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View Full Version : Vanity and Linen Cabinet/Hamper



Matt Meiser
07-30-2004, 8:33 PM
OK, since Jim Becker shot down my TV shelf idea (just kidding) its time to start planning another project--the master bath remodel. We are planning to replace the too small linen cabinet/clothes hamper, remove the carpet and linoleum, tile, and put in a new vanity. I'm looking for input/feedback on the plan's I've outlined below.

As with the TV shelf, the new items will be red oak and have a shaker theme, designed to go with the furniture in the bedroom. While looking at vanity tops, we saw one at Home Depot with a wood top. That got me thinking that maybe I could make a wood top. Not counting the oak, I figure we could do white china sinks and some faucets we saw that we liked for right about $100/sink. By comparison, we are looking at about $500/sink for a synthetic stone top with integral sinks and the same faucets. The base of the vanity will be built more like a piece of furniture with short tapered legs instead of a box sitting on the floor.

We'd like room in the linen cabinet for two Rubbermaid hampers. I'm thinking about a pull-out on heavy full extension slides, similar to the recycling units made for in the kitchen. Basically I'd build a shallow pull out drawer with a really tall front. I'd have to run a diagonal brace between the drawer bottom and the front. My only concern is that because the cabinet will be installed in the corner, we'd have to lift one of the hampers all the way over the front of the cabinet. The cabinet would probably be a total of about 7' tall, with doors and shelves above the hamper area.

If anyone has any experience or suggestions, I'd love to hear from you.

Jim Becker
07-30-2004, 9:22 PM
I think you are getting the better end of the deal when you give up a TV shelf for a bathroom remodel!!

As to your vanity, I've been really enamored with some of the designs I've seen lately where two sinks/workspaces are separated by a central "column" that is used as the medicine cabinet/storage for small linens and other personal items. It will work well in a Shaker theme as well as other styles. This way, you can use larger mirrors mounted on the wall behind the sinks without compromising the important storage space that you need "above" the vanity. A recent issue of This Old House Magazine also suggests that you carefully consider how your bathroom gets used; particularly relative to how your schedule/routine compares to your partner's. One design they showed actually provided the same space as a two-sink layout, but with only one sink. That would really work well for Dr SWMBO and I as we tend to be doing different activities at the begining and the end of the day...I might be using the sink while she's dealing with makeup, etc.

Do consider your choice of wood. Using the oak will skew the look more to Mission even if you intend Shaker. (Check out the Stickley catalog and compare the oak version of a piece with the cherry version...same furniture, but looks a little different) It's the grain and pore structure of the wood that makes the difference. An alternative might be to use maple and dye it so to finish it a similar tone to your bedroom furniture. The color will tie the two rooms together while allowing the wood in the bath cabinetry to be more in the style you at least appear to be looking for.

Drop-in sinks will work well and you still have the option of using a stone top with them at a lower cost than solid-surface everything.

For your linen cabinet, consider making it also look like separate furniture like your vanity...or even make it as a free-standing piece! That's a really nice look and sometimes can make the room appear larger.

Those are my few, quick thoughts for you to add to all the others you will undoubtedly receive.

Jamie Buxton
07-30-2004, 10:44 PM
Matt --
Well, if Jim won't shoot at the idea of a wood counter top, I will. Bathroom counters get pools of standing water unless you and everybody who uses them are quite obsessive. Even with a great varnishing job, the water always seems to penetrate someplace, and pretty soon your beautiful counter isn't quite so beautiful anymore. I strongly suggest a counter material which is more naturally water-resistant than wood. Consider Formica, Corian, tile, stone, or metal (copper!).

... and here's just one guy's opinion, but I think those "synthetic marble" tops with the cast-in sink bowls are seriously ugly... Of course, your taste is what counts in your bathroom, not mine!

Jamie

Jim Becker
07-31-2004, 9:11 AM
Thanks, Jamie...in my haste, I missed the wood counter top thing. But I did mention stone... :D

Jamie Buxton
07-31-2004, 1:33 PM
Matt --
About the pull-out hamper... Why start with the Rubbermaid hampers and invent a way to hold them? Instead, just buy hardware for roll-out trash or recycling. They typically come with plastic trash cans, slides, door braces, and the whole nine yards. Some of the trash cans can be had with lids.

A good place to look at some of what's available is http://cabinetstorage.com/cstrash.htm. (However, you can often find the same models at lower prices if you look around.)

Jamie

Lee Schierer
08-02-2004, 4:45 PM
I agree with the preceding comments regarding the wood top. Oak is difficult to seal completely and some water damage will eventually occur.

I would also suggest that unless whoever is going to do the cleaning really has their heart set on having a vanity on legs consider the fact that dust bunnies and other creatures love to gather under low laying vanities and do their thing. Reaching back under a vanity that is 24"+ deep can be a difficult cleaning job. It is also hard to recover the cap from the toothpaste tube from under there.

My wife vetoed the legs and went for the box base all the way to the floor. You could make the legs as well, but consider going all the way to the floor to enclose the are under the vanity and behind the legs.

http://home.earthlink.net/~us71na/BROOM3.JPG

Jim Fancher
09-13-2004, 5:56 PM
As to your vanity, I've been really enamored with some of the designs I've seen lately where two sinks/workspaces are separated by a central "column" that is used as the medicine cabinet/storage for small linens and other personal items.
Do you have any pics of this? It sounds pretty cool. I'd love to see what it looks like.