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Where to place Dollars

16 years ago

As usual my bathroom budget is less than the estimate. I can't reduce the contractor, electrician, or plumber except by re-doing the walls after tile removed.

Now I am looking at 48" vanities, and my question is where should I try to save money, on the vanity or the counter top.

It looks like a Corian counter top will be more than the special order vanity. What is in now ? I could go laminite top or get an in-stock vanity 1/2 the price of the special ordered one.

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Comments (4)

rileycat
16 years ago
I'd splurge on the counter top if I were you. Another option would be to look for a sale. We just found two vanities at a building supply auction at 60-70% off retail.
mahatmacat1
16 years ago
Corian is really not worth it in the bathroom, IMO. There are so many other good surfaces. You can get an instock vanity with a granite top, for Pete's sake, (or a solid surface top, if that's what you want) at HD or Lowe's for much less (and don't forget you can get a Lowe's 10% off card pretty much anytime by just asking for it on their website, and craigslist often has folks selling HD/Lowe's gift cards for at least 20% off face value--I've done that twice now and they've both been quite legit-I saved us hundreds on our toilets :)).

What is your style, btw? And would you be averse to finding a buffet or credenza type of piece that could be converted? Any DIY interest at all? You could *make* a wood countertop, like we were going to do. Please share more about your style/budget/abilities and we can be of more service.
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spanky67
16 years ago
As someone else asked, what is the use of this bath? Is it a master, kids, or guest bath. I got a pretty good deal on a 48" single bowl granite countertop ($340) and spent money on the vanity (~$800). It's a kids bath and I knew after they put it thru it's paces a cheapy vanity would fall apart. Figured I could do it once and forget about it.

There are some half decent cherry vanities from China I've seen that are pretty cheap. I'm sure that'll get some snickers from the peanut gallery, but saving money and getting a look ain't easy. The granite was from a company called Wolf...3 or 4 basic colors and a standard squared off edge with a backsplash.
organic_donna
16 years ago
I would not get a cheap vanity. They make a lot of nice vanities that include the top. Sonia makes some nice ones.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sonia

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