You can definitely have a towel bar below a light switch. Measure your towels folded so that you know how much height you need up from the floor. The last thing you'll want is towels dragging on the floor when hung up. I measured mine on my towel bar and they hang down about 28".

Things I'd definitely do + one possibility:

- Switch from an inswing shower door to a sliding model. This'll allow you to hang one towel on the door. Modern sliding doors only have an "edge" on one side, making them easier to clean than the old 70s models.

- Switch from a pocket door (never a good idea in a bathroom) to an inswing door angled towards the sink, then place one (even two) towel bars on the back of the door.

- You could hang one towel on the wall above the toilet, but that's not ideal: It's not easy to reach from the shower door.

- How wide is that vanity? Can it adequately support duplicate sinks and still allow you drawer space? In a small bathroom with no other cabinet space, don't cheat yourself out of necessary storage. Make a list of the things you'll need to store in a bathroom ... it gets pretty long.

- Take the vanity all the way to the two walls. As presented, that small space on each end will be difficult to clean, and -- again -- those few inches of storage space will be valuable.

- Finally, the possibility: What if you put the light switches outside the bathroom door? Why not? Turning the lights on/off as you enter would become a habit.

You’ll also have the pocket door there. We did have two double bars on a wall with a pocket door, but some might have issues with that. I’m sure there’s a good reason for the pocket door, but if it can swing, it can have towel bars (great for bath towels.)

These are all super helpful comments. I know there was a reason at one time for the pocket doo but I'm kind of asking myself again if has to be that way if it can swing in versus out.... But love all the feedback - so good to get some ideas and perspectives.

There are glass shower door handles that are wide enough to hang towels on if you really need to. Mrs. Pete gave you great options.

We have a very similar layout except that we have a single sink, so the vanity doesn't extend the full length of that wall. We put the towel bar where your second sink is and it's pretty perfect there--though our shower door is flipped from where yours is so you open the door and the towel is hanging right in front of you. I think you could put the switch above a towel bar on the wall by the door--or consider how much space is on the shower side of the door, which is where we put our light switch. If you do go with the wall to the left of the door, you may also want to do hooks vs. a bar, and situate the switch based on that.

I'll also add that code where we live requires the shower door to open out. (Can also open inward as long as it doesn't block access to the controls, but must swing out.) I thought it would bother me but I've actually gotten used to it and now like it a lot. Our glass company also gave a hard no to towel bars on a glass door the width of ours (27"), though I do see people do that all the time here. YMMV based on your installer, though.

Thanks for all the comments. I did clarify the rationale for the pocket door - it was so it wouldn't swing into the glass shower door (or the vanity). I can see that it's harder to have one of those door stopper things in this configuration. The architect also mentioned that a private en suite like this often "has the door left open" though not totally sure about that... Hopefully not while using the toilet...!

You could make the part of the shower below where the door is a pony wall and put a towel bar there. Also helps the shower not be such a “fishbowl” and you can put a niche there so the shampoo, etc doesn’t clutter up the shower view.

Trying to make sure I understand the suggestion... the "North" wall of the shower in the picture above is a knee wall already. You're suggesting making the space where it shows the shower glass door (the top of the "west" wall), also a knee wall and leaving just a glass door?

In an already small bath will folding and hanging a big towel be a little tight?…you may also have a second person on site..(2 sinks)…hooks are so much easier … our big towels have a loop in the center just for this…so much easier

Loop in center of edge of towel..

Similar issues in my 2020 master bath which took a lot of towel bar planning:
Make vanity from wall to wall as suggested above, every inch, always need the extrr counter top, storage and drawers between sinks.
Yes, door left open often to just use sinks, and to air the bath out. Someone may be standing at a sink when you want to use the other one etc. Therefore have door swing towards the shower wall not the sink wall so no crashing into.
Which leads to easy access for switches above a small towel bar for hand and wash cloths. Switch may be higher than usual but can’t be helped and get used to it. One shorter towel bar above each sink on the wall.
Larger towels: one on shower door (the stationary glass closest to door), easy reach, one or 2 bars on back of door. I actually put 2 double hooks on back of door. When door open the towels hidden and/or useful for robes etc. Less messy look. In addition with towels on back of door also easy reach from shower. Shower door still opens out, furthest end from door, but bath door closed when using shower, it works. I did put a door stopper on the lower door hinge so not hit the glass doors. I have extra wide door that reaches past the shower door when open. All things thought out for ADA and ease as well as safety of use. Reaching with wet feet is a safety issue.
All the above makes the swinging door an asset not a hindrance.
I would suggest a hand held shower wand, I ended up only using that, as well as a stationaryy one. When Turing the water on you just push the direction of the hand one towards the wall. No clod water on you to start.

The swing out shower door is a safety factor. If someone falls in shower they could block a swing in only door. Don’t forget to have carpenter do extra blocking behind the shower walls for safety bars, for now or later. I highly recommend a horizontal one in back of shower now, can hang wash clothes on it. A vertical one at shower entrance is also a good safety practice. They make very nice ones now that look just like towel bars but bigger.

What are the dimensions of your bathroom.

What is the width and length of your shower.

Is your window tall (is the bottom of the window trim lower than the the height of the countertop?)

We had pocket doors in 2 bathrooms in a home we built and lived in for for 13 years. We had no issuess and chose to have them again in 2 bathrooms when we buit a second time. We love them

@Karenseb the bath is 8' 1-7/8" wide and 7' 9-7/8". The shower will be 36" wide and a little over 48" long. And the window is a regular window (the bottom of the window trim is lower than the countertop)

Looking at the bath, i can see the value of the pocket door from a space perspective. One other thing I've thought about is putting an extra towel bar on the back of the knee wall of the shower (the top of the shower in the floorplan above). It's supposed to be about 40" tall and 36" wide. Could put a towel bar there and the tp holder on the other side/wall with the window.

One other thought is to combine your fan and overhead light controls on a single switch, which would reduce the space the switches take. (We have that due to space constraints, and I love it.) I'd also consider whether you really need the shower light (unless that is actually a heater...?)--our room is nearly the same size (7' x 7'6") with a 36" x 42" shower and we just have a single overhead light in the center, which is plenty of light for the shower. Same layout as yours so during the day, it also gets light from the window through the glass over the pony wall. That could potentially take you down to a single switch and leave room for towel hooks next to it. But I think my top choice would be to make the end of the shower next to the door a pony wall as well so that you only have full height glass at the door--then you can put hooks on that wall and have it in the perfect place just outside the door when you step out of the shower.

@Heidi. On the pony wall. Something like this on the same wall as the glass door. https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/gorgeous-getaway-transitional-bathroom-phoenix-phvw-vp~63866745

Can you do light switches behind a pocket door?

If you can, I would move the shower door south to make it easier to turn on the shower, unless you do a sliding door with a built in towel bar.

Then do a pony wall on the front and put your towel bar there.

If you can not put light switches behind a pocket door, you could reverse the toilet and shower, do a pony wall, then a hinged door and then a full wall on the south side of the shower with the shower head and controls.

It is usually best to hang a shower door from a wall.

Notes.

I don't think you have enough electrical outlets. Count up the items you have to plug in these days.

Additionally, not providing an electrical outlet next to the toilet for a future bidet is shortsighted.

@Karenseb There will actually be a double wall where the pocket door is for the purpose of putting the switches there. As for rearranging, the toilet needs to stay in the same line that it is, since it will be connecting to the main pipes. You could flip the whole layout around (toilet on the left and vanity on the right) but I figured it always feels kinda weird to have the toilet right in front of the window, even if there's a shade there. @artemis78 Agree about trying to reduce the number of switches -I prefer the fan on a separate one, but I don't think there is any need to separate out the shower vs main recessed lights. Also, your comment reminded me that they make Leviton/Decora switches with two controls vs one, which would be great to have the lights and fan controlled separately but on the same switch plate

There are so many great ideas here.... The pony wall idea is really clever, though am mindful it breaks up the openness of the glass. But definitely an interesting idea. I've also thought about trying a double towel bar on the wall to the left of the door (below the switches). I also came across another idea for a "swivel towel bar" that you could potentially put in the corner near the window.

This is the room all ripped apart....

We used a Panasonic switch for the fan and light to have the two use the same switch plate, which I especially like because the fan button starts a 30-minute timer. (The light button below it is just on/off.) Our particular model also has a humidity sensor because our local code requires it, but they make the same switch with just the two stacked controls.

I do agree on moving the outlet next to the toilet to be behind it so that it could potentially be used for a bidet but still be accessible for things like vacuums. Ours is in that top corner to the left of the toilet and works well for those uses. I think two outlets is fine for the sinks, though. We only have one outlet for a single sink and find that to be plenty for a master bath. The one thing I wish we had considered was also building one into the recessed medicine cabinet to be able to have electric toothbrushes charge inside the cabinet instead of sitting out on the counter, but that isn't a huge deal since they only get charged once a month or so.