Bathroom Vanities - good, gooder, best?

I just want to reiterate how much I hate pop up wastes.

I was really sick with some stomach thing yesterday and was vomitting all night - stoopid pop up wastes wont let that go down either. GRRRR!

That is y every bathroom should have a dunny.

Hope u r feeling better Doog.

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Originally Posted by Ashwood

Aesthetics vs practicality re pipe - while it's nice to see just the sink, bear in mind that if you totally box in the sink trap (the mug-shaped thingy that hangs below and which you may need to open up in a hair/muck-logged crisis), you're not going to be able to clear the blockage. Chemicals or pumps don't do half the job that clearing it does.

Others will have better advice on supports, but I definitely would not rely on the villaboards supporting the sink. Whatever suppporting brackets you put in, make sure they transfer the load onto the studs.

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Sorry yeah, guess I wasn't that clear. Wasn't talking about boxing in the trap... just the pipe until it enters the vanity unit, then the trap can be inside that. Or maybe I could use a stainless pipe and make it a feature.


As for the supports, I also must have been unclear. I didn't mean being supported only by villaboard... I was more asking whether I should have some sort of steel frame bloted to the studs, then villaboard on top (with slots for the frame), or just put the villaboard on the studs now, then have the steel frame bolted to the studs through the villaboard. Much of a muchness I guess.

we had a custom vanity made up for our house because most of the decent vanities came close to $1k and non quite suited what we wanted.

We only had 800 to play with but wanted mostly draws, losing a little space we opted for floating because we dont really like bending that much anyway and it helped make the room seem a little bigger.

Basically we have a floating vanity with 2 draws on either side which are deaper than usual so cans can stand up in them, they pull the full way out not 70%. One door compartment in the middle for hair dryers/curling/what ever the other half decides should would like to waste space with. The top is a ceaser stone with a separate semi recessed basin. The basin has an overflow valve which was a hassle to make work with a fancy popup waste, we just use an old fashion plug.

If you decide to go for the full bathroom reno look into the floating units they look very very nice and you can hide a central heating vent underneath as well, but all the pre plumbing has to be done in the wall. Otherwise the only thing i can take out of our unit is that higher & full extension draws are awesome!

I like the idea of wall mounted vanities, easy to clean under, no water damage problems to the base of your unit etc. Also recomend if you are putting mirrors above vanity to make sure it is a decent distance above it. I clean motel rooms, and our mirrors are too low, always a mess.

donna

I have to install one soon and was planning on about 250 - 300mm gap between top of vanity and the mirror bottom. What do you think?

Cheers

That sounds sufficient, you could do an experiment in your bathroom with a bit of glass or mirror to see how far the splatter goes. I dont know what some people do in front of their mirrors, must flick the toothbrush outwards from their open mouths I think, with personal competition to see how high they can splatter.

RufflyRustic,

I'm working on this vanity at the moment and thought I'd post these drawings as my design seems similar to the ideas you had. So far I'm quite happy with how it is working out as it seems that there will be quite a lot of useable space in the 6 drawers [false drawer fronts at left and right top], and all pipes etc are confined to the middle area, hidden behind the door. Height will be 900mm with a caesarstone top.

By the way, for anyone interested we got our caesarstone about $100 cheaper by using an offcut from the supplier. They get so many offcuts that they end up throwing them out, and we had a good selection to choose from.

Hi JMB,

Now that's a great idea - a ceasarstone offcut!. I like your design, in fact your design and mine follow incredibily similar lines :D

I still haven't started it yet, I know that once I do, the rest of the bathroom will have to be renovated too :( and that's going to be a big job.

Cheers
Wendy

Wendy, a couple of points..

Most vanity manufacturers have gone away from solid wood to HMR veneered board. They find they have less problems (and warranty claims). Make sure you are very careful of grain direction if jointing boards, and very, very careful with the type of finish you use.

The "Press Pop" wastes are great, you can easily unscrew the top for access for cleaning. Give them a lubricating spray every six months and they'll last for years (I've been selling them for years). I don't like the rotating ones.

Why not use all drawers, with the top draw being made to go around the waste (as already suggested)? this makes for more usable storage.

Caeserstone or similar tops with undermount basins look great and are easy to keep clean.

Cheers,

Mark