I prefer airport style bathroom entry and exits .... there is no door, just a walkway that gives privacy to the entry so that you can't see inside from the hallway.
That would be ideal. I've also seen a few with weirdly discrete foot pedals. I like that idea, although the ones I've encountered haven't exactly nailed the design.
I just use a paper towel to grab the handle (if there’s no foot pedal). What’s annoying is when there’s no trash can near the door to toss the paper towel while exiting.
You can also push a door open with a foot as you take a step forward.
It's trickier than using an elbow, as it involves the balancing act of putting your weight on the door, which will give way, before allowing your foot to actually land. Do it wrong or with a door that's much lighter than you thought, and you fall over as you deliberately shift your weight off the one foot you're still standing on :D
I initially started doing it to push open doors while holding stuff with my hands, but now I kinda just walk into doors and open them with a foot as I do.
Yeah it kind of is... The ones on the bathroom doors at my work place are a little metal plate at the bottom of the door with a grip on it, and a kind of.. lip? I don't know how else to describe it. You can probably find photos if you're that interested.
But yeah, you kind of have to pause for a split second and brace, then you use your foot on the grip to pull the door open. After one or two times, it's second nature now.
I imagine it's because bathrooms have no point of egress, so the ability to block the bathroom door from the outside (intentionally or not) needs to be avoided at all costs for safety reasons.
Assuming the bathroom is in a hallway, having the door open into the hallway would cause the flight path to be narrowed which would be against (some) fire code(s).
After all, significantly more people would want to flee through the hallway than out of a room adjacent to the hallway.
For small spaces with limited occupancy, you can get away with opening into the room. Main exits are push, unless it opens onto a public sidewalk and not a stoop or something.
I think the door opening into a main area is not ideal. Like a restaurant with somebody carrying food having to swerve a bathroom door that opened unexpectedly.