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A cold bathroom in January can ruin a perfectly good shower. You step out, the tile is freezing, and the towel on the rack is the same temperature as everything else in the room. A towel warmer is a small fix for that exact two minutes, and the Keenray CL1 is the one that keeps coming up when people go looking. This one’s aimed at anyone in a cold house who wants the spa version of a shower without renovating anything to get it.
One thing before anything else. I haven’t tested this warmer in my own bathroom, so nothing below comes from hands-on use at my house. It comes from Keenray’s listing and specs, and from patterns in the owner reviews posted on that listing. Where owners disagree with the listing, I’ll tell you that instead.
The quick verdict
The CL1 is a 20L bucket that warms two oversized towels in about 6 minutes, and it’s built for that one job. Bob Vila’s tested towel warmer roundup named the Keenray Bucket its Best Overall pick. Owners on Amazon rate it 4.5 stars across 6,359 ratings, and more than 1,000 people bought one in the past month.
| Capacity | 20L, up to two 40″ x 70″ towels |
| Heat-up time | About 6 minutes for two towels |
| Timer | Runs up to 60 minutes, then shuts off on its own |
| Rating | 4.5 stars from 6,359 ratings |
| Seller | ZMeikeUS, ships from Amazon |
That rating count matters more than the number of stars does. A 4.5 average built on a few dozen early reviews can mean almost anything, while 6,359 ratings is a big pool for a niche bathroom appliance, and it has had plenty of time to fill up with unhappy people if the thing didn’t work. It reads as a settled score, and the sales pace backs it up.
What the CL1 is
The CL1 is a tall bucket with a lid, closer in spirit to a small laundry hamper than to a kitchen appliance. You put the towels in dry, close the lid, and press the single button on the front. There’s no app to pair and no temperature dial to fiddle with, which I count in its favor.
Keenray says two towels heat through in about 6 minutes. A cycle can run up to 60 minutes, and then the warmer shuts itself off, so it never sits there heating a forgotten load all afternoon. There’s an aromatherapy tray built into the lid if you want scented towels. A 21L version also shows up on the same listing, but this review covers the 20L, and the 20L is the size behind the rating count above.
What fits inside
The headline figure is two 40″ x 70″ towels, and those are full bath sheets, the kind that wrap around an adult with fabric to spare. An everyday load is one bath sheet with a robe dropped in on top of it. Pajamas fit without any argument at all, and a folded throw blanket works as long as it isn’t too bulky.
The catch is parking the thing. The CL1 is a countertop appliance with a cord, and it has to live within reach of an outlet and the tub, permanently. If your bathroom counter is already crowded with hair tools and toothbrush charging cables, get the tape measure out before you order, because the footprint is the one part of this purchase you can’t change later.
How warm it gets
Keenray’s listing promises even warmth with no cold spots, and the broad run of owner reviews agrees that towels come out properly warm. The 6-minute figure is for a standard load, and for ordinary bath towels it seems to hold up.
The complaint that shows up again and again comes from owners with thick bath sheets. A heavy towel folded into the bucket can come out with a cooler middle, and those owners say thick loads need a longer run, closer to the full cycle, to heat all the way through. Loading loosely helps, and two heavy towels packed in tight is the worst arrangement you can give it. It also helps to put the towel you plan to grab first on top of the pile, since the top of the load is the part you’ll touch before the rest has had a chance to cool on the counter.
Warmth fades once the towel is out in a cold room, which is true of every warmer ever made. The routine that works is starting the cycle when you start the shower, so the towel is at its warmest the moment you reach for it.
What it doesn’t do
Put a damp towel in the CL1 and it comes out warm and still damp. The bucket heats. It has no fan and no airflow, so a towel that went in wet stays wet, just hotter, and it won’t freshen up a towel that’s overdue for the wash either.
If drying is your actual problem, the appliance you want is a heated rack. A wall mounted towel warmer holds towels spread out in the open air, which is what gets them dry between showers, and it warms them along the way. The CL1 and a rack solve two different problems that happen to involve the same towel.
Who should buy it, and who should skip it
This makes sense in a cold house with a cold bathroom, where a warm towel changes the worst two minutes of the morning. It arguably makes even more sense for baths. A shower is over when it’s over, but a bath ends with you standing around wet while the water drains, and a warm robe waiting in the bucket covers exactly that gap. Keenray built the capacity with robes in mind, and that’s the use I’d put first. It’s also an easy gift, the kind of thing almost nobody buys for themselves.
The case against it is mostly about the bathroom it would live in. If there’s no free outlet near the tub and nowhere for it to stand, it ends up in a cupboard, and a warmer that lives in a cupboard doesn’t get used. A five-person household sharing one bathroom will also outrun it, because two towels per cycle runs out fast and somebody ends up waiting or going without.
And then there’s simple taste. If you like your showers cold and your towels colder, this solves a problem you don’t have. The same goes if you’d use it twice in January and forget it exists by March, because a single-purpose appliance has to earn its counter space every week, all winter, to be worth owning.
Price and gift value
Prices on this listing move around, so check the current price before you buy anything. What I can tell you is where it sits: it’s a single-purpose appliance, and it’s priced like one, well below what a renovation or a built-in setup would cost you. If it’s a Christmas gift on your list, I’d order it when you see a price you’re happy with instead of leaving it to the last week of December, when the popular colours sell through. If the warmth budget would do more good in the bedroom at your place, my best heated blankets guide is the other direction I’d spend it.
Common questions
Does the Keenray CL1 dry towels?
No. It heats dry towels, and a damp towel comes out warm and damp. Drying needs air moving over spread-out fabric, and that’s a heated rack’s job.
How long does the warmer run?
A cycle runs up to 60 minutes, then it shuts off by itself. Two towels are warm in about 6 minutes, so most loads won’t need anywhere near the full hour.
Is it safe to leave plugged in?
It turns itself off at the end of every cycle, so it isn’t sitting there heating unattended all day. Beyond that, follow the placement guidance in the manual, the same as any countertop appliance.
What size towels fit?
Up to two 40″ x 70″ oversized bath sheets. A smaller load leaves room to add a robe or a set of pajamas on top.
Should I get the 20L or the 21L?
The CL1 reviewed here is the 20L, and it already swallows two bath sheets. The 21L on the same listing is there if you want a little more room for blankets.
My verdict
If a warm towel would improve your mornings, the CL1 is an easy yes from me, with the drying limitation understood before you spend anything. If your towels are usually damp, put the money toward a heated rack instead. Everyone else in a cold house gets what the listing promises: two towels, warm in about 6 minutes, from one button and a bucket that minds itself.
Check the Keenray CL1 on Amazon for the current price.
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