It’s 2022, and something on pretty much every house buyer’s wish list is a home with an effective, attractive towel warming radiator in the bathroom and the kitchen, that also heats the rooms to make them toasty and inviting first thing in the morning. And if they add a certain panache to the room as well, so much the better.
The market for these decorative or designer radiators has burgeoned in the past decade and is now well over a million units per year, reflected in the wider number of companies manufacturing and distributing these important heating appliances.
Far from being just a source of heat on a cold and frosty morning, bathroom radiators are now quite simply an expected addition…something every new home buyer and virtually every buyer of older properties expects to find in bathrooms and en-suites. And as well as heating the bathroom people expect the radiator to dry their towels and warm them so they can wrap them around themselves when they step out of the bath or shower on the coldest of mornings.
No longer a luxury item, they are very much part of the furniture. And with sales of bathroom radiators somewhere in between one and two million a year this is still a sizeable and important niche market for radiator manufacturers.
But what about the options available these days? Have they changed in the last few years? Indeed they have. The earliest special radiators for bathrooms were the traditional chrome towel rails, many available from the DIY sheds, many of which were the source of huge disappointment as they certainly warmed the towels but didn’t have the oomph to heat the room. As with all radiators, the secret such as it is, is that the radiator needs to be sized correctly to heat the room adequately.
The breadth of choice available has grown hugely and, whilst there are still chrome ladder rails available, with Stelrad offering a selection – and far better quality and better at sharing warmth around the room than their elderly predecessors – the selection of designs, finishes and even colours these days is something to behold.
There are a larger number of manufacturers around supplying towel rails and the major radiator manufacturers that have tended to target the selling traditional steel panel radiators have not taken the towel rail marketplace as seriously as they might. Certainly, as far as Stelrad here in the UK is concerned, it’s a niche market it is taking very seriously and the range of radiators for the bathroom, kitchen and wider living spaces now available has seen the advent of a wider range of specialist radiators and towel warmers than the company has ever offered before.
More designs – both traditional and contemporary – more choice of materials, with the arrival of a range of stainless-steel designs, and a wider range of finishes with polished and brushed stainless steel and a selection of coloured radiators with many coloured radiators in stock and available within 72 hours of order, adding to the choice available to householders, interior designers and installers. It’s a far more sophisticated market than even a couple of years ago, with well-priced, multiple sized offerings to match almost any décor and any size room with ease.
Most of Stelrad’s radiators can be ordered in up to thirty-six colours if you can wait a while for delivery – but there’s a wide range of options now stocked in anthracite grey from stock, which can blend so well with other décor and add that additional style to many bathrooms and kitchens.
Interestingly, the monochrome bathroom and kitchen are very much back in style and can look elegant and contemporary. The addition of an attractive metallic radiator to traditional black and white can really add that luxurious look.
The selection of options is vast but, just to pick out three, take a closer look at the Como – a flat brushed stainless-steel rectangular tube design for both modern and contemporary homes. The Column Vertical Concept – stunning in anthracite grey – again a combination of traditional design and modern colouring. And the new Traditional Column – a classic look especially in a bathroom – in traffic white with a chrome frame – offering just a little more style and lot more pizazz for the home… it’s a selection that demands careful consideration.
IN YOUR ELEMENTS
Midlands training centre benefits from Stelrad radiators for courses
Elements Training and Assessment Centre in Stourbridge in the West Midlands has taken delivery of twelve Stelrad Radiators – a mix of Vita Compact, Silhouette, Deco, Plan and Column radiators – to allow trainees and engineers re-certifying, to fit quality radiator products while they train in the new extended training centre.
The centre already had a number of Vita Products in the existing training centre down the road and a heat pump set up with a K3 for the renewable side of the heating business.
The centre is owned and managed by Matt Stonehouse and Spencer Bell, the MD of Bell Plumbing based locally. Matt says the Stelrad radiators are an important part of the systems their trainees work on: “It’s important that we have quality components to use in our courses and we’re grateful to Stelrad for giving us this selection of radiators to add to our portfolio of products that trainees and engineers will run into once they are out working at the sharp end of heating systems up and down the country.”
Head of Marketing at Stelrad, Chris Harvey says working closely with training centres is an important part of the company’s role in the UK heating sector: “We’re happy to see trainees and engineers getting used to working with our radiators at this stage of their careers and it’s an important part of developing a working relationship with a wider group of installers.”
To find out more about Elements Training and Assessment Centre visit www.rdr.link
