Medicine Cabinet Shelves

[Lee DeRaud]

Warning: this may well be the stupidest question anyone will ask you this week.

Pretty much every medicine cabinet I've ever had came with glass shelves that were smooth on one side and sort of pebbled on the other. I just installed a new one in my master bath and, when I went to put the shelves in, it dawned on me that I had no idea which side went up. My gut says smooth-side-up, but the ones in the guest bath are smooth-side-down. (They may well have been that way since I bought the house in 1979.) And I cannot for the life of me remember which way the old ones were when I did the demolition a week ago.

Is this one of those meaningless pseudo-religious things like how toilet paper goes on the holder?

[Jim Becker]

The TP knows the answer to this question...it's the way you prefer it. Seriously, I don't actually think it matters.

[Lee Schierer]

I don't have that problem. LOML wanted glass shelves, when I made our medicine cabinet so a local glass supplier cut 1/4" plate glass to the size I needed and ground the edges to eliminate he sharp corners. Smooth side is always up no matter which way I put them in.

I would put the smooth side up as it would make them easier to clean.

[James Pallas]

Rough side up. To break surface tension of damp items from sticking to the shelf and causing someone to pull the shelf out with a bottle or something. Think chisel or plane blade on a water stone. We are woodworkers, so we know that.
Jim

[Jerome Stanek]

smooth side down. Wet items will slide on a smooth surface.

[Lee Schierer]

What do you guys store in your medicine cabinet that are damp or wet?

[James Pallas]

What do you guys store in your medicine cabinet that are damp or wet?

Everything in the cabinet gets damp unless you have super ventilation or the cabinet is sealed and doesn't get opened. The glass is the coolest place, just like mirrors, condensation will do it every time.
Jim

[Lee Schierer]

Despite having grand kids that take 30 minute showers, I've never had condensation inside the medicine cabinet.
BROOM4.JPG

[John K Jordan]

Despite having grand kids that take 30 minute showers, I've never had condensation inside the medicine cabinet.

My medicine cabinet is wood, raised panel doors, painted, I built it in 1970 and used it in three houses. I can't recall ever having an issue with moisture.

As for condensation, I wonder if it might be an issue for those who like the AC set to "arctic" in the summer. Otherwise, this is puzzling.

And yikes, 30 minute showers. We seven kids were raised with a rain-water cistern, conserving is ingrained. I suspect my mother would have turned off the hot water valve long before 30 minutes.

JKJ

[Robert Engel]

Smooth side up so you can clean them.

Its a bathroom, not a sauna.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I love that you asked this question. I have always pondered this. Okay- I mean not always as in constantly my whole life, but it's one of those little things that bugs me when I open the medicine cabinet. My personal take is that the textured side is actually very slippery because it's not frosted, but rather it's a "smooth bumpy" kind of texture. I find that things slide more on this side of the glass, and I prefer to have the smooth side up.

I believe this is one of those things that will forever be argued and no actual solution will be found. By the way, as for the toilet paper argument- someone shared the original patent image for toilet paper, and the drawing had it facing out. I decided to google it, and found that there were multiple drawings, and there was another patent drawing with the roll facing inwards, so it appears the original designer of toilet paper didn't mind which way you put it. :-)

toilet-paper-roll-patent-1891-white-bill-cannon.jpgtpmultiroll.jpg


Edit- I found the images and added them. Also- it's not that I care about the TP issue, but I have a friend that is really anal (no pun intended, but what a coincidence!) about it, and he posted the first pic, so I had to shut him down with the second pic.

[Lee DeRaud]

...so it appears the original designer of toilet paper didn't mind which way you put it. :-)

He probably didn't share his house with a cat.

[Lee DeRaud]

I've decided to put the shelves in the new cabinet smooth side up, and leave the ones in the guest bath smooth side down.

Because that's how I roll.

[Patrick Grady]

Maybe the texture is intended to make the shelves of glass show up better as a safety issue in which case I would vote smooth side up.