I Bought 10+ Bath Mats Before This $40 Find Changed My Life

When I moved into the teensiest apartment in Manhattan’s Upper East Side six years ago, I quickly realized that my bathroom — which intersects my living room couch by less than 6 inches — was going to be a tricky space. My landlord cleverly jammed in a full-size tub, but the tile floor in my bathroom is about 3 feet wide, at most.

I quickly found space-saving bathroom organizers, but what I struggled to source was a great bath mat. I wasn’t looking for cutesy, threadbare designs that are made for kids’ bathrooms, and yet I only had room for a fun-size rug. In my first year, I kept cycling through paper thin bath mats from Amazon that may have fit this minuscule space — but left soggy messes on my tiles for hours every day.

I was so desperate to upgrade my mat that I started sourcing thicker, woven pile rugs with great reviews, only to cut them with fabric scissors to fit my space. The horror! I did this about six or seven times during the first three years living in my apartment, cycling through cheaper buys. So imagine my delight when I uncovered the solution on a trip to the L.L. Bean flagship store in Maine: their Classic Cotton Bath Mat.

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of immersing yourself in the two-floor, 220,000-square-foot adventure that is L.L. Bean Home, book a trip stat. What you’ll find there, among many other delights, is the best bath mat I have ever owned in my entire life. The cincher? Its sturdy construction comes in more than one standardized size — hallelujah!

Beyond the variation in sizes (and four colors!) — which is a lifesaver for anyone living in tight apartments like me — L.L. Bean’s heavy-duty bath mat is really made for those who end up soaking their floors after a shower. I’m the kind of person that will turn off a showerhead and immediately jump out of the wet bath to begin air drying, so you can imagine how soaked my floors can be. 

Thanks to the thick weave construction, L.L. Bean’s Classic Cotton Bath Mat feels super plush and becomes superabsorbent when I step onto it, dripping all over the place. Unlike other mats I’ve used, I have yet to see the water seep through its exterior and onto the floor underneath the mat. This has stopped me from smelling a “musty” scent one often gets when you leave a wet towel on the ground.

This may be because the bottom of the mat is finished in a full latex coating. Helping to ensure that the moisture doesn’t transfer to your floors, I also find that it really boosts the nonslip nature of this bath mat. I have never seen it shift during the last two years of daily use — and I’ve never had to air dry this mat, either.

While the cotton fibers have shown a bit of wear and tear after a year of steady use, cleaning this mat is also a breeze. It’s machine-washable, meaning I’ve been able to simply pop it into one of the heavy-duty front-loading machines at my local laundromat. I noticed it shedded a bit of lint in its first wash, but other than that, I’m shocked at how well its cotton has held up for years.

And while I’ll admit that I’ve spent more on this bath mat than the other half-dozen I’ve purchased previously, there’s a secret benefit to shopping with L.L. Bean that I’ve already flexed. This bath mat falls under L.L. Bean’s extremely generous, quality-backed return policy, which allows customers the discretion to return items for any reason for up to a full year post purchase. 

I didn’t happen to read the mat’s washing instructions about a month into owning this bath mat and placed it in the dryer on high heat, which impacted its latex finish. Because L.L. Bean’s return policy is focused on satisfaction, I was able to email customer service and processed a painless exchange — no questions asked. That’s definitely worth the premium for a high-quality cotton bath mat that’ll perform well for you, guests, little ones, and the fur babies in your home.

Buy: L.L. Bean Classic Cotton Bath Mat, $39.95