.
The bars are curved and are not tight enough to stay in one position. With no way to tighten. So the top bar is doing 360 (hope there isn't a wire I am gonna twist off and break inside).

The coating is a nickel-colored paint. Not too realistic, but would be fine if it didn't chip away easily. (Someone else mentioned same)

Would be also nice if the paint on the unit matched the wall mount piece.

The shipping is cheap! Unit arrived in a plastic bag (that's it!) So before I even received it - it was already banged up and missing the "nickel" paint in a few places. But it's large and annoying to have to ship back, so... I am going forward with the project.

For the person who said this is an easy install: you sir/madam are full of ... (or are employed by Warmrails).

If you are going to plug it into an outlet - that's NOT an install. That's how you hang a painting. And you would need to rip it out of the wall when you vacate/sell the place. (And close 8 huge holes you've created hanging it up).
If you want it to actually increase the value of your bathroom, you need to do a WALL MOUNT install. (Read: add half a day and if you can't do electrical work, add $80 for an electrician).

And this is where it all goes south quick.
1) you will need additional parts and a whole bunch of tools. (At least the right grade of an in-wall aluminum wire ($10) and 2 screws for the wall mounting plate which are for some ungodly reason missing.

2) you will need to shorten the (wall-to-unit) pipe that comes with it. because it is TOO LONG. (For NO apparent reason. It's not like the wall can SOMEHOW miraculously be at a different distance than the PLASTIC LEG of the warmer 2 inches away! I recommend a dremel. But any metal saw will do. Also, the wall cover is a sliver larger than a traditional mount box giving you zero chance to get that right.

3) There are no templates for the wall cut out. So... good luck eyeing it. There are also no plastic/metal box to host the wiring OR the plastic ends for merging 3 wires. (I guess that's part of #1).

4) If you have a huge bathroom with lots of wall space near the tub - you are in luck. If you live in/near a city - you are OUT of luck. As the "easy to remove" tiny screws could be impossible to reach once the warmer is mounted on the wall.

5) One of the screw threads on the switch box was busted. Which caused a bunch of grief during the install.

Easy install this is not. PAY SOMEONE TO INSTALL IT - you will not regret the 1/2 a day wasted.
Add $30 in additional parts to your cost for *proper* install.

Another gripe - this thing requires a full 3 wire install. Which means you can't mount it off of an electric switch (hot+ground) - you need a full blown outlet (or a new run). Which is unnecessary and complicates things.

I was planning to buy another one for the second bathroom. I think I'll skip on that.

Does it work? YES.
Does it look ok on a wall? YES.
Do I wish they would spend extra $5 on parts so I don't have to spend $30? Yes
Do I wish ill on whomever designed it and didn't consider tight working conditions? Indubitably!

Quality of the unit itself: 5/10
Difficulty of an outlet install: 3/10
Difficulty of an in-wall install: 10/10

even though the dimensions on the box shows 29.5"H x 24"W x 5.75"D the warming bars bow outwards on this unit to almost 7"D at the center which could make it difficult to sit behind a bathroom door. I ended up returning it.

We bought two of the hard-wired satin-nicket warmers had an electrician install them. They work great, we always have a warm toasty towel available and never suffer from diving out of the shower and grabbing a damp towel. again.

Compared to almost identical warmers available at specialty appliance stores these cost $100 of less and work great.

This was a gift from my husband for Christmas. The styling is great, and we're using it now softwired, with plans to remodel our bathroom and have it hardwired. It does dry the towel nicely, but I wish it got the towel warmer. I was hoping it felt like it just came out of the dryer, but it's far less than that. We're both disappointed.