Your fancy soaps deserve to live a long, happy life. The best soap dishes can help with that. Walking into the bathroom and seeing a sad, misshapen clump of soap melting away at the edge of your sink is a drag—not to mention it drags down the rest of your thoughtfully curated washroom decor. These accessories have a knack for, A: Adding longevity to your favorite soap bars. And B: Bringing some sophistication to your sink counter.
The best designs are mindful of factors like drainage to prevent mushiness and use materials that won’t cling to your soap (ceramic and silicone, for example). Our curated picks are not only functional, but appeal to the most discerning decor aficionados by putting design at the forefront. Just don’t be surprised if you become perceived as the “fancy friend,” whenever guests ask to use your latrine.
Our Top Picks
A Minimal Soap Stand
Consider your gloopy soap days behind you. This well-reviewed soap stand provides proper drainage thanks to its elevated stature that lets your bars properly dry between uses. The brass adds a sleek look, though the overall pared-back design is appropriate for more casually-minded minimalists.
For Full Coverage
The Soap Home by Soft Services provides 360-degree protection when it comes to your soap situation. It has a ribbed ceramic base that prevents soaps from sitting in puddles of water, along with an aluminum cover that protects against excessive shower spray. Pair it with the brand’s deeply exfoliating buffing bar to experience the full Soft Services-effect.
Our Vintage Pick
We’re still riding the wave of fish homeware (pun intended), which is why we think this bit of bathroom decor is a real catch (ok, we’ll stop now). Etsy has an abundance of one-of-a-kind and vintage soap dishes to cater to your proclivity for something that feels a bit bespoke, and you’re not likely to find this Italian-designed holder sitting in someone else’s bathroom.
A Rustic Ceramic Tray
Amazon has an excessive amount of options when it comes to soap dishes, which is why exploring specialized terms (like “Japanese soap dish”) can help narrow down your search results. On the topic, this perforated ceramic tray with an anti-slip bottom provides optimal drainage and achieves a stylishly rustic look.
A Marble Moment
Ferm Living’s wavy Mist dish is made of marble resin that brings some refinement to your sink counter (or add to the carefully curated maximalist setup you’ve created with your strewn-about makeup collection). Though pairing it with the matching Mist tray also creates a streamlined-counter look.
For a Celebrity-Inspired Look
We took inspiration from Paloma Elsesser’s impressive marble bathtub for this pick. Though adorning your bathroom with marble isn’t particularly groundbreaking, we’re gravitating towards the way the darker hue can add depth to lighter bathroom countertops.
More AD-Approved Soap Dishes
Kassatex has full ranges of coordinating bath accessories, so if you’re hankering for a matching dispenser or tissue box to pair with your new soap dish, you won’t have to look far. We like the playful look of this scalloped dish with a rim that brings in some slight color, which would pair nicely with a matching set of scalloped towels.
Black terracotta clay coated in a layer of white glaze gives this dish some vintage charm, like a gem you would find at an estate sale of someone with great taste. French studio Astier de Villatte is recognized as one of the only makers in Paris honoring traditional ceramic production, a heritage that’ll make your sink side feel very elevated.
And finally, a dish that’s as cute as a button. It’s hand-mixed with minerals and natural pigments that bring texture to the design, plus the “button holes” provide great drainage.
