I also put this in the kitchen forum!!

I'm no expert; these are just my opinions...

Bumping out in the middle, and having your counter follow the contour of the bump-out, seems undesirable to me for just a 15" wide bank of drawers. Our bathroom sink (and kitchen sink, for that matter!) are bumped out three inches from the cabinets on either side -- but the bump out is substantial (60"). I think a middle bump-out for just 15" would look odd, and would just be something to bump into.

As for the cabinet above the center section, I think 15" wide by only 7" deep doesn't give you a great deal of space; it's like an extra deep medicine cabinet! I would probably have that cabinet at least 12" deep. If you want more separation between the two sinks, out could probably come out as much as 15", but 12" sounds about right.

And, yes, I would make the upper cabinet the same 15" width as the lower, so it looks aligned when you see it in its entirety. Making the upper cabinet wider disrupts the aesthetics to me. It creates a tough choice about whether to center the sink in each 30" vanity, which makes it closer to the center cabinet than the wall on the other side, or centering the sink in the space between the cabinet and wall, which makes the sink slightly off-center over the vanity. Keep the upper cabinet 15" wide, and you avoid those problems. Also, you want to make sure you don't have the cabinet impinging on the sink area. Your vanity is 30" wide; you didn't say how wide your sinks will be, but if they are 18", that leaves only 6" on either side to the wall and center cabinet -- you don't want to shrink that 6" by putting in a wider cabinet.

-- Eric

Hi Eric,

I see what you mean about the 15" being too small to bump out. I was originally thinking about doing the bump out because of the depth of the tower. 12" from the 21" deep counter leaves me with only 9". However, another poster suggested recessing the tower. I hadn't thought of that one and then I wouldn't do a bump out at all. Or I could do 2-27" vanities and 1-21" bank of drawers (all remaining the same 21" depth). I'm thinking of how much more drawer space I would gain by doing the 21" bank of drawers and then maybe not doing the tower at all!! The plumbing is in and it's centered for a 30" vanity...I have to find out what doing a 27" vanity does to the plumbing. More questions!!

As you can probably tell, I'm confused. The tower was an afterthought and one that I'm not married to. I don't want to do anything that is going to make the vanity look unbalanced.

Eric, thanks again for the help.

Barb

Recessing the tower is an interesting idea. Is this on an inside wall or outside wall of your house? You probably don't want to recess it if this is on an outside wall. Or, as you suggest, eliminate the tower entirely if you want a more open feel to the space.

You can probably move your sinks a few inches without any plumbing complications, if you decide that's what you want to do. The water supply lines get connected to the faucet(s) with flexible pipe, so moving a few inches off-center is no big deal. The sink drain tailpipe also doesn't have to be aligned directly with the drain outlet in your wall; the connecting pipe can be angled.

The bigger question to me is what sinks you're planning. With a 27" vanity, you may be limiting yourself to fairly small sinks. If that suits what you have in mind, it's no problem; if you haven't chosen sinks yet, you may want to look at sinks now to make sure you'll be happy with a sink small enough to fit in the space you have available.

If you're satisfied that the 27" vanities give you enough sink space, I certainly agree that the wider 21" middle cabinet would give you much more usable space than the 15" unit you were originally planning. One thing you might want to do is to make a life-size mock-up of your countertop (from the side of a large cardboard box, or a roll of kraft paper or gift wrap or something). The reason I suggest this is that in the 27-21-27 configuration, your sinks will be pretty close to the walls on both sides, with a lot of space between them. (Let's say you get sinks which are, for the sake of easy math here, 17" wide. That means you'll have 5" from the wall to the side of the sink on both sides, and 31" between the sinks in the middle. It is all properly symmetrical, but it may feel off-balance. Or, you may love all that open space in the middle. This is a case of judgment and what feels right to you, not something that's right or wrong. But it's definitely worth visualizing before you commit one way or the other.

-- Eric

Hi Eric,

In my foyer, I was toying with the idea of buying a large shelving unit and used boxes and painters tape to get a feel for what it would look like. After doing that, I decided not to go with the shelves and instead have used that wall for artwork. When I get home from work today, I'll do the same for the tower. The contractor needs to know by Tuesday or I may just have him frame it out regardless. I'm going to get the rough-in dimensions today. I think a 15"x48"x12" recessed tower would look good with either the 2-30" 1-15" or the 2-27" 1-21" vanities. I'm calling Ferguson today to find out about sink sizes.

I'm going to back and look at your bath pics again and have been pouring over pics at houzz.

Eric, thanks so much for the help.

Barb