It depends -- do you normally put away all the things you use to get ready for the day into drawers or cabinets? Or, do you normally keep them out on the counter for ease of use? For me, I have a perfume tray that stays on the counter always along with lotions and hair products. So, 5" of counter space would not match my lifestyle. Your mileage may vary.

That sounds like too little space to me.

But, then, some people keep nothing on their counters. Are you those people? I keep on my bathroom counter: electric toothbrush with charger, Waterpik, and hand soap - and that's assuming I'm not being lazy and I've put away the dental floss, mouthwash, face cream, etc...

Figure out what you usually leave on the counter, or just need space for while in use. My Waterpik alone needs more than five inches when I'm using it, so even if I put it away after each use, it wouldn't be enough space.

You're sacrificing counter for sink. It would not be my choice. Are you putting a storage unit on top of the vanity too? Just trying to figure out how 59" minus a 40" sink equates to 5" on each side.

Think through different scenarios. Do you use make-up? If so, where will you put it during mid-application? Use a hair dryer, straightener, curling iron? Where will they sit while heating and cooling? Where is the first aid applied in your house? If the bathroom is the place for bandages, ointments and salves, where will they sit while Doctor Mom is attempting to apply them to a sobbing child?

None of these may apply to you so the trough sink would be perfect. But be realistic. When I remodeled my bathroom I gladly gave up a larger sink for a few extra inches of counter space. Staging things on the toilet just wasn't my thing. Good luck with your project!

Thanks for the comments everyone and for posing those thought provoking questions. We are the type of people who like to have stuff put away. The only things we’d have out permanently are the soap and toothbrushes. I cheated a little when giving the dimensions. The hall bath vanity is 58” wide so there would be 9” on either side. The Master is a little tighter because of the shower so the vanity is only 50” wide.

Seems like all concerns & questions have been raised already & you have enough to think about but I want to add my 2 cents. I looked at images for trough sinks - interesting that none are shown with lots of counter space to sides. I get the need for 2 sinks in master - we’re in there brushing teeth etc at same time. But even though we keep little on countertop, we need counter space while doing our morning or nighttime prep. To set all our stuff down while “working”. I’m guessing you’re wanting 2 sink convenience with existing one sink plumbing so the trough sink does that. Seems like the 40” wide is about standard with 2 faucets in sink. I think I’d get a single bigger single sink to gain counter space as that would be more important to me as long as 2 people can see in mirror - so a big mirror needed. You didn’t say anything about your mirror set up. Whatever you do, I think an under mount sink is a must to gain max counter space.. Can you make up for counter space loss with pullouts in vanity cabinet? In our double cabinet 6’ long, we have 3 drawers in middle & 2 doors on each side. We had 2 pullouts made for each cabinet with the doors (like kitchen cabinet pullouts). One is the entire base width of each cabinet & the second is midway up & half sized so it fits between cabinet side & under sink plumbing. i keep all my makeup in mine - very convenient to pull out & reach down for items. Just need to be mindlful that cabinet door standing open while pullout is out. This is helpful even with our 6’ vanity top with 2 under mounted sinks. It’s a storage deal!

You can put a 3” deep shelf above the faucets to set things on as you are getting ready. I had a piece of cultured marble windowsill cut to fit between the linen cabinet and the cabinet over the toilet in my last bathroom. Used wooden brackets to hold it, painted to match the wall. We kept the electric toothbrush there and set things on it while using them, then put them away.

We are planning the biggest mirrored medicine cabinet we can get. I’m wondering for those of you with two people getting ready side-by-side in the morning is the mirror space more important than the sink basin space and extra faucet? Also for those with drawer pullouts in the sink base cabinets, how do you like them? Some that I’ve seen to fit around the drain look pretty cramped.

How long do you actually use a sink? I need to stand in front of a sink for a very short period of time - to wash my face and to brush my teeth.

Everything else I do doesn't require water and it is actually more convenient to have counter space to put stuff on. For many years I had a vanity in my bedroom and that is where I styled my hair and put on makeup or did other types of "facial" grooming like tweezing eyebrows. It was comfortable to sit.

When I remodeled I deliberated over whether I wanted to keep the vanity in my master bedroom or move to the bathroom. In the end I decided to create a vanity area in the bathroom by eliminating one of the sinks. It is not a typical decision I realize but having a comfortable place to groom was more important than having exclusive dominion over a sink for five minutes of the day - I can't imagine not being able to carve out the time to wash the face and brush the teeth if necessary.

At least for me I don't understand having double sinks at the expense of storage. Often I look at bathroom pictures and there are two sinks crammed into a space that is best suited for one sink plus some counter. I also don't like to have a lot of clutter on the counter because it makes it harder to clean but I also need space to put paraphernalia - dryers, brushes, makeup which I then stash when I am done.

ETA - I do have my sink fitted with a rollout but that is chiefly so that the back of the sink isn't the black hole of Calcutta. I did this with my kitchen sink cabinet as well. It doesn't provide *more* storage but it does make the existing storage more functional.

@Lia Flynn - to your question of pullouts - we have this set up under both sinks in master bath. The top pullout is on the drawer side of cabinet in both cabinets because that’s where most space was between cabinet wall & pipes exists. Exterior size of top pullout is 7” W x 20” D. We could’ve put a narrower pullout on the other side too.

To you question of what’s more important, mirror or sink - for me, it’s mirror & countertop! I agree with @Helen , how long do you need to stand over a sink? I need mirror & counter for hair & face fixing.

Our first house had a 30" vanity, so we had about 5" of space on each side of the sink, and I hated that set-up with every inch of my being. We had NO handy storage. We tried to fix this by adding a 3-shelf thing, but it just crowded the area.

My thoughts:

- Whether you go with a trough or not, duplicate faucets are a waste of space.

- Storage AT the sink is important, and if you go with this trough sink you're giving up drawer space.

- You could remedy the lack of drawer space with a medicine cabinet or (depending upon your set-up) a shelf above the sink) but those aren't as good as drawers.

- If you're short on space, all this counts double.