I don't have a vessel sink but I stayed in a hotel room with one once. I hated it.

I am 5'3" and I was WAY TOO SHORT to use the sink easily. I was banging my elbows on it and it was in the way. I want my sinks below the counter, out of the way and easy to clean.

thanks littlebug, i never thought about height being a factor. i am also 5'3, so maybe the vessel isn't for me..

I am pondering the same issue. However, I have seen some vessel sinks that seem to be partially recessed, or others that are not very high on the sides.

Vessel sinks seem very trendy and I am already tired of the look. They don't seem as functional as an undermount and it seems like they would be difficult to clean. I have only used a vessel sink once for a week we spent in a condo on the beach and the novelty wore off quickly.

We put a very unique vessel sink in our powder room & I love it. It's clear glass with 2 large goldfish etched into it. I put some white pebbles & blue/green glass pebbles under & around it to make it look like a stream bed/wading pond. When you are washing your hands, it looks like you're washing them in a natural environment--it's pretty cool. Like you I am on the short side--5'4" and I knew our 7 yr old son would want to use it all the time (and he does) so height was going to be an issue. We opted to do a 30" high vanity vs a 36" and it has put the sink at the perfect height. Recessing the sink into the granite some was also suggested, but with ours it would have ruined the effect we were after. The type of faucet you go with is also important--we found the waterfall faucets to be to close to the bowl for handwashing comfort + the style didn't go with the vision we had. We went with a tall faucet and set it at about the 2'oclock position with the sink for easy reach.

I will say, we stayed in a hotel for a week with vessel sinks that were smaller in diameter than our vessel sink and they were harder to use--so I would recommend making sure yours is nice and wide.

As far as trendiness goes--I think you need to have at least 1 but no more than 3 (IMO)unique features/special touches in your home that make you happy and makes guests go, 'Wow! Look at this!' In our home, the view of the mountain behind our home from our front door, foyer & family room is usually the first 'Wow!' followed by the vessel sink (whoever goes in there first usually grabs their spouse and drags them in to see it), followed by our tub & shower in the master bath.

Bottom line, if the vessel sink makes you happy, go with it & adjust the vanity & faucet as needed. Hope this helps!

I know people love them, and lord knows I've done tons of them, but I secretly HATE them! They are one of those "form over function" things that can be utterly stunning visually, but when you're trying to dental floss around the sink and faucet with a microfiber towel, you curse their invention. Undermount is SO much more practical from a maintenance viewpoint, and there's no reason you can't take one of those beautiful specialty sinks and undermount it. Maybe even add LED rope lighting to the vanity so that it's underlit. It will be just as stunning, and it won't take a quarter hour to try to get it clean.

mydreamhome, your vessel sink really is soo special!! i can understand how it would make you, your guests, and your 7 year old smile everyday.

greendesigns, thanks for the suggestion. it sounds like a great compromise to undermount a special sink.

Check your local plumbing codes first. The vessel sink pictured has no overflow. Some cities and towns do not allow this design.
Under mounts also accumulate crud between the top and the bowl, easy to clean.

I was initially totally against a vessel for the reason of 'trendy', UNTIL my mind was totally changed. We aquired the most gorgeous piece of stone on the planet and could not bear to cut a hole in it for an undermount sink. The stone has lots of colors and you can see it thru the glass bowl. Our bowl is similar to the one pictured on mydreamhome 's vanity shots. It is so awesome that if we couldn't do it the way we did, I'd have kept our old cultured marble harvest gold vanity. I too am slight of height, 5'0" exactly and all we did was modify the height of the cabinet for that. We also went with a chrome faucet to reflect the light and colors. It's just perfect! It does not splash outside the bowl, is very easy to clean and we love it. Wouldn't change it EVER!! - Mydreamhome - I adore your fishies!!!

mydreamhome- beautiful!

I considered a vessel sink for our powder. However, DH did not want it, the one I liked didn't have an overflow hole which he thought was important and he thought it would be a pain to clean. He also didn't think they were functional since we have kids. He thought the kids and any kids visiting would have a hard time using the vessel sink (due to height). I ended up getting a furniture vanity and instead of vanity lighting we will do a pretty chandelier.

I would consider the room first when choosing to vessel or not. Like I would not put one in the kids bathroom and my powder room downstairs gets a lot of grunt work like mops for cleaning the floor and well it just gets too much hard use. I did put one in my MB and I love it. I too am short 5' 2" and my DH is 6'3" so what I did was put the counter height at 32 3/4 and the vessel was 4 3/4 so that put the vessel top edge at 37 1/2 I am comfortable with it because the sink is a big glass square and I can kinda lean on it. I didn't want to drop the overall counter down lower cause it would no be comfortable. There are all types of vessels out there. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. If you put in the bathroom things that YOU love you will do it right. I find that it is the products that your mind keeps going back to while you continue to shop that you will end up with.