Toilet Design: How to Pick a Vanity
It’s not necessarily the most glamorous part of a bathroom remodel, however deciding on the ideal vanity can break or make your bathroom’s layout. If it’s placed awkwardly in a traffic path, uses poor or mismatched stuff, or does not have enough storage, the rest of your bathroom will suffer.
We talked with six bathroom and dressing table designers to get the professional spade. Here are their tips for this bathroom cornerstone.
Erica George Dines Photography
1. Placement
Access. Choose a spot for your dressing table that won’t mess with your bathroom’s traffic stream or block your bathroom door or shower door fold. Beth Fillerup of Native Trails counsels homeowners to consider cleaning and on the vanity door swing area, too. Very good questions to ask, she says, include: “Are the surrounding areas available for cleaning? If the vanity has doors, is the distance around the dressing table sufficient for foot traffic when they’re open?”
Designer Robert Berkovich of European Cabinets & Design Studio indicates that homeowners take other architectural features into account when choosing a location, also. Ensure any windows nearby will allow to get a wall and mirror cabinets over the dressing table. “Remember the dressing table has an integral role in the purpose of the bathroom and demands the room around it to function correctly,” says designer Steve O’Neill of Van-i-tY.
Globus Builder
Plumbing. Should you have to change your bathroom’s pipes to install your new vanity, it is likely to account for a chunk of your budget. Even switching from a classic floor-mounted vanity into a wall-mounted version will mean rerouting drains and pipes.
“Finding the dressing table far from other tub fixtures requires a greater cost for pipes,” says contractor David Lawson of Ironwood Builders.
Katerina Vallianatos
2. Materials
“Vanities are set in environments that are humid, wet and busy,” says O’Neill. “The substances that make up your dressing table of choice should have the ability to stand up to this environment.” Wood veneers, laminates and thermofoil (such as on the dressing table in this photo) often work well in bathrooms. Wood should be properly sealed and lacquered — although Lawson does warn that lacquer is not indestructible.
“We do caution our customers that clear endings are generally lacquer and water will affect the finish if it is left standing on it,” he says. Designer Gina Adamson of Cab-I-Net recommends preventing pressed MDF too, as it is vulnerable to water damage.
Niki Papadopoulos
Start looking for a durable vanity shirt as well, and try to prevent anything using hard-to-clean grout. If you are redoing other bathroom finishes, consider choosing your dressing table top first. “It’s so much simpler to locate a tile and cupboard to match a exceptional countertop than attempting to locate a shirt to match a unique tile,” says designer Lori Hethmon of Granite Grannies. “When you choose a dynamic tile first, you may be limiting yourself to more mundane countertop options that won’t compete with your specific tile”
anat shmariahu
3. Storage
Taking account of what you truly use will help you determine how much storage you will want in your new dressing table. Take inventory of what you store in your current dressing table. Organize everything from what you will have to have in reach and what you will simply have to get nearby.
“This will put into perspective what you have to store and where it needs to be put,” says O’Neill. Lawson recommends adding about 20 percent more space than you believe you’ll want, simply to be safe.
Mahoney Architects & Interiors
Hanging vanities with drawers can supply a good amount of storage, because they make the most of this often-unused space around pipes. Berkovich suggests preventing bulky medication cabinets but frequently uses wall cabinetry (at least 10 inches deep) to add storage.
If you are stuck using a little vanity cupboard, consider adding extra cabinets that break the counters, as in this picture. “You will get more storage without losing floor area,” says Hethmon.
4. Size
Scale. Your dressing table size should consistently make sense for the bathroom’s size. Cramming a huge vanity into a tiny bathroom does not make sense, regardless of what your storage requirements are. “The quantity of storage needed by the client impacts the size of this dressing table,” says Lawson. “But more important is the size of this room it stays in. Working inside the structure a part of this equation.”
“By assessing lifestyle, if it’s the powder room or master bathroom, and the demands that will be put on the dressing table, the size will become clear quickly,” says O’Neill. For frequently used bathrooms, Adamson recommends starting with a dressing table that is a minimum of 21 inches deep and 24 inches wide.
White Crane Construction
Height. “Consider who is utilizing the dressing table to choose the proper height,” says Adamson. “overly tall or too short may be equally frustrating.” Traditionally, the 32 inches will be your go-to height dimension for bathroom vanities. But some designers disagree with that dimension due to modern sink designs. Berkovich suggests aiming for 34 to 35 inches.
The Right Height For The Sinks, Mirrors and More
McElroy Architecture, AIA
5. Custom Designs
The variety of vanity layouts today makes it effortless to get what you need in terms of design and storage, but many designers still suggest buying a customized layout for greater efficiency. “Custom vanities aren’t necessarily more expensive than store bought,” says Adamson. “Plus they have unlimited layout configurations and styles”
“Don’t forget your bowl does not have to be in the middle,” says Hethmon. Such as the sink in this photo, a sink jar that is slightly off centre allows for more countertop space. Consider your bowl dimensions. “Bigger, deeper bowls may mean less mess to clean up,” Hethmon points outside.
Geneva Cabinet Company, LLC
Placing electricity in the cupboard box may be a nice touch as well — if you would like to maintain hair dryers, toothbrushes and other essentials prepared to go. Having a custom vanity design can help you consider all of the little details that often get overlooked, such as attributes that work if you are left handed or right-handed.
Naturally, choosing your dressing table materials, design and style has a great deal to do with the way you feel about your house, too. A custom-designed dressing table in the master bathroom of your “forever home” might make sense, however a store-bought vanity could work just fine in the guest bathroom of a house you intend to sell down the street.
Share your story: Did you upgrade your vanity? Please talk and after photos below!
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