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quakerwildcat

Sink size and placement for 39"x21" vanity

2 months ago

We are remodeling and shopping for fixtures and I'm over-obsessing about bathroom sink size and placement.


What we know:

  • Long vanity with two 39" sections as sink areas (tall cabinet divider in between)
  • 21" deep (22.5" deep with countertop overhang)
  • Dekton backsplash
  • Wall mount faucet that extends 8.75"
  • Vessel sink
  • Most "cramped" side will have a towel ring on one side that extends almost 3" from the wall, and an articulating makeup mirror on the other side (not sure how much it stick out when fully folded)
  • My wife needs counter space! Waterpik (6"), Electric toothbrush (2.5"), soap (3") and room to put various little things down.

This is all why she's chosen relatively small sinks (oval, roughly 15.5"x13.5")


By I have questions:

  • Is 13" too shallow? We can't move a wall mount faucet any further forward, so the front of that 13.5" sink would at best be more than 4" from the front of the countertop, and the drain would still be a couple of inches in front of the faucet. What are the right standards for:
  • How close the faucet extension should be to the drain
  • How far the front of the sink should be from the countertop edge
  • How much vanity space is adequate on either side of a sink (I assume if we go round and bowl-shaped, then we could live at the max end of that range). Or should I be looking more at ratio of sink vs countertop?

Comments (2)

  • last month

    I would not do vessel sinks anywhere - much less in a primary bathroom. They cause a lot of splashes + they are difficult to clean around vs. an undermounted sink. The only time that a vessel sink is a "good" idea is when converting a piece of furniture into a vanity where there isn't very much room under the countertop for the depth of the sink to sit inside of the vanity.


    Also, vessel sinks are sometimes used when the bathroom vanity will be all drawers in order to not have to have a faux drawer as the top drawer + part of the middle drawer (and maybe bottom drawer) have a cut out in the middle of the drawer for the pipes to run.


    Even if I was converting a dresser into a vanity, I would choose a semi recessed sink over a vessel sink.


    Vessel sinks were popular back around 2003 - and then it seems like they were used mostly in a powder room (my sister had a very pretty copper vessel sink in her powder room in the house she built in 2004).


    Will you add a photo of your vanity? Is it all drawers or is it drawers + cabinet doors? Is it a floating vanity or does it sit on the floor?


    If it sits on the floor - how tall is it? Most (if not all) vanities today are at least 34" before the countertop. If you are using a vessel sink, your vanity needs to be much lower to allow for the height of the vessel sink - otherwise, the top of your sink + location of your wall mounted faucet will be too high = uncomfortable to use.


    If you are using a floating vanity, you need to do some measuring + careful planning in order to know where it needs to be installed on your wall. Depending on how tall the floating vanity is, it may not leave much space between the floor and the bottom of the vanity = look awkward.


    I would not want such small sinks in my primary bathroom - especially when you have the room for larger ones. How wide is your tower? You have almost 80" + whatever the width of your tower is for your vanity. Many people don't have 100"+ for a vanity.


    I had custom floating vanities made for my primary bathroom. They are all drawers. I divided my space into two sections + then decided on the width of each section (plus, have extra filler pieces on each outside end in order for them to be scribed to fit exactly inside of the alcove.


    The width of my alcove is 82 7/8" wide. The wall behind the vanity is 102" under crown moulding + then goes further back (like a shelf area - house was built in 1996) and another wall takes it up to 11' (my bathroom is vaulted - so, my ceiling is 9.5' up to 11').


    I took some graph paper and drew out the wall inside of the alcove. Each box = 6".


    I don't have my final sketch handy - but here is my initial one:




    Each section of the vanity is 41.375" wide (that includes some filler on the outside edge against each wall of the alcove). I've drawn the mirrors too low on this sketch - the bottom edge of each mirror is set 10" off of the countertop (in the sketch - the bottom of the mirrors are drawn 6" above the countertop). The top of the mirrors actually end up by the line drawn above the mirrors.


    I took the width of the mirrors x 2 = 48". 82 7/8" - 48" = 34.875 total inches for sconces (11.625" per sconce).


    I thought about having a tower on mine - but decided it wasn't wide enough. Depending upon what your vanity looks like will determine where your sinks have to be located. I was able to just center my sinks in each section of the vanity = centered below the mirrors.


    My electrical boxes for my sconces were set with center of sconce located at 66" off the floor (where the "X" is across from where it has "66" written). The little marks between the mirrors and walls are where the electrical boxes are located (in the middle of the 11.625" space for each of them - the little marks are not the height of the sconces).


    You need to think about mirror placement + your sinks at the same time (unless you are using just one large mirror that runs all the way across the 39" vanities).


    IMPORTANT - you can't just locate your sinks wherever you want - building codes require that the center of your sink must be at least 15" over from any side walls. Also, if you are not filling an alcove with your vanity - code requires that any side edge of your freestanding vanity must be at least 4" away from a side wall (your vanity is freestanding unless it is sized to fit exactly inside of an alcove on both sides).


    I am have really pretty tile that is being installed on back wall of the alcove - it sounds like you are using Dekton for your countertop + running it up the back wall also. It will look nice to have the Dekton continue up the wall.


    I would want a larger (undermount) sink. You need to position the sink so that the water hits in the right spot (by the drain) or you will have even more splashing than a correctly sized/placed vessel sink already causes.


    FYI - I didn't want to lose any space in my drawers + I didn't want to use a semi recessed sink - so, I am having my countertop made with a thicker mitered edge in order to hold most of the sink. I really like the look of thicker countertops.








    I hope the above was helpful. It's difficult to provide exact answers to your questions without knowing more about your vanity/whether it's in an alcove/your mirrors and lighting/etc.

  • last month

    Very nice. And I appreciate all of the thought, effort, and detail.


    We have in our home today, in different bathrooms, undermount, vessel, and semi-recessed,, at different heights, so we have experience with them all. A powder room has a small (13") copper vessel sink and a terrible "waterfall" faucet that trickles water and is too close to the back of the bowl and we hate that, and will replace that faucet for sure.


    Our vanity is being custom built, all drawers, with the top drawers under the sink having a 5" U cutout for the plumbing under the vessel sinks. Faucets will be wall mounted, so minimal exposed pipes. Gaining all that drawer space is part of the logic here, as is the height. We are older and tall and prefer the drawers + the higher sinks.


    Center tall cabinet is 16" deep and 15"'wide.


    No floating (we need the drawers!). The cabinet will have "feet" instead of a toe-kick. 4.25" to allow plenty of clearance for the robot vac/mop.


    Good point re code. I will confirm. One sink area has a knee wall and glass. The other has a full height wall (that's the one that has both a towel ring and an articulating mirror).