Input on Bathroom Vanity Design

[Scott Coffelt]

I am working towards building a new house budget and I am working on kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets and vanities to determine material costs to include in the overall house budget. In our powder (1/2 bath or guest bath) I want to do some sort of floating design. You'll see that I am focusing towards modern design. Anyways, the idea is to have the vanity be around 6-7" thick, 24" deep and 54" long. It will also have on one end a cabinet that will be used for whatever. The bowl will be brushed steel or chrome.

My question is more on the overall concept and also wood selection. I am hoping I can completely hide the plumbing within the box structure, though the plan shows some plumbing below. I also plan to have a recess on the end (size pending) to hide the toilet paper dispensor.

I will be using Birsdeye Maple for the kitchen cabinets a hallway away from this bathroom. There will be some patterned glass (most likely squares) used in the door frame of the storage unit. I am leaning towards Wenge for the base unit and storage unit sides and top. Or maybe even B/E maple for the sides of the storage unit and then wenge for the top of that. My concerns are price for Wenge locally $14.99/bdft and how will it handle occasional exposure to water (hand washing splashes, etc.)? Anything else i need to be concerned with in this application? If I don't use Wenge, what other suggestions for dark wood (I do not want walnut) do you have?

Finally, what's your thoughts on the Maple combination and also the idea of B/E maple sides or Wenge sides? The walls would be some nuetral color and maybe faux finished. Not sure on a back splash, but maybe it needs to be Wenge as well. Floor will be Maple or some type of tile.

[Jim Becker]

Personally, I like this kind of design, although I could not use it in the home we live in. I like the asymetric feel with great contrast between materials...and the "different" that the raised bowl gives. I hope Mark comments...this kind of thing is his specialty!

[Jamie Buxton]

Scott --

I'm not clear if you're planning on using wood for the top of counter, but I strongly suggest you use something more water resistant. Every time I see wood used near sinks, water eventually gets through the finish, and then things get ugly. Your very modern design would look good with a slate counter top, either tiled or slab. It could look good in marble or granite, too.

You don't say how deep the storage unit is, but what will happen when the door is opened? Is it going to be sweeping things off the counter? Counters inevitably collect stuff sitting on them. If you have to move them to open the door, that's a pain.

[Scott Coffelt]

Jim, I too hope Mr. Singer replys, it really is up is alley. I really wanted an archetectual feel to it.

I want to stay away from granite, marple and the such on this for three reasons, 1) we are planning it in other places 2) cost, just too much 3) weight, with this suspended design it would require a leg to support the front edge.

There will be a finish, but that part of why I asked the question about wood is to determine how this wood wood react andif there is a better wood that fits my needs.

Cabinet dept will be either 12" or 18" (leaning towards 12"). I'm not concerned about things getting put in front of it. It's really a powder room not a full blown bath. I only see a few possible things that would even be placed on it (i.e., soap dispenser and art piece type items. In the cabinet would be things like a few rolls of extra TP, a couple of hand towels, maybe even some art. Possibly having a light to shine down through glass shelves.

[Mark Singer]

Scott,

I have some similar stuff around here I can try to post some pics. I like the idea of the Wenge...you need to use solid wood and probably oil followed by Polyurethane (satin). I think the design could be improved by movend the upper cabinet below. Or below and linear like the top. The other thing I would suggest is to move the faucet behind the lav (sink). If you have the depth it would be cleaner and more practical.Do you own the sink or are you going to buy it. The reason I ask is Duravit has some nice rectangular ones that would work well!I have a long distance confrence call at 4:00 and then I will try to get some pics up>

http://www.duravit.us/duravit/html/go/chel-57tk3d.en.0

Look at "Vero" they are designed to sit on top and are not that pricey!

[Jim Becker]

Mark, the Vero washbasins look just right in form for what Scott is drawing!

[Mark Singer]

I tried to simpify it a bit.... You can add the lights ...I forgot

[Mark Singer]

OR something like this....

[Wes Bischel]

Scott,

What ever way you go, do yourself a favor and put together a finish board right from the start. Each pice of wood finished with the final finish, samples of the tile, paint/faux finish etc. It will allow you to try different colors, woods, and finishes quickly and when you go to a showroom you will be able to compare your finishes with the porcelain and sink bowl colors.

Anytime I would do a roomset or a room at home, that's the way I start.
FWIW
Wes

[Scott Coffelt]

Thanks Mark and everyone. I need to study what you suggested. I am glad the wenge will work. As far as the basin, I have not purchased yet. I am in a budget stage so I am trying to figure out things and what the costs will be so when I meet with the builder, I can add some of the things I am looking for into his tally. We expect to be finished with the architects within the next few weeks and will then need to begin all the approval processes. I've got some time, but once things start, I know I will have periods of extreme business, so I really wanted to have some things conceptually figured out.

I may try and build a small model to get a feel for everything.

[Scott Coffelt]

Mark,

Very neat products there. I just did a quick fly by, will spend some time this week really cruising the site.

Have you incorporated some of your ideas in your designs? I also think some stell accent trim might be nice on the bottom edge to help tie in the sink. I also was thinking the faucet needed to go behind. I really didn't like the side look, I had thought of having it at about 10:30 o'clock with the round bowl. I was thinking have the round might add some softening to the whole effect.

Thanks again. Your recent posts got me really thinling about design elements.