I kind of gave up looking for pretty ones and put a long one on the wall below the niche (I chose the least clunky I could find and hang a nice bath mat on it), but I was pretty thrilled to find this. It's great quality and very sturdy:

grab bar shampoo shelf

I bought some really nice matching dispensers for shampoo, conditioner and body wash from Anthropologie to set on it and you'd never know it was a grab bar. I put it on the end wall opposite the shower head. eta: I found a pic

Look for grab bars that have hidden fasteners. Seeing the screws that hold them to the wall looks cheap, and contributes to that institutional look. They have to have " grip " to do the job so sleek Chrome with no texture on the part you would grab in a slip, won't help you.

Wow. I've only seen one that has grippers in the other side. Do you mean I should look for plastic or rubber ? Shower rile is marble look mostly white. Interesting. Im just shocked because he's left it all to me and likes everything I selected but man these grab bars really touched a nerve on him

No I meant that if it's sleek chrome all the way around it doesn't do you any good. There has to be texture on the part you would grab in a fall - think of soapy hands trying to get friction for a grip on chrome. After all, the purpose is safety. I understand not wanting to look institutional. You can also opt not to install them now - if the blocking is in, they can be added later.

Also - you're faucets are Moen I think - there may be grab bars that match.

When I was searching, I thought Kohler had the best looking bars. The wall attachments are much less industrial looking and the bars themselves are not so clunky. Kohler

I have Kohler Purist Grab bars and Towel Bars and they are nice.

https://www.kohler.com/en/products/kohler-collections/purist-collection/shop-purist-collection?Product_Category=Bathroom%20Accessories

Thanks for your suggestions. The good news is yes the walls are blocked and contractor said it is not a time issue. I'll look a bit more and maybe just add down the road.

As much as I love the look of chrome for lighting and faucets, the grab bars are not very pretty looking.

Crisis averted for the moment so thanks for holding my hand.

Delta has some decorative ones and a hand shower on a slide bar that is also a grab bar.

Ferguson's has a good selection from several different brands.

I neglected to put grab bars in our showers, but we definitely have them in our tub areas.

I am so surprised by how much I like the grab bars we just installed. I don't think they look institutional at all. Kartners Grab bars 24" & 42" 8289424 and 8289442

I looked a ton. I live in Manhattan, with loads of bath showrooms where I was able to see so many in person. Kartner and Ginger were both good looking.

Most pics show a 12 inch bar, which is a terrible size. The longer the bar the more in proportion the ends look. For this reason we got a 24 instead of 18 inch vertical. We worked with an OT who does aging in place consulting. She said 42 is the correct size for our 5 foot wall. Again, counterintuitive bit the longer looks better and less nursing home like. Plus, the long one in the back is great for hang drying hand wash items.

I thought Delta, Moen, and Kohler all looked like nursing home bars.

I believe the comment below is in reference to a knurled surface, which is suppsed to make it antislip. I cant remember why the OT said not to use them, but I was thrilled to hear her say it!

We have the Delta grab/shower wand as previously pictured and just love it. The wand shower is in addition to the rainshower head.

Two years ago we had grab bars installed in our walk in shower.

My advice. Be sure that every piece and every screw is stainless steel. Ours are Kohler, brushed chrome. This happened after about 18 months. It cleans up with scrubbing with CLR but it should not happen.

All very helpful advice and thank you for sharing your photos. I personally don't think they're so bad, but boy DH sure thought so. We are revisiting some of the ones, and even locations of where and how to put them. He's come around to realizing we should have them . Our contractor has also been very helpful .

That's such a good point about the stainless screws. That would really bother me! thank you Maddie for your picture worth a thousand words, and yours too Kendrah.

Maybe your DH was having an uncomfortable "Yikes, I'm no longer 20 years old!" moment, and took it out on the grab bar style decision. (Not that there's anything wrong with wanting an attractive style.)

Absolutely partim. I def think it was a bit of an overreaction, but I can't argue that they look chic.

:)

When you're flat in the bathroom and can't get up, you aren't thinking "Gee, I wish that grab bar was prettier". You're thinking "Gee, I wish that grab bar was closer". Just don't sacrifice function for esthetics. My DH installed a giant-a$$ grab bar just outside of our first floor bathtub before I came home from about 3 weeks in a rehab facility and I was really unhappy with his choice, but it's bolted to the studs in the wall just outside of the enclosure and there's a towel hook that hangs just above it - my large bathsheet is a good disguise. Easy to find when I have soap in my eyes, and the PT who came to evaluate our house when I got back home said "You could anchor a boat to that thing". But I contiune to use a shower seat in the tub itself...

My bathroom isn't finished yet, but I bought 2 of these for the back wall (tub/shower combo) - not doing any niches and thought it could pull triple duty, hold my soap and shampoo and save me from a fall if need be and give me some extra stability when getting up from a bath.

I did get a matching vertical bar for the side wall.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ELZQM6A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Mine is Moen and was installed 8 years ago. I have another for on the back wall that I foolishly didn’t install initially. Don’t be like me.

They'll be installed not to worry. Just working out the details.

Anne I think yours is one of the ones I have here- for the entry wall. It's one of the more attractive ones. :)

The Kohler Choreograph bars are very nice. I have them in our shower; although their primary use is to hold shampoo, etc., not function as a grab bar. The top side is 3.5" wide, so bottles sit very nicely on it; yet it is a grab bar as well.

Another vote for Kohler Choreograph bars. We have one in a tub/shower alcove.

https://www.kohler.com/en/products/bathroom-accessories/shop-bathroom-accessories/choreograph-36-shower-barre-97626?skuId=97626-SHP

We are revisiting some of the ones, and even locations of where and how to put them.

Just making sure that you are not judging where and how to put them as an aesthetic choice. Where to put them is a matter of need/usage and how high to position them should be based on both of your heights. Have you received guidance on placement? Don't just go by what your contractor says. There are very good youtube videos from occupational therapists.

It can be hard wrapping your mind around having these items and feeling old. But I still think 2 nice grab bars look better than the hardware store some people are using in tricked out showers these days! For example:

Powell Ohio Master Bath · More Info

I had a grab bar installed in my guest bathroom as we often have company of a “ certain “ age ! Better safe than worrying about whether it looks institutional.

Seagrass is absolutely correct. No matter what grab bar you choose, it has to be bolted to the studs. When I was 30 I somehow slipped and did a 180 in the shower landing on my bottom. It happened so fast there was no time to grab the bar. I used it to get up and put most of my weight on it. Had it pulled from the wall it would've been bad.

When my son was old enough to take baths by himself, (too afraid of the shower), he used a built-in soap dish with a handle, which was lower than the bar, to stand up. The whole thing came out of the tile and he fell back in the tub. He was okay thank goodness.

Yes absolutely we are aware that not just any bar can be installed any which way. When we had my FIL move in with us in our last house, he grabbed a towel bar to steady himself. He didn't get hurt but that was how we learned. We had the correct blocking done to install safety bars for him.

Since this is a remodel renovation, we had the safety bars factored in from the get go. When I say we are figuring out what bars where, ti's because we do have some options with shower entry etc. And yes, we are using the guidelines to determine.

You don’t need to be of a certain age to use a grab bar. Anyone can have an injury/surgery where balance is an issue or have a slip in the shower.

Thanks for this. I am going to put my foot down that we are doing the tub/shower this summer.

I also feel they should be mandatory in all hotel rooms and short-term rentals like Vrbo and AirBnB.

I agree. Someone could be pregnant, feeling sick, hungover etc!

Im late to this thread, but I used wave bars and they look nice. And yes, they are certified grab bars screwed into a stud.

I wish quartz manufacturers would make bars that match.

Oly, those look like towel bars. I wouldn't trust them to hold if I was falling.

I got grab bars in my master bath shower when I broke my leg. I couldn't even take a darn shower for 8 weeks, but when I could, no way would I risk a fall. I think mine are standard grade Kohler. I don't care if they make my shower look geriatric. Safety first, people. It's much more attractive than broken bones and concussions. Vertical bar is 17", horizontal is 25" (longer than it looks in photo). Oh, it holds my bath gel.

I kept meaning to take pix of the installed grab bars- so I just ran up to do that. Not the best photos but I think the placement is fine.

Thanks for the suggestion of Kohler as I found the Kohler Carlisle grab bars attractive and come in a good size selection. They may look like towel bars but are rated for 500 lbs weight for the horizontal one, and the vertical one is 300.

salonva, those are really nice looking grab bars.

Looks great, salonva!

We bought 2 grab bars when doing our remodel. The plan was to install them on the marble slab wall. The fabricator did not recommend doing that so we compromised and only installed one on the shower head wall. Probably not the best safety wise to not have another one in the shower, but there was nowhere to put it.

We bought them at Fergusons. They were surprisingly not expensive. I haven't returned the 2nd one. I figure I'll just use it when I do the upstairs hall bath (hopefully soon-ish).

I regret not putting grab bars in my bathroom when i had it remodeled. I made a couple geriatric-unfriendly mistakes. It was 15 years ago when i was more concerned with apperance than functionality.

The contractor did put the blocking in the wall so bars could be added later. Not sure how easy it would be to locate them.

Salonva, what is the length of your horizontal bar and the length of your shower? Trying to determine what length to use in a 60” shower.