Opinions on this vanity design?

[Dan Friedrichs]

I'm planning on building a bathroom vanity. Other furniture in the area is painted black with inset panels, so I'm using that same style, here. I want many drawers, and plan on using Blum slides on them. I'm also thinking that some spaces for towels would be useful.

I've selected a 49"x22" countertop, and am designing around that. This seems like an awkward width, because 2 banks of drawers seem too wide, but 3 seems like too many.

I've attached a few sketchup pics - anyone have any comments? I'd love to hear some criticism (I'm awful at proper proportions).

Also, the piece will sit in a corner. In an attempt to make this piece look more like furniture, I was thinking of moving it away from the side wall maybe 6" or so. Would this look strange?

[Jim Becker]

Dan, I think it's nice design. You might consider a single door, rather than what appears to be doubles.

As to the offset from the wall, I was faced with a similar situation with the vanities I made for our addition, also designed to have the "furniture" look. What I did was put a 3" filler panel on the wall side offset back behind the corner posts to avoid "that area" that is a pain to paint and clean if you move the whole thing over away from the corner. The tops were just extended fully to the corner. Here's a couple pictures...





Here you can see the filler piece on the carcass for the left vanity

[Don Abele]

Dan, if you are using a stock top with the bowl centered I'd split the cabinet into thirds. The center section as wide as the bowl and covered with a single door. The remaining distance to the left and right would be drawers, four high with the top three the same size (to match the center filler) and the bottom drawer larger.

However, if you are going to cut the opening for the sink bowl, I like Jim's offset design.

Also, if you want to have open shelves, consider having them completely open on two sides. It'll make them more like shelves and less like cubbies.

In our bathroom remodel downstairs, I went for a furniture look and kept it four inches away from the right wall. We have a laminated wainscoting installed so no future worry of painting in there. Just remember not to get ahead of yourself and install the back wall base trim before putting the vanity (DAMHIKT).

Be well,

Doc

[Jamie Buxton]

I wouldn't use open shelves in the vanity. I'd be afraid of spills drooling down the face and into the towels. Furthermore, maybe it is the openess of the shelves that's making you uneasy with the look. It might be giving you a sense of imbalance. You might try putting the towels behind an opaque door, or behind the opaque doors you already have directly under the bowl.

[Danny Thompson]

Option 4, the one with the frosted/textured glass panel door is a great look!

[Dan Friedrichs]

Thank you all so much for the feedback! LOML is design/color/etc-"disinclined", so I have no one else to get ideas from

Jim - I like the idea of a filler strip. I may end up doing that. Your install looks so clean with the strip scribed to the side wall and the baseboard trim. I'm also going to take Don's idea and make the center cabinet the same width as the sink bowl, and change it to a single door instead of a double.

Danny - thanks for the suggestion of "choice #4". That's my personal favorite, too, so I think that's the one I'll build. I think it makes it look more symmetrical, and avoids the potential spill problem Jamie mentioned.

Thank you all, again! I'll post pictures when I get it built

[Jim Becker]

Dan, the baseboards get installed after the cabinet, so there's no scribing to them. (Those are 6" baseboards for scale)

Something else to note is that there is a recessed "toe kick" that is painted flat black so that there isn't a cleaning problem under the vanities. They go to the floor, but are all but unseen, not taking away from the furniture look.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Oh, wow! I gave those cabinets a pretty good look the first time around, and never even noticed that you put that flat black strip under them. Now I see it. What a great idea!

[Jim Becker]

Dan, they "look" like furniture, but they are still, in reality, built-in cabinets. Closing off the bottoms hides plumbing as well as eliminates the need to get down on your hands and knees to clean under them.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Jim B., I love your design. And the execution as well. But on the install: Isn't a bit awkward standing over the sink and trying to shave in the mirror?