Product review: Gatco 1434C Contempo Paper Towel Holder, Chrome

This is a very well made solid brass with chrome finish paper towel holder.  I am very pleased with the way it looks, but after one week of using it I realized I made a slight mistake in installation.  I hope this review will help you to avoid my mistake.

I am attaching a collage of 7 photos under customers photos that I will be referencing in this review.

Photo #1 shows everything included in the package disassembled: a 4 piece towel holder and hardware. The hardware include dry wall anchors. In this photo you can see the construction of the holder, it is spring loaded, and the holder is held in on both ends, so the roll paper towel does not fall off when you use it.

Photo #2 shows the towel rack assembled on the table on a 1 inch grid mat for size reference

Photo #3 shows the towel rack on the digital scale, it comes in at 1 pound 08 oz and feels very sold.

Installation was pretty easy because the pieces are small and easy to hold. You need a drill, a Phillips screw driver, and a pencil to mark where to drill.  One thing instruction don't tell you is what size of drill bit you need: if you are installing into dry wall you will need the 3/16 drill bit.  If you are installing into wood without dry wall anchor you will need 1/8 drill bit.

Once you attach the first holder side you need to decide how far from it to install the second side.  Photo #4 shows what I did.  I am holding the bar next to the mounts so you can see how much compression I allowed.  This is where my mistake comes in.  I should have measured the width of the paper towel, and made the width of the bar just barely fit the roll so the balls on the side of the rack are positioned touching (or maybe even just inside) the paper towel roll.  I positioned them a little too wide (perhaps a quarter of an inch too wide). So the paper paper roll has a lot of play and easily unravels.  Photo #6 shows how my paper towel fits on the bar.  Unfortunately, instructions did not specify how best to determine the position of the screws. 

Finally, the last photo shows how far the the holder protrudes from the wall - about 2.5 inches.

Overall, this is a high quality very well made paper towel holder.  I hope my installation tip will help others to position it a little better than I did.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★