Consumer Reports Recommends This Budget-Friendly Bath Towel From IKEA

There is nothing like stepping out of a hot shower and enveloping yourself in a huge, soft bath towel. The best towels are ones that wrap you up completely, absorb water easily, and feel awesome on your skin. If you want luxury, you could easily spend $50 or more on a plush, heavyweight bath towel. But if you are on a budget, IKEA has you covered with the VÅGSJÖN bath towel, an inexpensive option that earned a Consumer Reports (CR) recommendation and a high score in its bath towel ratings and reviews. 

The VÅGSJÖN comes in bath towel and bath sheet sizes to suit your preference and fill out a practical towel assortment for a household. At 28 inches wide by 55 inches long, IKEA's towel is sized slightly larger than a typical bath towel and costs only $6.99. The larger 39-inch by 59-inch bath sheet size provides even more coverage for $5 more. The bath towel size will still cover you, but it won't be bulky.

One IKEA reviewer loves how absorbent the towel is while still being able to fit in their gym bag. The subtly striped terry cloth, 100% cotton towel comes in a variety of solid colors, from basic white and neutral hues to fun pink, minty green, and other bright colors. It even has a handy loop, so you can hang your bathroom towel on a stylish hook instead of having it take up space on a bar. Cute design aside, CR put IKEA's towel to the test against many other top brands on the market and ended up recommending the VÅGSJÖN not just for its price but also for its performance.

CR's lab testing of 15 different terry cloth bath towels compared them in categories of how quickly they dried (both hanging or in the dryer), softness (even after washing and drying), and shrinkage after laundering. The VÅGSJÖN bath towel beat out plenty of more expensive brands. For example, Forbes' best bath towel pick from Frontgate, which normally costs around $50 per towel, was found by CR's lab tests to not dry as well or as quickly as IKEA's $6.99 pick. Reviewers on IKEA's web site also praised the VÅGSJÖN for its quick drying ability and durable yet light design, ultimately giving it a 4.3-star rating. While a thick, plush towel may sound nice, having a lighter weight bath towel that dries fast means you won't be running your dryer for extra cycles or be left to deal with sour smells in your linen closet from big towels that were put away damp.

CR found the VÅGSJÖN to not be quite as soft as other towels they tested, but it still performed well in the softness category, even after washing and drying. The towels that ranked higher than the VÅGSJÖN in softness tests also cost $20 to $35 per towel, helping the VÅGSJÖN earn distinction as a "CR smart buy." Surprisingly, pricey bath towels from luxury brands like Boll & Branch and Brooklinen didn't score as high overall in CR's lab testing than the inexpensive VÅGSJÖN. So, if a lightweight, easy-care towel that won't break the bank sounds good, IKEA's options is worth checking out.