A well-chosen bathroom vanity can often turn out to be the final touch in a bathroom renovation project, but also a detail that spoils the effort. If it’s too big or impractically small, it will either stand out or be something that has no purpose at all. The bathroom will not benefit from a vanity that is made with mismatched materials, or the one with less than enough storage space. These useful hints are a collection of experiences and professional guidelines, so I hope they will help you choose the right one for every scenario.
Location
If a vanity is placed right, it won’t clutter the bathroom traffic, nor will it block the bathroom door from opening fully. When choosing the right spot remember that it needs swings space for its doors too, and that the area under and around it has to be accessible for cleaning. The area around the vanity should be passable even when its doors are open. Some architectural features should also be taken into account. For example, a window above or besides the table must allow to install a mirror or wall cabinets above the vanity. Placing it opposite the window, however, will make the mirror useless.
Plumbing
In some cases you’ll need to adapt your bathroom’s plumbing to accommodate the new vanity table. This adaptation is also one of the expenses that you need to take into account when planning the whole operation. Procedures as simple as transition from a more traditional, floor mounted vanity to a wall-mounted one, calls for plumber’s intervention, as the pipes and drains need to be rerouted. The truth is, if you want to position a vanity away from other fixtures, in order to gain space, it will require more plumbing.
Materials
You have to keep in mind that a bathroom is a humid environment, and that your vanity must be made with materials that are able to withstand occasional haze, splashes and wet floor. Materials like wood veneers, laminates and thermofoil are the go-to options, say the people behind a renowned Sydney-based bathroom warehouse. Wood elements should be sealed and lacquered. Water, however may damage the glossy finish of lacquer if it’s left standing on it.
The vanity top should also be made of durable materials which are also easy to clear. If your bathroom remodeling includes replacing the tiles and cabinets, you may want to start by choosing a vanity top that you like first. There is a wide choice of tile patterns that will match the vanity top, but less so the other way round. If you choose a vivid tile pattern, you are forcing yourself to settle with a plainer counter top, which won’t fight with your tiles.
Storage Space
Make a list of things that you are using in the bathroom on regular basis and then determine how much storage your vanity needs. Or simply outline the inventory of your old vanity and organize it in two groups, the things that you need close at hand at all times and the things that you need laying around nearby. In this way, you’ll get an insight in what you really need to store here and where it should be placed. Adding around 20 percent more space than you need is a wise decision at this point.
Another option to consider is a hanging vanity with drawers. This configuration benefits from the unused space around plumbing and a solid amount of storage it gives. Medicine cabinets are bulky and unsightly, but inlaid wall cabinets are useful for adding storage. If four vanity cabinet is too small to accommodate all the items, another option is to add extra countertop cabinets. In this way you can get more storage without sacrificing the floor space.
Dimensions
When choosing a perfect vanity, you should thing about the bathroom size and the proportion. If you choose a huge vanity for a small bathroom, it will only stand in the way and annoy everybody. If you need more storage, turn to alternative methods of increasing it. Picking a big vanity only because you need to store everything you’ve got is not justified. As always take the bathroom architecture into account when thinking about the size.
Depending on a bathroom main function, you’ll choose a bigger or a smaller vanity. If you use the bathroom primarily as a powder room, the vanity shouldn’t be more than 21 inches deep and 24 inches wide. Your lifestyle will influence the size.
The height of your vanity is dictated by who will be using it most. If you invest in an expensive vanity that is too short or uncomfortably tall, you’ll feel like you’ve been cheated. The experience has shown that 32 inches is the gold standard when it comes to vanity height. Some stylists and designers still recommend a several inches more.
Custom vs. Store Vanities
Although today’s market offers a wide selection of designs and storage configurations, and it’s fairly easy to choose an ideal vanity, many designers advocate custom solutions, which they justify by greater efficiently. Interestingly enough, custom vanities aren’t always more expensive than pre-designed ones.
With custom vanities the sink bowl needn’t be in the center of the countertop. You’ll get more space on the countertop if the sink is dislocated off the center. The size of as ink bowl is also one of the issues that need consideration. If you choose a deeper and wider bowl, you’ll have less unwanted splashes over the countertop.
If you are planning to keep hair dryers, electric razors, trimmers and toothbrushes in the vanity cabinet, a custom design allows you to install electricity, as well. All in all, with custom vanity you get to design all the details that manufacturers often ignore, like vanity doors adapted for right or left-handed users.
Eventually, you are going to customize your vanity using design, style and materials that match your personal home philosophy. If you are choosing a vanity for a master bedroom, a custom one is probably the best choice. On the other hand, if you are furnishing a guest house or a home you don’t feel emotionally attached to, a store vanity will be more than enough.
