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Center medicine cabinet over sink or have more room in bathroom?

2 years ago

I have a design dilemma. My medicine cabinet is slightly (1 inch or so) to the left of the vanity with the sink. While I think technically it should be centered, there are two benefits - a) I have more room between the toilet and the vanity and b) my mirror (which has a brass border) has a little more space away from the bathtub (which I chose to do curtains vs shower doors- so more protection from water). The vanity is not floating, but it does appear to be attached to my tiles already. If you were me, would you leave it or do you think I need to have the vanity moved 1 inch over to be centered (and then lose the little bit of extra space between it and the toilet). I also worry about damage to everything with this move. Curious what people think. This is a small bathroom btw.

Comments (11)

  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Will you be showing us a picture of this situation? Only way to get usable input. Also there’s code about how much space on either side of toilets & the code is there for a reason. Based on your description only, if everything’s attached to tiles & you’re not up for a costly reno then there’s your answer - leave it!


    ETA - 1” to left of vanity – so, not over the vanity at all or over the sink but 1” off center?

  • 2 years ago

    sorry- yes i meant to attach the picture. thank you for the reminder. 1 inch off center.


  • 2 years ago



  • 2 years ago

    What pretty tile. My guess is there’s a reason the medicine cab is off center - wall studs it’s mounted to or something. Is this a new home for you? I wonder if you could surface mount a towel ring or hook for a hand towel to right of mirror? There are some not bad looking 3M adhesive hooks that would stick to tile & not damage it. But the towel hanging there would distract from the off center cabinet. You’re right that it normally would be centered over sink but it’s large enough that it is over the sink enough to be completely fine & useable for the person using the sink. I’d leave it be & check out a small hook for a hand towel to save having to turn around to use the towel on the bar I see in the mirror that’s for the bath towel.

  • 2 years ago

    Thank you! and your comment makes me feel better. i think in the end the functionality works a little better for me, so i think it me be the best option. the hook idea is a good one!

  • 2 years ago

    You’re very welcome Farah! Those 3M hooks I’m thinking of - I’ve seen them in only brushed nickel or Oiled bronze - the nickel color would blend in with veining on tile so if those are still the only options I’d try that one. The hook won’t be very noticable with a towel on it anyway. Just mentioning this as I noted that your fixtures are brass & you might not be able to match but not a problem.

  • 2 years ago

    I would not venture into the can of worms that is moving fixtures. Ins Instead I would hang something just to the right of the mirror to balance it out. I find all of the products on the sink really distracting. Maybe to the right if the rink you can hamg a wall mounted brass soap pump or wall mounter brass cup or holder.

  • 2 years ago

    Ours is like this. Our house had a recessed medicine cabinet when it was built (100+ years ago) and a previous owner had removed it and covered it with a mirror for a mid-90s bathroom remodel. We took the mirror off and used the original framing for a new medicine cabinet, which means it's no longer centered over the sink, since that had been replaced and shifted over a few inches. When we eventually renovate that bathroom we will move the plumbing to recenter the sink under the cabinet, but it's been that way for nine years and we're at least a couple of years out from that project and I mostly don't think about it. We did put a towel ring in the space to draw your eye away from it and try to balance it a bit. For yours, it's also possible that the sink needed to be where it is to meet code for the distance from the toilet, and that a stud or other obstruction (or, if it's an older house, an existing recessed cabinet) dictated where the cabinet was placed.

  • 2 years ago

    @Farah A There’s another vote for the towel hook / ring to the right from @artemis78! So easy & cheap to do that with a 3M stick on hook just to see how it works or if you like it. Maybe you can even paint the hook to match your gold fixtures.

  • PRO
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Maybe it's me. but it would drive me nuts. I took out my own med cab, covered the entire space and more with a really nice custom framed mirror larger than the med cabinet, as I find ANY med very inconvenient storage. They're too shallow: )

    I'd guess that med cab to be 24 x 30 or 36 at most. Seems there's room for a nice mirror, centered over the sink at about 30 w x 42 Or even a nice 36 inch round mirror? .

    Much depends what you keep in the med, and where else it can go. : )

    Show more of the bath if you can

  • 2 years ago

    If you do want to keep the medicine cabinet--I know in our baths they are essential storage since there isn't anywhere else to keep things--and it bothers you, you might also measure to see how wide the cabinet box is. If it's on the narrower side, you could possibly get a wider cabinet and extend it to the right to center it that way, depending on what's going on inside the wall. I would guess you may have a stud just to the left of the cabinet given that the outlet is mounted there, though that's not a sure thing. But if so, it might be worth getting into the wall to see what's happening there. The tiled wall does complicate things, though--if there's no barrier on the right you could theoretically just put in new blocking and move the existing cabinet over, but with the tile that would give you a gap that would just create a different problem.