General Question IRT Bath Vanity and The Top

[Mike Shields]

We are in the planning stages of remodeling a master bath with new everything. The spouse wants modern, so she's getting it. Lol.
I've only ever built a vanity that was all wood for a small powder room, so I'm at a slight loss IRT this master:

Is the best approach to find a solid surface top and then build a cabinet to fit that, or vice versa?

The existing vanity is 72" (two piece) with a laminate top. What kind of weight might I be looking at for a solid top that big?

Thanks for any insight.

Mike

[Lee Schierer]

Currently "modern" is a moving target, just watch the home improvement shows. Claw foot or free standing tubs leave lots of hard to clean areas. Double sinks seem like a waste of space. I can't recall many times when my wife and I have both needed the bathroom sink at the same time. Few modern bathrooms have medicine cabinets. LOL

Solid tops: A QuartzStone standard slab size is 120” x 55”, available in 2cm (¾”) and 3cm (1-¼”) thicknesses. The 2cm slab weighs approximately 10.3 lbs/sq. ft. (475 lbs. for 2cm slab and 710 lbs. for 3cm slab).

[Jamie Buxton]

Me, I like stone tops with undermount sinks. A second choice would be solid surface, but I'd still want an undermount sink. (You can just sweep water and debris into the undermount sink. A top-mount sink always gives you a grungy ring around the outside of the sink rim.) You can find prefab vanity tops of stone or solid surface, or you can get them custom made by a countertop shop. Generally the prefab ones cost less, but you get less flexibility in color and shape. If you go prefab counter, buy it first, and build the cabinet to accept it. If you go custom, build the cabinet first. The counter guy is going to want it installed before he comes to template the job.

[Tom Bender]

We just redid our kitchen and went with Corian for the tops and sink. This is the way to go for a truly slick joint. An undermount sink with any other top will have an "underlip" that may be small but it will be noticeable.

As Jamie says, build and install the cabinet then call for a measurement and a 3 week wait for fabrication.

And as Lee says, go with one sink

Get a faucet that is high enough to get your hands under. This will take a little more shopping as most are quite low, I guess to save cost. And skip the waterfall faucet. Two problems with them;

a. If it gets a bit of air and coughs you're gonna get wet

II. at low flow it kinda dribbles

3. at high flow it projects the stream almost across a small sink (a big sink would fix that)

[Steve Rozmiarek]

The standard way to do this is to pick a standard vanity size, 30", 36", 48", 60" or 72". The larger two sizes are usually two cabinets, and there are plenty of configurations of those sizes that will require several cabinets. Working from there will allow the use of standard size countertops. It's ok to go custom sizes of course, but there are a few more steps. Most of the bathroom remodels we do right now are quartz tops. Ditto what the guys said about the modern look, what is it? Used to be slab front with no faceframe, and a vessel sink. Thankfully that look is going away ( I hate vessel sinks). We get about equal requests for rustic and what I call provincial (it's not, but the customers want to hear a term). Regardless, it all starts with basics and the trim makes the style.