Opinions needed! Pedestal sink vs. this vanity

13 years ago

Hi there,

I've been lurking and reading these forums and really appreciate seeing everyone's opinion.

Here is my situation:

We bought a place recently and the guest bath is the only 1 of 3 bathrooms with a tub. It is right by the front door. The 2 bedrooms at the back (down the hall) both only have large stall showers. The people we bought from did not have kids, so they only had just the toilet, pedestal sink, and tub w/curtain in the guest bath. What I am trying to ssy is, they NEVER used that bath - it doesn't have a single iota of storage, not even a medicine cabinet.

We are a couple who would like to have kids, and from what I hear from friends, I'll need to bathe them in the tub for the first several years.

We plan to replace the tile and toilet in this guest bath. While doing that, should we replace the pedestal sink with a vanity?

The bathroom is small, about 5x7 and can't be enlarged, so there isn't room to install cabinetry elsewhere, except maybe a cabinet above the toilet, but I really dislike those as somehow, stuff always seems to fall in! :-)

The pedestal sink there now is the Kohler "Portrait" - it is lovely and in pristine condition:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xqe/R-100668604/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

The pros are that it looks good in that bath, and it saves us money to keep it. Also, b/c the bath is small, the pedestal does make it feel more spacious.

If I were to replace it, I would put in this - the Porcher Ovale vanity with Carrera marble top (I have to choose something under 27" wide, and I like that it doesn't have sharp edges for little kids to poke their eyes out on!)

http://www.homeclick.com//web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=223611

Anyone have opinions about this?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

rlthomas7
13 years ago
I have a 2-year old and have been bathing him daily in our only bath tub since he was able to take baths. Our only bath tub is in our only full bathroom, so there's a lot of junk crammed into it. However, ALL of Adam's bath stuff is kept in and on his Boon Frog Pod, which attaches to the wall with suction cups. It holds his toys, body wash, shampoo, wash cloth and hair rinsing bucket. We store his towels, wash cloths and baby tub in his closet and just carry them to the bathroom for his bath. This has never been an issue, but it's not very far away and we take him to his room to get undressed and dressed before and after the bath anyway.

So I guess I'm saying that if the only reason you don't like this setup is because it doesn't have storage for your future child's bathing years, that's not a good enough reason for me to change a perfectly good sink that you do like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Boon Frog Pod
remodel-mama
13 years ago
hi beckyg75 -

I love the look of pedestal sinks, and if it's in good condition, I guess I would think about other options for storage.

Think about what you would need to store in this bathroom - kids don't have a lot of "products," so I am guessing the main things you will need are towels, toilet paper and maybe cleaning supplies (although, you will want these out of reach of the kids).

Could you fit a small, furniture style, linen closet in there somehow? Some of them are only 10-12-14 inches deep... Check out JC Penney website - they have a lot of inexpensive storage options. I think Costco has a linen closet on their webiste now too.

Also - what about using a wine rack to store rolled up towels like:

http://www.oldworldhomedecor.com/storefrontprofiles/DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sid=1&sfid=139980&c=191173&i=244268892

Amazon has a cheaper wine rack:

http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Wrought-Scroll-Towel-Holder/dp/B002TMUI18 or

http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Wrought-Scroll-Towel-Holder/dp/B002TMUI18

Maybe you could also put up a high shelf with baskets for add'l sotrage if needed. Just some ideas...
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suero
13 years ago
Can you install a deep medicine cabinet above the pedestal sink? You can recess a 6" deep cabinet or even an 8" deep cabinet to get the storage space for the extra rolls of TP, cleaning supplies (for people and equipment), and maybe mount a tempered glass shelf above the sink for extra counter space.
beckyg75
Original Author
13 years ago
Wow, thanks for all the suggestions!

I didn't even know that things like the Boon Frog Pod existed! We are tiling up to the ceiling so I could stick that on the wall for sure.

The idea of using a wall mounted wine rack to store towels is a nice idea, too. We would have to use something on the surface of the wall, b/c the contractor said we can't go in between the studs, although suero, that is a good idea for a house. This is an apartment building and there are things we can't touch in this reno (I guess b/c it is several stories, and maybe the pipes behind the wall aren't just supplying our apt...?)

It seems like all three of you think that it might be better to keep the pedestal sink?

Thanks for the feedback and great ideas!
grammy46
13 years ago
Hi beckyg75,
I just did my half bath over and went to a pedestal sink (kohler 24" memoirs)
from an ugly 80's vanity and the difference is amazing. The room is 5'x5'-3"
with a 1'x1' laundry shute in the corner which I enlarged to 1'x2' giving me
a 1'x1' floor to ceiling storage (at least twice as much storage as the vanity).
Visually the room looks huge now.

Good if you can steal some space between the studs by recessing 3" into the
wall and have a floor to ceiling cabinet which could project only 5" into the room,
enough for many rolls of toilet paper and all the bottles of shampoo.
My 1' is enough for towels also.
Good luck

Opinions needed! Pedestal sink vs. this vanity

Comments (5)

rlthomas7

remodel-mama

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Opinions needed! Pedestal sink vs. this vanity

Comments (5)

rlthomas7

remodel-mama

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suero

beckyg75Original Author

grammy46

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beckyg75
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