My 2 cents: If you use bar soap, you need a soap holder. We installed one in our brand new modern open shower.

For what could be a kid's bathroom, or a bath that infants/toddlers would be bathed in, it seems that I always install a soap dish in the wall. It's usually one with a handle that can be used to hang a wash cloth off of.

Not this one exactly, but it's the first hit I got:

In a non-kid bathroom, even if it's a master bath or a guest bath that has a tub with shower surround, the adults in the house usually opt for a niche low on the wall versus a soap dish. The niche usually being wider or longer versus a pocket niche for just soap.

If they do want a soap dish, they usually go for something a little fancier looking.

If you want a soap dish, put in a soap dish. No worries. They are practical. If you get the right one, it's easy to clean, or even self-cleaning. Some of the more stylized ones can collect soap scum, hold water, and they can be delicate.

So choose one that fits your needs. It sounds obvious, but too many people design for what they think their neighbors will think.

You shouldn't be so paranoid about things looking dated that you give up functionality, or change your hygiene habits. Everything will look dated in 10 years, that's the cycle of design. If you use soap, include something to hold it. That could be a soap dish, a niche, a basket, whatever. No one's going to not buy your house in 10 years because it has a soapdish. :-)

Soap users unite!

Is it a shower tub combo?
I love my bar soap. As far as I'm concerned a soap dish will only be outdated when bar soap no longer exists. Sure niches look pretty...until they're filled with ugly bottles and mushy soap. Get what works for you.

Coolbeans can you please post the link to your modern bathroom reveal? I'd like to see how you installed the soap dish in your shower. Thanks.

This post was edited by island on Tue, Apr 9, 13 at 13:12

Yes, soap dishes installed in tile walls are outdated.

Install a tile nook or a some sort of stainless basket to hold the soap while you're using it.

Hey Folks,

That was me that mentioned the soap dish being dated. It was tongue in cheek, I really am not a slave to what is and what isn't dated! LOL But, in my defense, I was referring to the chrome soap dish recessed into the bath wall directly in line of fire of the shower head, where in one kid's long hot shower, the entire bar of soap can disintegrate! You know, the one that matches the toilet roll holder! (I still have said TR holder in the last remaining non-renoed BR)

I actually was voicing one of my pet peeves, and it was more about the location of said soap dish. Though, really, if I was spending thousands of dollars on a new BR I would never put one of those metal recessed soap dishes in there, regardless of how many bars of soap I may use!

I personally have hung shower baskets over the shower head, I thought that's where everybody put them! There's a super duper model on sale right now in my Costco! But, my Basement Br has a 4 foot long shelf, and I will never go back... my new Master BR will prob have 2 narrow but tall niches (ie 2 shelves) on shower head wall. (only interior wall in shower).

sloyd: "redoing the bathroom, and in one post someone mentions it may be outdated. If so where do you put the bar soap while taking a bath?"

Our home was built in 1917, and -- given the size of the bathtub in the upstairs bathroom, the bathtub has to have been part of the original construction (it is larger than any doorway in the house and larger than the window in the upstairs bathroom).

There is no soap dish embedded in the wall next to the bathtub. A built-in bench or shelf next to the bathtub also was omitted. In the 35 years that we have lived in this house, whenever I have taken a bath with a small plastic soap dish perched precariously on the rounded top edge of the bathtub, I have wondered to myself, "what on earth were they thinking when they designed this room?"

I think that, finally, I have an answer: in 1917 some no doubt well meaning friend of the original owner suggested that to put a soap dish next to the bathtub would make the room look outdated. I shall curse that anonymous friend to the day we vacate this house,

In 1917, they used stuff like this, or had one that hooked on the faucet.
{{gwi:1429828}}
{{gwi:1429829}}

In 35 years, you've really never seen these?

Island, not quite ready for our reveal. Maybe this weekend!