We have covered this one before. How long is your vanity? The consensus last time was that once the room was done, it would be barely noticeable. It would depend on the length of vanity (longer is better) and the available views of the vanity. If you can’t get a straight-on view a good ten feet away, you may never be able to tell.

Thanks Nancy in Mich. It is a small bathroom, and the vanity is not viewable head on. We will hang and medicine cabinet and go from there.

If the vanity is small, say, less than 48”, you may want to fudge the med cab a bit off center in the same direction and see how noticeable it is. Maybe do mock ups with cardboard. The reason I say this is that if you can split the difference with the med cab, a 1” difference between the light and the med cab might be far less noticeable than a 2” one.

If I remember right, the reason that electricians put lights off center is that the electrical box must go on a stud, and if the builder has not supplied a fix for not having a stud in the right place, the electrician, not being a carpenter, must place it on the stud that is available.

Is the vanity existing/installed? Does it butt against a wall on one side? What’s on the other side? Wondering if you’d have a filler and/or a towel bar on one side that would make the sink directly under the light.

We just redid vanity/light/mirror in a bathroom and I worried a lot about that in our situation because our sink was off center but because the vanity is not facing the door the off center mirror and light isn’t noticeable. I think you’ll be fine!