In the 19th century, America and Europe were crazy for all things steam: railroad steam engines, transatlantic ships, machinery in large factories. It was only natural, then, that someone should decide that steam would be an excellent way to heat a building. The benefits of the steam radiator were great. In large cities, like New York, there were public steam utility companies, piping steam directly into commercial buildings and homes all over the city, which eliminated the need for fireplaces or stoves in every room of a house or building. It did not take as much wood or coal to create steam heat as it took to heat a room from a stove, making it much cheaper to heat large buildings. Most homes typically did not have a fireplace or stove in all of the bedrooms, but radiators were easily installed in even small rooms, which kept bedrooms from being much colder than the communal parts of the house. Steam radiators also eliminated smoky rooms caused by poorly-designed or poorly maintained fireplaces, eliminated the need to carry in wood or coal and carry out ashes, and greatly reduced the risk of a house or city-wide fire by eliminating the multiple fires it took to heat even a modest home. It also reduced air pollution in the large cities.

The first radiators were merely practical, but it did not take the decorative Victorians long to begin to design beautiful radiators. The plain cast iron tubes of the radiator were redesigned with flowers and leaves and vines scrolling all along them. They might also be painted to match the décor in a specific room. As time progressed, and people became more concerned about burn accidents—namely of children—boxes and screens were designed to fit around radiators to keep small hands from touching them. At first these protective coverings were also ornately designed (the radiator and its covering, originally, being treated like furniture), but as time progressed and people became interested in having a very modern house, radiators were increasingly hidden behind plain boxes, whose primary function was to hide the radiator and make it blend into the wall or pass as some other piece of furniture, like a bookcase.

Today there is a revival of all things antique; as older homes are being renovated to their original state, radiators are being removed from their nondescript boxes and are again being treated like a beautiful and interesting piece of home hardware. And radiators are not just making a reappearance in old homes and buildings; radiators which run on forced water are making an appearance in newer homes, especially in cooler and damper climates, like England and Ireland.

A newer cousin of the wall radiator is the radiant floor heating system. Rather than coiling pipes into a radiator unit, the radiant floor heating system is a coil of pipes which are laid as part of the sub-flooring in a new house. It runs on forced water, but unlike wall-mounted radiators, the water does not have to be heated as much, since the floor system covers the entire room. Radiant floor heating systems are one of the most energy-efficient ways to heat a building.

Another cousin of the wall radiator is, interestingly enough, the heated towel rail. It probably did not take the first users of wall radiators long to realize that damp clothing could be quickly dried when draped over the radiator, or that socks, mittens and blankets could be warmed before use. It was not a large leap from those actions to the invention of the heated towel rail, specifically designed for the warming and drying of towels (and sometimes unmentionables). Heated towel rails are safer to use than wall radiators: they only get warm, not hot, eliminating the possibility of catching towels or clothing on fire; also, they do not get so hot that they burn skin when touched. Heated towel rails are quickly becoming an expected fixture in the bathrooms of fine hotels. They are especially prevalent in hotels in Great Britain, which usually have some form of radiant heating already installed. There are also electric heated towel rails, which are the more common form in American luxury hotels.