23 Unfortunate Design Choices That Didn't Think Things Through

Cata Holmes • Writer

Jun 17, 2026 6:00 AM EDT

Who looked at these designs and thought, "Yep, that's perfect"?

I'm going to be the first to say that I'm a fan of these types of fails. Come on! I just can't imagine someone thinking that these are a good idea. They are not even practical, nor comfortable. The worst part of all is that most of them are inside a house, so people have to live with these incredibly bad structures and weird shape drawers.

What I like the most about these bad designs is that they caught my attention so fast, because they disrupt something I take for granted. As an example, the stars you need to climb (either up or down, according to those photographs) to access the toilet. On the positive side, they absolutely show how important functionality is and how much we appreciate those subtle little things inside every home that make the space livable, and mostly, easy to use.

In the world of design fails, there are different types. There are the ones that could have been avoided by fixing one single mistake, and others that were planned like this right from the start. Designers, managers, architects, and construction workers could have spotted the problem and had the opportunity to suggest that this was probably not the best decision. However, that was not the case: they all minded their business and carried on with the idea.

Not everything is lost here because we can still enjoy the mess and the fun that they have created. I mean… I guess some people will find that accessing the bathroom, or opening the oven, is just a whole adventure on its own, but at least we can laugh about it, and we are aware that these mistakes can happen. So if we are ever building (or designing) a kitchen or a bathroom, let's be more mindful where we decide to put a stair.

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