What is a Linen Cabinet & Why You Should Have One
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If you’ve clicked onto this article, you either know what linen cabinets are and love them, or you have no clue the function they serve in the home. For readers from the former group, feel free to skip down to our best linen cabinet picks. For the latter, allow us to answer the question, what is a linen cabinet?
Linen cabinets are, in the most basic form, storage solutions for the home. They are mainly used in bathrooms, hallways and bedrooms as catch-alls, giving spare items a place to live when they’re not in use. These cabinets can be used to store:
- Spare towels
- Extra toiletries
- Toilet paper
- Bedding
- Anything else you need to keep in your bedroom or bathroom but don’t have room for or don’t want to sit exposed for everyone to see.
Some homes have linen closets built into the hallways between the bedrooms and the bathrooms. If you’re not so lucky, you’ll need to purchase a free-standing linen cabinet, like those in the list below. These narrow but tall cabinets fit in tight spaces but are more spacious than they look.
Read on to learn more about the best linen cabinets and to find the right one for your home.
1. Red Barrel Studio Northshire Linen Storage Tower
BEST OVERALL
The Red Barrel Studio Northshire Linen Storage Tower has pretty much everything you need in a linen closet and looks super stylish, too. For those reasons, it takes the top spot on our list. This mid-range cabinet boasts four shelves, one drawer and a glass door to allow you to see all the beautiful colors of your linen. What’s more, it’s built to be tip-over resistant, so you don’t have to stress about anyone accidentally knocking it down. However, this cabinet does require assembly on arrival, but past buyers rave about Red Barrel Studio’s customer service should you have any questions.
Image courtesy of Wayfair
2. Dynan Cabinet with Door
BEST BUDGET
We all know that IKEA has some of the best budget furniture on the market. And, while you won’t find anything called a “linen cabinet” in their catalogue, the Dynan Cabinet with Door is essentially the same thing. This small cabinet can be placed in the bedroom or the bathroom to hold towels, linens and other household essentials. One of the best features of the knee-high piece is that you can place another IKEA shelving unit on top to create more storage space if need be. For tight spaces, there’s probably not a better choice than the Dynan Cabinet from IKEA.
Image courtesy of IKEA
3. Andover Mills Ponte Linen Cabinet
BEST DARK FINISH
Because most linen cabinets are placed in the bathroom, they’re often some type of white or grey. Rarely do you find one that features a dark finish like this Andover Mills Ponte Linen Cabinet with its espresso finish. At just over a foot wide and more than five feet tall, this linen cabinet can fit in tight spaces but provides plenty of storage space. In fact, it boasts three exposed shelves as well as an additional shelf behind the door on the bottom half, which is ideal for holding extra shampoos, toilet paper and other personal items. And, as an added bonus, most reviewers say this cabinet is incredibly easy to assemble.
Image courtesy of Wayfair
4. Tyshawn Linen Tower
BEST FOR TIGHT SPACES
While many of the cabinets on this list can fit in tight spaces, the Tyshawn Linen Tower is only 12.25 inches across, making it one of the thinnest cabinets. But what it lacks in width it makes up for in height and capacity. Two doors conceal one shelf each, and there is an additional, exposed shelf in the middle for display of your most beautiful bathroom products or linens. The shaker-style doors and their curved, metal handles add a touch of class to what is a most functional piece of furniture.
Image courtesy of Wayfair
5. Sauder Peppercorn Linen Tower
BEST DISPLAY
For a more manicured linen cabinet, choose one with an X-shaped display, like the Sauder Peppercorn Linen Tower. These exposed displays are designed to hold rolled-up towels that match the color scheme of your bathroom in order to add to the design. But, in addition to winning you style points, this linen cabinet is also functional. The louvre-detail door, which can open to the left or right, hides an adjustable shelf, and two additional, exposed shelves provide plenty of storage space. Plus, the soft white finish blends into most bathroom spaces.
Image courtesy of Amazon
6. RiverRidge Ashland Collection Floor Cabinet
BEST DRAWERS
Sometimes shelves just don’t cut it. If you’re in need of drawers, the RiverRidge Ashland Collection Floor Cabinet is a good choice. It sports three drawers and one cubby along the left side of the cabinet along with two additional, adjustable shelves hidden behind a door on the right. Available in both white and grey, this floor cabinet matches the four other RiverRidge Ashland Collection bathroom pieces, so you can restyle your entire bathroom or match this cabinet to your existing decor.
Image courtesy of Amazon
7. Beachcrest Home Ardina Linen Cabinet
MOST UNIQUE
Most of the linen cabinets on this list are fairly uniform in design. They’re either white, grey or grown and boast a combination of shelves and doors. However, the Beachcrest Home Ardina Linen Cabinet has a more unique design. The blue cabinet holds four woven seagrass baskets for a more whimsical look. It also boasts a built-in drawer at the top of the cabinet. While this piece was created as a linen cabinet, it could also be used to hold toys in a playroom, knick-knacks in a living room or supplies in your home office.
Image courtesy of Wayfair
8. Home Decorators Collection Hampton Harbor Cabinet
MOST STYLISH
The Home Decorators Collection Hampton Harbor Tall Cabinet was designed to hold all of your bathroom necessities. At the top, it features two magnetic glass doors which conceal one adjustable shelf. This area is ideal for storing candles, fancy soaps and color-coordinated towels. Just below the glass doors, you’ll find a removable drawer for smaller bathroom toiletries. There are also two solid doors at the bottom hiding two adjustable shelves where you can keep your towels or cleaning supplies. In addition to white, this cabinet comes in a variety of colors with chrome-finished pulls and handles, making it one of the most stylish pieces on our list.
Image courtesy of The Home Depot
9. Romulus Free-Standing Linen Cabinet
MOST CONCEALED
Perhaps your towels or other linen doesn’t match the color scheme of your home. If that’s the case, you certainly don’t want the contents of your linen cabinet to be constantly exposed. Therefore, you need something akin to the Romulus Free-Standing Linen Cabinet, which boasts four spacious shelves hidden behind two doors. The neutral white finish is complemented by molding and decorative slats on the doors to create a piece that will look lovely in most bathrooms yet won’t take up a lot of space.
Image courtesy of Wayfair
10. Three Posts Crenshaw Free-Standing Linen Cabinet
BEST SPLURGE
Linen cabinets aren’t just useful in bathrooms, and that’s exactly what the Three Posts Crenshaw Free-Standing Linen Cabinet proves. This versatile piece of furniture wouldn’t look out of place in the bedroom, the kitchen or your home office. It boasts two adjustable, exposed upper shelves, two drawers and a single-door cabinet for a more concealed storage area. The functionality of the cabinet is married with style thanks to its creamy finish and louvered accents. While this linen cabinet will cost you more than the others on this list, it is a quality piece of furniture made from real wood.
Image courtesy of Wayfair