I think the majority of people are just curious. I snoop through the cabinets of family members. Most of us have homes with only one bathroom. I agree with the commenter who said that it's slightly annoying as a host to have someone come ask you every time they need new toilet paper or need to borrow some toothpaste, especially if you're hosting a large group. I'd rather they just help themselves, but most of my family members know this and feel the same way. I do not snoop through the cabinets of acquaintances or anyone who I do not know well, since I wouldn't know if they feel the same as I do or if they would consider it a breach of trust. Also, it's important to lock up prescription medications even if you don't have small children. You can't always tell who has a drug problem from the outside.

Ok. After watching this thread go on and on about how everyone is so respectful about others privacy. Yet.... we're now up to 381 people who say they DO peek but for the most part they aren't going to admit it on line, here's my theory.

1. Some people are just curious to see how they compare with others and feel they can determine this by what is considered personal to others.

2. Some people are lonely and wonder if they're "odd man out" and they want to assure themselves that others have nothing more interesting in their private spaces than they do.

I step down from my soap box.

But but but.... 1972 said they DON'T peek. That's good, right?

eh, who really cares. You're opening the bathroom to them, what more is it for them to look in your medicine cabinet. Really? What's so incredibly private that they shouldn't see it? Now, removing things, that's different..... just sayin'

I disagree. Yes, you are invited into their home, but unless they give you free rein to do as you please, there is the unspoken border of privacy; you don't snoop around.

Once, years ago, when visiting, I asked to use the bathroom, and after I returned to the front room, my hostess announced that I had NOT looked in her cabinet! I hadn't, but I asked her how she knew that, and she said that she left the screws off the door, so when one opened it, the door fell off! I always found that a bit odd of her but I was also quite glad that I was not the type to look in cabinets!

No, definitely not interested.....nor would I want to touch their personal items. :) But I really wish people would make sure the toilet paper roll was full in their bathroom when they have guests.......definitely not fun to realize there's only a few sheets at the most inappropriate time. :0 FILL THE ROLL! lol ;D

I don't snoop, but if I was at a family member's house or a close friend, I would look if I needed something that seemed likely to be stored there (usually bandaids and similar - bathrooms are a horrible place to keep medications anyway because of the humidity, so most people I know don't keep medications there anyway.) I don't get the point of looking just to see what's there - it's none of your business.

(I will if necessary look in the under sink cabinet for spare TP, too - I don't think I'd even register what else I saw under there unless it was something REALLY strange.)

@PirateFoxy, that may work...unless they store the paper in the hall closet. Lol ;)

This is an astonishing thread. Have none of you ever been in a friend's or relative's bathroom and found yourself in need of some minor bathroom type item that you would prefer not to discuss publicly? A tampon? Wipes? Toilet paper? Nobody is perfect - guests forget things they need and hosts forget to leave things out or how quickly a crowd can go through TP. In real life things happen. What do you expect your guests to do, open the door and holler "can someone bring me my purse?", "hey Jane, do you have any wipes?" or "I need more toilet paper?"??

Deliberately humiliating guests with falling marbles or doors because they needed something in the bathroom is breathtakingly rude and obnoxious. If it happened to me I'd walk out and not return.

I agree that snooping - looking for the sake of looking - is rude. Deliberately humiliating your guests (or anyone else for that matter) is far ruder. I suspect in the real world most of us are in the "other" category - we don't snoop but we do look for the TP. The poll questions on Houzz sometimes set up extremes and this one is no exception.

I'd never deliberately try to embarrass a guest who I thought might snoop or is snooping, though it is a funny thought. I might consider something like that as a joke with a relative who was insistent on snooping--though not in a more "public" bathroom such as a powder room or guest bath--those are free spaces where I would provide and stock incidental items should a guest need them (well maybe depending on how annoying my relative was being). (And then again, my husband's family is full of jokesters, so humor is often utilized to make a point instead of getting bent out of shape about small things.) And I wouldn't put marbles--they may damage my counter or tile, but the ping pong balls would be funny!

The Father of the Bride scene illustrated how Mr. Banks was attempting to close the medicine chest door in the family bathroom (upstairs, the 7th door on the left) that he was using while the powder room was being renovated, when curiosity got the best of him and he looked at the pill bottles to see what the future in-laws take.....obviously not with an original intent to snoop, then he proceeded to the next mirror, which he thought was another medicine cabinet, and accidentally pulled it off the wall.....curiosity took him to the adjacent private office, where he knew he shouldn't be, when the maid walked in and he found him hiding under the desk with a doberman growling at him. Next thing he knew, the owner's wallet flew out the window, landing in the pool, where he attempted to fish it out without being seen, when he finally landed in the pool. It was hilarious!

When house hunting, I never looked in people's bathroom drawers or medicine cabinets, but I did notice the shampoo bottles left in plain view in the shower and perfume bottles--it gave a sense of the lifestyle of the seller--a reason this article is Houzz worthy, though I agree, the question sets up some extremes. I wasn't trying to be nosy--but if it was out in plain view, I took note. I might look in kitchen drawers and cabinets--only to see where they kept the plates, glasses or flatware to understand how the kitchen flowed and functioned, or open a drawer or a cabinet door to see how well the drawer or cabinet functions.

if i were house hunting i might ask the realtor to open the medicine cabinet for me. in the kitchen i'd ask realtor if it was ok to try the drawers in the kitchen In a good friend's house or even in a relative's house i would ask for whatever-the-thing i found myself needing. i doubt there is no emergency that i would find too personal that i couldn't pull hostess aside to ask. and i would expect someone who is a friend to ask me in my home too.

I, quite frankly, may be the least nosy person ever...I have no interest in what people have in their cabinets, drawers or anything. I, for the life of me, just don't understand what people are looking for when they nose around. Very rude!

zazfuzzroc - I look, I didn't say I always find! :) But I prefer to look first, and I keep spares (not the main stash, just a spare roll or two) in a sensible place in each bathroom so no one finds themselves stranded. However, looking for an item you legitimately need and can reasonably expect to find (like another roll of TP) does not count as snooping to me - snooping is looking when you have no good reason, you just want to be nosy.

Our bathrooms do not have a huge amount of storage space, so some of the extras people mention, like random things guests might need like feminine hygiene products or a spare toothbrush, live in the linen closet outside the main bathroom upstairs. If we actually have a guest staying overnight I either point it out to them or else put together a smaller personalized basket of extras to put in their room, depending on the guest. Friends are more likely to get "there's the stuff, help yourself" whereas older guests like family are more likely to get a basket in their room, as I've generally found that friends of a similar age seem to feel more comfortable making themselves at home a bit, where older relatives feel more like they're snooping or like we might feel judged about how the towels are folded or something.

My main bathroom storage issue of the moment is the downstairs bath/powder room doesn't have a medicine closet at all, and the vanity is small and awkward and kind of in the way so I'd like to replace it with a wall mounted sink, perhaps with a very shallow vanity underneath just deep enough to conceal pipes and stash a couple spare TP rolls. But I would also like to keep a tiny amount of first aid stuff in there (the main kit lives in the kitchen on the basis of that being the place in the house you are most likely to properly injure yourself) and I can't figure out where to put it so it'll be accessible but not in the way.

PirateFoxy, Hi, I think we all could use extra storage/space. ;) I ended up purchasing a small cabinet with a glass door (shallow too) from....I think Home Depot? I actually bought two, they were a steal, very discounted... anyway, I hung those in the bathroom and it gives a nice amount of extra storage. :) I'm the same with guests....I try to point out everything they need beforehand. :) But in my bathroom, toilet paper is not an issue. At the end of my tub there was excess space, so under the counter, I cut into the wall and inserted an open cabinet..... I stack all the paper there. Easy to reach and you can't miss it. Surprisingly, it doesn't look horrible either. :)

CALLING ALL PEAKERS.! There are entirely too many "I would nevers." WHY are you so compelled? Seriously. I'm not talking to all of us who have had to search for an extra roll of TP, but the real sneaky peakies, who do it just because....?

Surely there must be a few brave peakers out there willing to share. C'mon, you can do it! Inquiring minds want to know. Do you do it to everyone or just certain people (why)?

To the peaked on, take it as a compliment that either you have done your job as a host and made your guest feel (entirely too) comfortable or someone finds you/your family so interesting that they are compelled to go to such lengths. Life is too short to do anything else, but laugh.

OMG!! Who would do that! It's a creepy thing to do and demonstrates appalling disrespect.

Absolutely Not! If I found out someone did that at my house, my value of that person would plummet to zero!

Totally rude....!
I wouldn't dare. If someone did that to me, I wouldn't invite them back.
That its honestly rude!

Good idea about the marble trick, might try it!

@kennedycollinz My guess is that most of us who checked that they "peeked" are not snooping, we are just admitting that given a choice between hollering a bathroom need down the hall in the middle of a dinner party and opening a cabinet door we open a cabinet door. I find all the claims from people that they would never do this implausible to say the least.

I had a fairly traumatic bathroom experience as a young adolescent that resulted in the entire extended family knowing that I had my period. It was beyond humiliating for a young girl. Believe me, my mother rummaged through every crevice of every cabinet in that bathroom trying to help. Everybody: have some compassion for your guests and don't get all upset if they try to solve their private problems privately.

@Margaret. I don't call that "peeking" or "snooping". That's an emergency!

@Margaret. that is a 100% bonafide need and not snooping at all! That is why I only posed my question to the snoopers & NOT the ones in need, which you certainly qualified for. So sorry for your horrible experience. It would be mortifying at any age and Lord help you if you have a family like mine. I do not think that there is one poster that would be offended under those circumstance, except maybe at mum ripping through everything when she could have just discreetly asked the hostess for help. Then again, how can you not forgive a panicked mother?

@ all people who have NO valid reason for needing to peak into tubs/showers/cabinets... what is the fascination? Inquiring Minds want to know!

I feel its private territory and to make it clear to my friends who don't I put a can on its side full of marbles, you can only guess what happens. One of my friends stayed in my bathroom a good hour and when she came out I just smiled :)

there is a difference between a want (to snoop) and a need.

It has never occurred to me to open up a medicine cabinet or any other cabinet/drawer/cupboard/chest/room/bag uninvited. People have a right to their privacy and the right to consciously decide what they wish to share and with whom. No amount of intimacy or friendship entitles you to stretch the boundaries. Nor does your own sharing automatically mean you can force the person you have chosen as the vessel for your confidences to confide in you in return – trust is a gift that cannot be demanded.
This is a very simple matter of self-control and modesty. Interestingly, I have observed that the more one honours the boundaries the more one is invited to overstep them and come closer – sometimes even more than one would wish.

Where it comes to actually pilfering the medicine chest for drugs as some have mentioned above …words fail me.
Besides falling under the category of petty theft, this is just a plainly dangerous thing to do.
These people need help.

If I'm in need of more toilet paper, feminine products, aspirin I would expect not to be humiliated with falling marbles. May I suggest anyone who feels the need to do that be more selective of whom they allow into their home to begin with. I tend to invite people I know to my home and know them well enough to know they mean nothing sinister by looking for what they need.

The idea with the marbles is naughty but hilarious. Nevertheless it isn’t nice to embarrass people – even if they deserve it. Besides it would drive me crazy to have to deal with marbles come cleaning day.
Still, I do not quite understand why one would look for toilet paper in a medicine cupboard.
Usually an extra roll or so is available under the sink or put conveniently/decoratively somewhere within reach. I am yet to visit a home where this is not the case.
As for searching for feminine articles, I have never had to do this because I always walk with a tiny, neat cosmetic case in my handbag with such necessities as I may require at any given time. Maybe I am old-fashioned but I would be mortified if I had to rummage around in foreign cupboards for my needs, especially when I can easily avoid this with a little forethought.
However, I did once have a guest require such of me (I do not stockpile feminine articles in my powder room as it is used by both genders) and there was no embarrassment attached – I discreetly let her have what she needed and that was that.
Aspirin should be swallowed with at least a half glass of water – minimum unless we wish to scorch the oesophagus. So asking the hostess to serve you what you need is the only way to go. Especially since the only glass usually found in the bath, if any, is the private toothbrush glass of the homeowner. To usurp that would be frankly just way out of line.
I am yet to understand the necessity for invading a medicine cupboard.

Medicine Cabinets should be gone by now. Eat only home made food and turn your medicine cabinet into a Niche.....then, place a fresh flowers base or place a plant inside. Exercise, and be kind to others. Delia

I've never actually kept medicine in a medicine cabinet. I use mine for toothpaste, toothbrush, dental floss, contact lens and contact lens solution, moisturizers, hair products, and make-up. I don't like to see all that stuff out, so i put it in a medicine cabinet-- very convenient with the mirror and sink right there. If your medicine cabinet is actually stocked full of prescription medicines, you probably ought to be in the hospital. ;) Oh-- and no; I have never looked inside anyone's medicine cabinet. I assume they have the same stuff in there as I do.

elefantekizle - In a guest bath if ours had a medicine cabinet (it doesn't, but really does need the extra storage space for when a guest is actually using it) I would keep some bandaids that I expected people to be able to use if they needed. Probably also some hotel sized spare shampoo/conditioner/etc. for unexpected guests. (When we have planned guests, I do a little basket of things which I put in their room, but due to weather we do occasionally have people stay overnight unexpectedly, so I'd like to have some stuff stashed where I could point them to it easily.)

Between everyone who is living in the house at the moment, we do have quite a little pharmacy (my mother has cancer and is staying with us while my parents figure out how to make their house more accessible for her) but none of that is ever in the bathroom. Everyone keeps their medications in their own rooms, and general-purpose stuff like aspirin and so on is in a small first aid box in the linen cabinet, on a shelf out of reach of the resident kiddo. (He is old enough to know not to mess with such things, so it's not locked away, it's just not easy for him to get.)

Prayers for your mother, PirateFoxy. I'm sure you're making her as comfortable as possible.

PirateFoxy - Unless I misunderstood this poll, the medicine cabinet in question is not in a stipulated 'guest space' but in a place where one would expect to find the accoutrements of the host family i.e. the family bathroom. In a home where there is space for a guest bedroom and/ or bath I think it is understood that everything therein is planned and provided for the comfort of the guest and therefore completely at their disposal. To censure someone for using what has been provided for them is nonsensical and not what this poll is about.
This poll is about intrusive conduct into the personal space of others without invitation regardless the reason.

This is hilarious! I don't have a medicine cabinet in my bathroom. Medicine is stored in the kitchen, and nearly all of it is for the dog. My parents had one when I was growing up where my dad kept his shaving gear and other guy stuff, but it would never occur to me to look in someone else's. If I did, it would serve me right to find sex toys, birth control items, Preparation H, or other TMI. I've never known anyone to keep spare TP in a medicine cabinet. If I didn't find that in an obvious place, or if I needed something else and couldn't leave the bathroom, I'd holler. (Not necessarily "where's the TP" but maybe "Gwen, can you come here a second?")

Reminds me of Sienfield episode, where he found fungal medicine in his girlfriend's cabinet and broke up with her because of that. Later it turned out it was her cat's medicine :-)... Just saying,- watch out for pet's medicine in those cabinets :-D

I don't even look in my medicine cabinet.

Nope! And You're actually not supposed to keep medicine in the bathroom anyway because the humidity of when one bathes ruins it, so I don't keep any in my bathroom so no one finds anything in there even if they looked

Because I've never peaked in anyone's medicine cabinets I always assumed everyone kept daily toiletries & make-up in the master bath medicine cabinets and medications/first-aid type items in a spare bathroom's medicine cabinet. Of course, during parties I always add an odd little item or funny note in the cabinets too. Amazing how many guests come out with sheepish grins (after finding a note admonishing them or saying they have been caught) or questions on why you have .... in your medicine cabinet.

@ all the people who have mentioned being more selective in the people we invite into our homes...some times those sneaky peakies run in your family. a random visit from a friend out with another (of their) friends pops by for a quick hello or last minute invite, entertaining for business, and last but not least as long as I have a home I would hope to be gracious enough to never to turn anyone away.

@Mark Bischak...are you afraid what you might find or is it by design?

if its in a guest bathroom then they shouldn't have anything to hide.

Now see I disagree with the above comment very much. It is not a matter of having anything to hide. I don't have anything to hide in any of our bathrooms or closets or drawers, cabinets or cupboards, but it is NOT the business of people who do not live in the house what is in any of those places anyway. Why would anyone think they had the right to go through another persons belongings, whether in a bathroom a laundry room or even a garage? If something is in plain sight, then it is meant for whomever to see or if you need a roll of tp, then look in the most logical place for it. But, if you need a Band-Aid or an Aleve or ? then it is common courtesy to ask the homeowner before you take it upon yourself to start rifling through someone else's belongings, because then you are just a snoop, plain & simple.

I did once. Had a friend swear she was going to fill her medicine cabinet with ping pong balls and my curiosity took over. She didn't do it but I made sure to put a ping pong ball in it the next time I was over.

Invasion of privacy..plus I was visiting someone's brand new home..opened the vanity cabinet door in the restroom..1000 roaches..couldn't get out of that bathroom fast enough..and I never opened a cabinet door at someone home again..I have never had a roach problem in my home..I might and a big might see one roach a year without ever exterminating

Definitely not, that would be intrusive.

Not interested in what other folks do or don't have in their bath cabinets. I don't have medicine cabinets in my bathrooms and the closets are open as well. Meds are kept in the master bathroom, away from little hands.

i've never even considered doing it....what a strange idea.

no

It's like keeping your hand out of the cookie jar.

pill bottles would make less cleanup and the maje the loudest noise. i have an rv and when i travel things get shuffled in the cabinet so i experience the stuff falling effect after a journey

I don't for my own kicks...but I am a real estate agent and do open houses..I tell my clients to remove all prescription drugs from their cabinets...but a always follow up to make sure they did. I once had someone targeting opens to get the meds and did come into mine...so I do it just incase

There was a funny episode on Seinfeld on this issue once! He broke up with his girlfriend because of what he found.

I don't but I found out that my guests have done this! It made me feel very differently about that "friend" ! She told another friend that I was taking birth control pills, so I didn't want more children., when we had never discussed this.