Hasta La Ideas

Every guy has seen this: You’re in a public restroom, some dude finishes up at the urinal, does not wash his hands and simply exits—pulling the door open with his hand, of course.

In a movie theater or restaurant it’s just gross, but in a medical environment, door handles are a worrisome source of germ transmission. Thus a host of companies sell foot-operated door-opening mechanisms, primarily for doors that don’t have latch bolts. The StepNpull, alternately branded as the ToePull, resemble angle irons with an extra lip that’s serrated:

The Clean Escape and the Footpull have you open the door by hooking underneath with your toes:

The Toe Opener lets you decide whether to go over or under:

As does the DoorWave, which is a bit designy-er:

All of the designs above are simple pulls. But this elaborate German-engineered design, which is connected internally to the latch bolt of a conventional door, is probably the sexiest:

Created by inventor Sascha Klein, it’s called the Metiba foot-operated door opener. And yes, it can be used both ways: