Are Grommet Curtains Out of Style in 2026? A Designer Verdict
Grommet curtains were the modern default for two decades — the panel in every catalog photo, the heading on every ready-made shelf. Then custom drapery moved on to pleats and waves, and the internet quietly decided grommets were dated. The truth is more useful than either story.
The short answer
Grommet curtains are not out of style in 2026 — they are repositioned. They have lost their default status in custom drapery, where pinch pleat and ripple fold headings now set the tone at the high end, but no heading hangs big fabric from a handsome rod with less fuss.
Choose them for casual and organic rooms, chunky decorative rods, heavy fabrics, rentals, and tight budgets. Choose something else when you want a tailored top, a gliding track, motorization, or a room that has to read formal.
In this guide
- The verdict: repositioned, not retired
- What a grommet actually does
- The case for grommets in 2026
- The honest case against
- Choose grommet — or choose something else
- FAQ
The verdict: repositioned, not retired
No — grommet curtains are not out of style in 2026. What has actually happened is a demotion, not a funeral. Through the 2000s and 2010s, grommets were modern drapery: the clean top, the metal ring, the wide soft fold. The custom market found its next signature in tailored pinch pleats and track-mounted wave headings, and those two now define the high-end photograph. Grommets kept everything else — the ready-made aisle, the casual room, the renter's apartment, and every project where the budget is going into fabric rather than sewing hours.
A heading does not need to be the designer default to be the right answer for your window; it needs to match the room, the rod, and the way you live with the curtain. On all three counts, grommets still win real territory in 2026 — and lose some, which this guide covers honestly.
What genuinely reads dated is a narrower thing: shiny silver rings on thin, shiny polyester, hung skimpy on a skinny builder-grade rod. The current version — matte black or bronzed grommets, generous fullness, washed linen or a chunky weave, a rod that looks deliberate — sits comfortably inside the relaxed, textural direction of 2026's curtain trends. For how to put that version together room by room, our styling guide to grommet panels handles the looks; this article handles the decision.
What a grommet actually does
A grommet (called an eyelet in the UK) is a metal ring punched straight through the curtain heading and clamped there, so the rod threads through the fabric itself. That makes it the most direct fabric-to-rod connection there is. Every other heading puts something between cloth and hardware — hooks, rings and clips, snap-on carriers, a corded traverse mechanism. A grommet puts nothing. The panel rides the pole.
Two consequences follow from that one fact. First, the look: because the rod alternately passes in front of and behind the fabric, the panel breaks into big, soft, evenly spaced columns — wider and rounder than a pleated fold, more relaxed than a wave. Grommets always come in an even count so both leading edges finish turned back toward the glass. Second, the operation: your hand slides the fabric along the pole. No cord, no carriers, no baton, nothing to jam or tangle. It is the simplest opening mechanism in drapery — exactly why it conquered the ready-made market.
The case for grommets in 2026
Casual and organic rooms. The grommet's wide, unstructured fold is casual by construction, and casual is where interiors have been heading — slubby linens, warm neutrals, rooms styled to look lived-in rather than staged. In a family room, den, or relaxed bedroom, a tailored pleat can read like a suit at a barbecue. A grommet panel in washed linen reads like it belongs.
The rod as a feature. No heading shows off hardware the way a grommet does: the eye sees pole through metal ring, over and over, the full width of the window. If you are buying a rod worth looking at, grommets are the heading that celebrates it. Our Collins single decorative rod — spliceable aluminum, cut to length, eight finial options — is exactly the kind of pole this heading was made for, and the Collins double rod adds a second channel for a sheer layer behind the grommet panel.
Heavy fabric, no drama. Because the weight bears directly on the rod through a metal ring, there are no pin hooks to bend, no tape stitching to strain, no carriers rated in kilograms per meter. A heavy velvet or a triple-weave blackout that would make a workroom think twice on other headings simply hangs — provided the rod is stout enough to carry it without bowing.
Renters and movers. A grommet panel is a flat rectangle with rings in it. It fits any rod with clearance, in this apartment and the next one, with no system to match and no hardware marriage. Pleated and wave panels are made to their hardware; grommet panels just travel.
Budget, honestly. A grommet heading is punched and pressed in a fraction of the sewing time pleats take, which is why the savings show up at the ready-made end of the market. If the choice is thin fabric with an expensive heading or generous fabric with a simple one, the generous fabric wins the room every time.
One caveat before you scale this up: on a genuinely wide window, a grommet panel still needs a rod stout enough not to bow across the span, and that constraint drives the whole layout. Curtains for wide windows works through the panel-count and support math.
The honest case against
They read casual forever. A pleated panel can be dressed up or down; a grommet panel cannot be formalized. The metal ring is always visible, the fold is always loose, and no fabric upgrade changes that. If the room needs a tailored, structured top — a formal living room, a dining room that hosts — the answer is a pleat, and the workmanship question of double versus triple folds is covered in our pinch pleat guide. If what you want is the continuous modern wave gliding on a hidden channel, that is ripple fold, and it is a hardware system with its own rules. Those two are the headings that took the grommet's place at the top of the custom market — one comparison, and we will leave the full heading tour to those guides.
Metal on metal. Draw a grommet panel briskly along a metal rod and you hear it — a scrape that pleated rings on nylon inserts or track carriers simply do not make. In a bedroom where one of you draws the curtains after the other is asleep, this is not a small thing.
The return-to-flat problem. Grommet folds are formed by the rod weaving through the fabric, not by stitching or spaced carriers, so nothing holds them in rhythm. Draw the panel open and closed for a week and the columns drift — deep here, flat there — until a hand re-dresses them. Fabrics with body and fold memory drift less; thin slippery cloth drifts constantly.
No track, no traverse, no motor. This is the hard constraint. A grommet needs a cylindrical pole through it; a track moves fabric with carriers, and a traverse rod pulls it with a cord mechanism, and a grommet gives either one nothing to hold. That rules out ceiling-mounted channels, corded draws, and any serious motorization — drapery motors move carriers and hooks, not rings threaded on a pole. This is precisely why the glide-and-automation end of the market standardized on pleat hooks and wave carriers instead. If gliding hardware is where your project is heading, start with rods versus tracks before you commit to a heading at all.
And the price is not the discount you assume. Ready-made grommet panels are cheap; custom grommet drapery is not automatically. At one large US retailer publishing side-by-side starting prices for every heading, grommet drapery actually starts higher than ripple fold — $685 against $545 — the top of that retailer's list, not the bottom. That is one company's pricing, not a universal law, but it kills the assumption cleanly: in custom work, fabric and width drive the bill, and the "simple" heading may not save you a dollar.
Choose grommet — or choose something else
| Your situation | The right call |
|---|---|
| Family room, den, or casual bedroom in linen or a chunky weave | Grommet — the fold matches the room |
| The rod is part of the design — finials, matte black, brass | Grommet — no heading showcases a pole more |
| Heavy fabric in wide panels | Grommet on a stout rod — weight hangs straight on the pole |
| Renting, or likely to move within a few years | Grommet — panels travel to any rod with clearance |
| Formal living or dining room that needs a structured top | Pinch pleat |
| Wide slider or wall of glass you draw every day | Ripple fold on a carrier track |
| Motorization, now or later | A pleated or wave heading on a motorized track |
FAQ
Are grommet curtains still in style?
Yes, with one honest caveat. Grommet curtains are still in style in 2026 for casual, relaxed, and organic rooms — what has changed is that they are no longer the default in custom drapery, where pinch pleat and ripple fold headings now lead. Think repositioned, not retired: right for family rooms, dens, and easygoing bedrooms; no longer the automatic pick for formal spaces.
What are grommet curtains?
Grommet curtains are panels with metal rings punched directly through the heading, so the rod threads through the fabric itself. It is the most direct fabric-to-rod connection in drapery — no hooks, clips, or carriers — and it produces wide, soft, evenly spaced folds that read modern and casual. You open and close them by sliding the fabric along the rod by hand.
How do you hang curtains with grommets?
Take the finial off one end of the rod, thread the rod through the grommets so the fabric folds alternately toward and away from the window, replace the finial, and set the rod on its brackets. Grommets come in an even count so both edges finish turned toward the glass. Check that the grommet's inner diameter clears the rod by at least half an inch so the panel slides freely, then dress the folds into even columns by hand.
Can grommet curtains go on a track?
No. A track moves fabric with carriers and a traverse rod pulls it with an internal cord mechanism, and a grommet offers neither one anything to hold — the ring needs a cylindrical pole through it. Grommets also motorize poorly for the same reason, which is why gliding and automated systems use pleat hooks or wave carriers instead. If you want a track, choose a different heading.
Are grommet curtains cheaper than pleated?
In sewing hours, yes — a grommet heading takes a fraction of the labor of building pleats, which is why ready-made grommet panels are inexpensive. In custom drapery the gap narrows and can invert: at one large US retailer publishing side-by-side starting prices, grommet drapery starts at $685, above ripple fold at $545 and the highest heading on that list. Fabric and width drive custom pricing more than the heading does.
What rooms suit grommet curtains best?
Casual and organic rooms: family rooms, dens, relaxed bedrooms, breakfast areas, home offices — anywhere a soft, unstructured fold and a visible rod fit the mood, and anywhere heavy fabric needs to hang without fuss. Skip them in formal living and dining rooms, and on wide glass you draw daily, where a pleated or wave heading on gliding hardware serves better.
If you're hanging a pair
A grommet curtain is only ever as good as its rod, so start there: a cut-to-length decorative pole like the Collins, sized stout enough for your fabric, from our full range in Rods & Tracks. Then put the money you saved on sewing into cloth with body — washed linen from our Linen Curtains collection holds the grommet's big soft columns instead of collapsing out of them.