Rebekah Zaveloff, owner and principal designer of KitchenLab, co-founder of Design in a Bag.com and Houzz contributor. I'm a self-professed tile nut and believer in good design for all! You can also visit me at: http://kitchenlabdesign.com and http://designinabag.com
Rebekah Zaveloff, owner and principal designer of KitchenLab, co-founder... More »
We get many questions from Houzz users asking us where they can get this or that bathroom vanity, and often the answer is that the vanity is a custom or semi-custom piece, not a standalone readymade piece.
But even when vanities are assembled from stock cabinets, you can achieve a very custom look by adding a few furniture style details. These vanities may look like freestanding pieces of furniture, but they're anything but. Here's a few of my favorite examples, with a few freestanding retail options as well.
Furniture-style legs: This vanity might look like a piece of furniture, but it's all in the styling. Pilaster-style legs, detailed feet, the varied heights of each cabinet, the flush inset construction: All these elements are critical in making this vanity look and feel like a piece of furniture.
Tip: The reason that vanities similar to the one shown here aren't available off the shelf in stores or online is often due to size. You might see a 48" single-bowl, furniture-style vanity available as a readymade product, but a vanity such as the one shown in this photo is designed to fit the space exactly — "fitted" precisely between two walls.
Furniture style doesn't have to be super-ornate. The simple addition of legs that raise the cabinet off the floor transforms a vanity into a piece of furniture.
In this custom piece, turned pilaster style legs and ball feet and a deeper top apron are reminiscent of furniture pieces.
Tip: Analyzing the details of a favorite antique sideboard or dining room credenza can help you to design a custom, furniture-style vanity of your own.
Furniture base molding. If seeing (and cleaning) under a bathroom cabinet just isn't your cup of tea, there's always this option: furniture base moulding combined with a recessed toekick behind so you don't have clean under the cabinets.
From eye level, you can't even see the recessed toekick behind the the furniture base, but it tricks you into thinking the cabinets are standing on feet.
Decorative molding details. The simple addition of a piece of molding between the upper drawers and lower doors adds a level of detail you don't see on a standard stock cabinet. The molding and base molding transforms this into a furniture-style piece.
If a custom-made vanity isn't in your future, and you're looking for a readymade furniture style vanity, there are a few on the market, like this one from Fairmont Designs, that are pretty terrific.
It's not easy to find a readymade double bowl vanity cabinet, and Restoration Hardware has made that a bit easier on us all by offering a handful of styles and sizes.
Great Idea Book Rebekah and a good reminder that most of the furniture vanities here are indeed custom pieces. That needn't frighten anybody away of course but it does take some planning (and a good designer) to pull off a lot of these looks.
The impact of furniture pieces in the bathroom is so much greater than a standard vanity! Great post. In addition to custom, a vintage piece can also be transformed into a striking vanity.
Love these pieces! The vintage pieces are a great idea! We just did a total renovation of our master bath. The vanities were large and custom when the house was built. We loved the design and amount of storage, so had the contractor stain them dark brown and with new hardware the look is totally new! Nice idea book!
I looked and looked for double vanities and came to the same conclusion-it must be custom. This may be intimidating for the average homeowner, but I found a father and son right here in my own city (Raleigh) that makes furniture. Beautiful workmanship and materials, and this is the great part, FOR THE SAME PRICE as furnture store pieces I was looking at.
I had a terrible time finding a base for my vessel sink. I finally found an old dresser and had the builder modify it for use with a marble top. I love it!
Here's mine, the favorite room as far as style, in my entire house. When we designed the house this is the vision I had for the guest bath from the very beginning. It was the first thing I bought for the house and it took me 1 year to find just the right one. Since then I've seen many kind of like it, but never one exactly like it so I know I was really blessed when I found this one. I had given up hope and verbalized that to my friend as we were browsing some antiques shops in Pontchatoula, LA, the home of fabulous, yet inexpensive, antique shops. I said to her, "Well I guess the Lord has something else planned for my guest bath since I can't find the vanity I want." Just as I said the words, I turned a corner in the shop and bam, there it sat in all it's glory. I yelled to my friend, come here, quick, this is it. When she saw it she immediately said, you're right, that is it.
I know, too much information, but I love telling the story of how I found my little dresser.
Thanks Paul, you're so right - planning and the help of designer are good advice!! And everyone else, thanks so much for sharing your fabulous vanities and helpful tips!
I am just finalising the design for our custom vanity as I found it impossible to find a furniture style vanity that wasn't far too traditional for our bathroom. Less to choose from here in Australia too. The hardest part has been trying to visualise the design to make sure it is exactly as I want it. It helped printing out pics from houzz to illustrate what I want!
