Brrrrr….it’s getting cold out there. If your central heater is keeping the edge off, odds are your feet and bare skin are still very aware of the change in seasons when you step onto cold flooring - or out of a steamy shower - into a “not quite warm enough” bathroom.

Fortunately, we have 5 warming solutions for your Chicago bathroom remodel that come in handy all year-round.

5 Ideas to Better Heat Your Chicago Bathroom Design

Here are our favorite high-tech methods for heating up a bathroom that's never quite warm enough...

1) Radiant heating for floorboards and towel racks

Radiant heating is a energy-saving way to up the warming factor – and add comfort to boot. We typically work with Runtal – a world leader in radiant heating mechanisms. Radiant baseboard and wall panel heating is a very effective at heating a single room – and to take the edge off a cold floor – for those who aren’t interested in increasing the thermostat for the whole house.

2) Heated flooring

We can’t help but play favorites on this one. If you’re planning a full-scale bathroom remodel we say go all-out and add heated flooring to the list of must-haves. Tile and other hard-surface flooring options are cold no matter what season it is, so heated floors are an amazing addition for late night trips to the bathroom, while standing at the vanity during the morning or evening routine and when stepping out of a hot shower/bath. Heated floors can also be used to keep the bathroom at slightly-warmer temperatures than the rest of the house during colder months.

3) Heated bath fans and vents

Remember the bold, ticking, red heat lamp in bathrooms of yore? Those fan/vent-based heating lamps went by the wayside as central heating became more efficient. Now, however, bathroom fixture manufacturers have used technology to invent more efficient heater/fan/vent combos. Turn it on when you start the water and the bathroom temp will increase within minutes.

4) Heated toe kicks

Your custom or semi-custom cabinetry can come equipped with heated toe kicks. Again, because the floors tend to be the coldest part of the bathroom – and cold feet make for shivering bodies – these low profile heaters can do wonders for heating up the bathroom and the top of the bathroom floors. Today’s models are quiet and unobtrusive, but they efficiently raise the temperature of your bathroom in a manner of minutes.

5) Towel warmers

When we were kids, we used to put our towels in the dryer and then yell for a sibling or parent to bring them to us when we were ready to emerge. This was a waste of energy, depended on your family’s good graces and certainly didn’t uphold the coveted bathroom privacy we prefer. Thankfully, today’s homeowners benefit from radiant heat-based towel warmers or towers.

Towel warmers are another luxury bathroom feature that make all the difference in preserving your nicely warmed core temperature when you – or the kids – emerge from a bath or shower. Put simply: they’re heaven.

Ready to design a Chicago bathroom remodeling project that includes all the right comfort features? Schedule a consultation with Kitchens & Baths Unlimited.