post off: how do you store your toothbrushes?
Last week The New York Times House & Home section had funny story called Brushes to Set the Teeth on Edge. It was about how ridiculous it is that toothbrush handles have become so wide and unruly, while the holes in toothbrushes holders have remained the same. Now they’re all too small! This has caused quite a quandary among the design set: What to do with toothbrushes? Place them in a cup (they can get yicky on the bottom)? Balance them on the top of the holder? The Times offered up a few solutions — including this using this nifty thing from Umbra: the Grassy organizer. Above, Angela M. has some suction cup holders that do the trick, albeit, not so beautifully. Perhaps you have a better solution? How are toothbrushes stored in your house? Send in photos and we’ll post them!
April 24th, 2008 at 6:12 am
I have a holder that I picked up at the Container Store because I was having exactly that problem - it’s great, though, because instead of four holes in the top, it has a wide, open X on the top. You can stick four toothbrushes in it and they fall into the arms of the X, but there’s no problem with the handles being too wide.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:20 am
The Grassy organizer would also get yicky on the bottom.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Our apartment also has the tiny built-in cupholder/toothbrush holder, and a soap dish. Our toothbrushes don’t fit in their designated holder, so it holds a tiny clock; the soapdish holds my contact case. I recently moved the toothbrushes from a cup-shaped holder (Target) on the edge of the counter (it had big-enough holes) to the inside of the medicine cabinet after the clutter on the counter drove me crazy (and I didn’t like the idea of the brushes being out there next to the toilet in our small bathroom). The brushes are now held on the wall of the medicine cabinet, each perched atop a pair of refridgerator magnet clips (the old-fashioned metal ones that are 4/$1.50). They don’t look great, but they’re clean and out of the way.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:58 am
My husband and I both have electric Sonicare toothbrushes that live in their chargers, and after suffering through them both taking up our (tiny) sink counter space I finally managed to wrangle them both into a cabinet mounted to the wall above our toilet. The cabinet has doors so it’s greatly reduced the visual clutter in the space and now the toothbrushes aren’t out in the open gathering icky bathroom bacteria.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I saw the grassy organizer and thought “so cute, gonna go get one” and then immediately thought the same thing as Joan: it’s also gonna get icky and will be harder to clean. We use glass juice cups. They go into the dishwasher periodically to make sure that the icky stuff doesn’t collect.
I just wish toothbrushes came in more sophisticated colors. Why not olive green, maroon or amber? I always get stuck with hot pink and neon green. I know there are fancy toothbrushes and designer toothbrushes I could seek out, but I’d love to just walk into Target or Costco and pick up something that looks more, well, adult.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:18 am
its not just the toothbrush holders! In my 1920s home the toilet paper holder is inset ceramic and the first few rotations of any roll are tight.
There are also recessed cubbies one for soap (ridges and angled for drainage) and a flat one. forget about fitting in liquid soap and so I had used these to hold floss and toothpaste but Toms of Maine doesn’t seem to make the neat squeeze any longer and any other brand is too tall. I suffer daily. Now I just leave my recently discovered Sea Wees in there they really compliment the color scheme.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:09 am
I had that problem like the photo for years — those gorgeous old built-ins, and they fit NOTHING. Even the smaller profile toothbrushes are too large for them. Lament…
Our current house didn’t have any of the built-ins. We were using a variety of kitchen mugs (when I’d get bored, I’d switch it out) and that made it easy to clean — just run it through the dishwasher. But we recently picked up one of these guys from Ikea and I have to admit — it looks a lot better!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50075564
Of course, you wouldn’t be able to fit anything with a super-wide handle in it still. I used to swear by the Radius toothbrush (http://www.radiustoothbrush.com/) and one day I just thought to myself, “Why am I paying $10 for a toothbrush again??” They are so unwieldy they enclose a holder clip when you buy one.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
hey, we use the suction cups like in your photo.
we use the koziol cutie friendy ones.
red for dad, orange for mom, hot pink for baby
April 25th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I keep mine in the cabinet, with a closed door. I am freaked out by the whole “toilet flushing=stuff floating around in the air” thing. It’s now a rule in my house that the seat must be put down before flushing. Ugh.
Laila, check out these toothbrushes:
http://www.almandersalley.com/designertoothbrushes.html
April 28th, 2008 at 8:20 am
I just saw the Preserve toothbrushes at Trader Joe’s this weekend, and the first thing I thought of when I saw them was this post! I think their slim profile would allow them to fit in the old-style holders, and best of all, the handles are 100% recycled, at least 25% from yogurt cups! When you’re done with them, send them to the company in the enclosed reply envelope, and they’ll be recycled again into plastic lumber products like park benches. The packaging also doubles as a carrying case. How awesome are they?
You can get a six-pack of them on Amazon for $16 — not bad!
April 29th, 2008 at 5:01 am
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