A coat hook does not follow the same guidelines as a coat rack. It holds one garment at a time, often without a hanger, and its height depends less on the length of the coat than on the motion: you grab it with one hand, without looking, as you pass by. Here are the heights that work depending on the location and who uses it.
The height of a coat hook for an adult
Allow between 150 and 170 centimeters from the floor, measured to the hook itself. This range is lower than that of a coat rack, and for good reason: a coat hook is grabbed in a quick motion at shoulder height, while a rack requires raising your arm to hang a hanger.
The lower end of the range is suitable for jackets, bags, and scarves, which do not hang very low. The higher end becomes necessary as soon as a long coat is hung: at 150 centimeters, a winter parka brushes the floor and gets dirty every time the vacuum cleaner passes.
When several coat hooks are lined up on the same wall, space them at least twenty centimeters apart. Any closer, and two coats will press against each other and retain creases. Alternating heights, with a fifteen-centimeter difference between every other hook, leaves more room for shoulders without elongating the line.
Installing a coat hook for a child or in a changing room
For a child, the rule changes: it is no longer about optimizing the length of the garment but making the motion possible without help. Allow 100 to 110 centimeters for ages three to six, and 110 to 120 for up to age ten. Beyond that, adult height becomes manageable again.
In a nursery or a communal changing room, coat hooks are generally installed at around 100 to 115 centimeters, a height at which a child can hang their coat by themselves. Spacing matters as much as height: thirty centimeters between two hooks prevents coats from getting tangled, which is the leading cause of lost clothing.
When a room must remain accessible to people with reduced mobility, regulations place accessible fixtures between 90 and 130 centimeters from the floor. A coat hook installed at 120 centimeters is therefore reachable both standing and sitting, making it a compromise height in a shared space.
Installing a coat hook in a bathroom or behind a door
A towel hook is installed lower than a coat hook, between 130 and 150 centimeters. A bath towel measures about 140 centimeters when folded in half: above this height, it will drag on the tile floor. Also allow twenty centimeters of clearance on the side so it can dry without touching the wall.
Behind a door, the constraint becomes thickness. A hung coat adds ten to fifteen centimeters to the door panel: if installed too high, it prevents the door from closing against the frame. Stay below 150 centimeters and check the closure with the thickest garment in the household before drilling.
Above a piece of furniture or a console, allow at least forty centimeters between the top and the hook. Otherwise, your hand will hit the furniture when hanging the garment, and the clothes will crush whatever is placed on top.
The safest method remains a mock-up test. Hold the longest garment against the wall at the intended height and see where the hem falls. Ten centimeters between the bottom of the garment and the floor is enough: it is enough to vacuum under, but not so much that it wastes wall height.
The mounting hardware also comes into the calculation. On a plasterboard partition, a coat hook loaded with a wet coat requires a metal expansion anchor, regardless of the chosen height. Installing it lower never compensates for undersized hardware: the tension remains the same, only the length of the arm changes.
Our wall-mounted coat hooks cover these different installations, and the children's models are designed for low mounting.
Installing a coat hook at the right height therefore comes down to usage rather than a standard: 150 to 170 centimeters for an adult, 100 to 120 for a child, 130 to 150 for a towel, 120 in a shared space, and a mock-up test before the first hole.
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