Pic of the bathroom, by any chance?

It's gutted at the moment :)

It will have white 2" glossy hex tiles on the floor with gray grout, white glossy 4x8 subway tiles on the walls. Very simple.

Probably this light fixture:

Kohler Archer tub in White

Inspiration pic, though without godmorgon vanity above sink ☹️

Also my vanity is smaller than that--only 23 3/4 inches wide.

Is it possible to use two godmorgons? I don't have any issues with two cabinets but I don't like these two entirely different styles in a small space.

I'd skip the second medicine cabinet. Instead, put individual shelving in between the shower and the sink and then over the toilet.

On the opposite wall, instead of towel racks, install individual hooks on which to hang towels, robes, shower cap, etc. (I just did this in my bathroom and I LOVE it).

Hmm, so I would just put his razor and toothbrush on that shelf to charge? He's a slob... I could see if my contractor would move one of the outlets to over near the shelves, if I go that direction.

And towel storage would be on those shelves as well? Do you have a preferred source for floating shelves? (I'm, um, going to have some, um, store credit to spend at Ikea...)

I seriously only have like three inches for hanging towel/robe storage on the opposite wall, thanks to the door and the generally tiny size of the room, nothing like what you posted. I did buy a hook for that already, this one from Anthropologie (in white of course). It's a master bath just for me and H, so we don't have a lot to store, and H doesn't use a robe. So three hooks are really OK.

Yeah, practigal, that's kind of what my gut was telling me as well. I could also find a square Kohler. All of the Godmorgons are 37" tall (all of the mirrored cabinets). I guess I need to let go of my dream of a plug inside a medicine cabinet.

Contractor just told me we can't recess the main medicine cabinet after all.

i have had it!!

Why can't he recess the medicine cabinet? It's worth it to build framing and reroute plumbing and venting on that small of a bathroom.

My bathroom is slightly smaller than yours. The recessed medicine cabinet made all the difference. It feels roomy even though it's not.

Regarding the chargeables, can you charge them somewhere else, like in a closet or dresser? I just bring my toothbrush in the bathroom when I want to brush my teeth. I keep the brush head, etc. in the medicine cabinet.

One extra towel is stored in the vanity cabinet with washcloths. One hangs on shower door and others on towel rods.

You don't have to store everything in the bathroom. If you have a lot of stuff, you can use a small plastic basket and optional organizer.

There is a stud (of a structural wall) going through the area where it needs to hang. I must say, he shows a lack of willingness to go the extra mile as well as a reticence to be creative, so maybe if I wheedle enough he will admit that it is possible. I admit to not knowing whether it truly is possible or not.

We honestly don't have a ton of stuff. I am just trying to be smart with storage. As far as my sloppy H storing his electric toothbrush outside the bathroom, absolutely not. It is enough of a science project as it is near soap and water. I don't want that thing in the bedroom. Same with the razor--there would be hairs all over the house. He is a great guy, but I know him too well and exactly how it would turn out. He simply is never going to clean up after himself, so I need to adopt strategies that contain the mess.

Spraypaint the godmorgon white?

What if I just get a regular mirror and use the mirrored godmorgon over the toilet? (Still too many mirrors? ) Or, I could use the skinnier white godmorgon along with a regular mirror?

Is the issue that the Kohler and the Ikea mirror are different styles, or that they are two cabinets? Or that there are too many mirrors on the same wall in a small space and I need to break it up? I am going to the trouble tile this whole wall with glossy white subway tile and gray grout, so I don't want to hide it :)

He is not going to like hearing that. Maybe he is using the excuse (silently) that I won't want to pay the extra cost. Well...I will. Unless it is $500, of course. Lol

Definitely frame it out. There is a stud every 16 inches. No decent sized medicine cabinet can be recessed without some reframing. I had it done for both medicine cabinet and shower niche. Every inch is important in a small bathroom.

My bathroom is on the upper level and the medicine cabinet is in a load-bearing wall. So only the roof needs to be supported by that wall. I don't know if it matters if it is on a lower level. Make sure the contractor knows what he's doing though if it needs to be framed out, or get someone who knows how to do it. It needs to be engineered to support the load, but all it is is more studs in a rectangle.

Also check the wall depth. You may be able to get a six inch deep medicine cabinet with outlets, or is that what you picked out initially? I picked out a four inch deep cabinet and I had a six inch wall, so I could have purchased a deeper cabinet. Either way, make sure your medicine cabinet can fit in your wall, and have enough space for any electrical connections that might be required by it.

My ceilings are 8' high. It can be a challenge to fit vanity, faucet height, medicine cabinet with door that clears faucet, and light in a smaller space. The light needs to be a certain distance from the ceiling. If your medicine cabinet is arched at the bottom, that uses vertical space that needs to clear the faucet. My cabinet has a straight bottom and arched top. That style would give you another inch or two. Mine is about 34" high with a high faucet and it's a tight fit.

Another thing to consider is a foldout mirror inside the medicine cabinet door. It is invaluable for applying makeup and moisturizers if you don't have a separate makeup vanity.

Did you get permits? I wonder if the contractor may be trying to avoid those by not affecting the wall. Fixture replacements may not require permits, but changing what is in the wall probably does require them.

Ceiling height is why I had to ditch the IKEA cabinet. They are 7.5 ft ceilings!! Yuck. I was so disappointed.

i have just assumed that such features (super deep cabinet, outlet included, makeup mirror) were out of my budget. I don't have a specific ceiling in mind, but certainly $500 strikes me as insane. But if it really gets me all those things then maybe not...I don't know do you have specific suggestions? And then of course I have read horror stories on websites like GW as out some of the premium brands like Roburn.

That is also a very excellent and helpful point about the curves on that mirror. I picked it out early on before my vision was really clarified and I have been wondering anyway whether I should actually get a rectangular one anyway.

The Godmorgan and the Kohler cabinet on the same wall don't work for me because the Kohler has an arch top. I am finding the arch disconcerting in relation to your other design elements.

Localeater me too. So I am wondering if a rectangular one might fix the issue.

What about this mirror http://www.wayfair.com/Polished-Edge-Mirror-704317-BRN2236.html?source=hotdeals

Or this Robern,http://www.wayfair.com/Robern-PL-Series-15.25-x-30-Recessed-Beveled-Flat-Edge-Medicine-Cabinet-RBN1410.html

Maybe spend more on the cabinet to get a place for your husband's toothbrush to charge and less on lighting, right now. If you have the electrical in the correct place you can always upgrade the fixture later and postpone an expense, if desired. Better to do the right thing, functionally, and tweak aesthetic-only elements(if they can be easily done later), IMO.

You have to weigh budget, aesthetics, function and relationship. It's a balancing act.

Then there is the whole how insane do I want my contractor to think I am dynamic :) Since I live in a VERY small town and my contractor's wife and I are on a few committees together it gets complicated.

Lol!!! I live in a major metro area but it is still bad - I mean, this guy is in my house for weeks so it can get awkward. (And works very slowly, not necessarily a bad thing in all cases. But I'm starting to wonder.)

I am thinking of canceling the light fixture as you suggested and going for another modern but cheaper fixture for now. Get a nicer cabinet with plugs after I talk him into recessing it (I will have to admit to him that I am onto him. That I realize it can be done ... Always awkward, and I am never sure how to have that convo).

The I can use the train rack to hold a hand towel and a couple of extra towels and that will allow for maximal tile display--no sense in wasting it right?

A separate matter is the very sad situation of me trying out yet another failed IKEA cabinet in the room just now, behind the door. I knew it was iffy but it was a total fail.

:((((((((

this was my plan for stashing towels and stuff.

Of course, I am very much open to opinions and thoughts about my plan -- if train racks are going to make my bathroom look like the local holiday inn, please stop me.

I am envisioning a combination of those two rooms: (vanity plus tiles wall/train rack)

Since my walls are so short I want to make sure I do what I can to make them appear taller--hence my desire to have this whole wall tiled.

Contractor is NOT PLEASED with me. "Well I'd have to cut through the drywall to recess it."

Uh... Yeah. It's KIND OF YOUR JOB.

If your contractor is intimidated by cutting through drywall, maybe you need a new contractor. Good luck!!!

I have a hard time justifying cutting into a wall where I know there is a stud directly in the path which means that much more of the wall has to be opened, reframed and then repaired and yes, you do need to pull a permit for that. I just have a hard time believing it is worth that extra effort. You are now talking several hundred dollars worth of more work as opposed to a small hit on returning the assembled godmorgon cabinet

Instead I would be more likely to do is to get rid of both of those cabinets and get the Kohler Fresca an extra wide mirrored cabinet so that there's one large mirror across the area rather than two. The cabinet itself has separate doors so you can separate what's yours and his. The cabinet cost more then you would anticipate paying but you lose the hassle of any level of construction.

So he is not going into any walls? He's just replacing fixtures? You could do that yourself (if you could lift the fixtures).

Is he just a tile guy? I would think he would still have to replace backerboard in the shower.

I don't recall the contractors having to remove more drywall than needed to fit the recessed medicine cabinet, even with the reframing. I only remember them removing the old drywall around the shower to replace it with cement board. We did have a drywall guy come in to redo the texture since it had gotten so bad over the years.

I spent $6K on labor for my bathroom, and about another $6K for materials and fixtures. It was important because it is my primary bathroom. I got everything I wanted. It is 5' x 7.25' plus an extra 4sf for the door opening. I did my own painting. Project took 6 weeks and there was a general contractor, a partner, tile guy, drywall guy, plumber and maybe a plumber's helper. The plumber, drywall guy and tile guy were amazing technically and the others were also nice and easy to work with.

I think the extra space is worth it because what bugged me most about the old bathroom was lack of head space and elbow room. I wanted every inch I could get. I chose a toilet with a narrow tank (about 12" wide). The medicine cabinet comes out from the wall about 7/8" rather than 3-4" as a non-recessed one would. The soffit by the shower was removed and shower tile went to the ceiling. Obscured glass shower door was replaced with clear glass. The bathroom looks twice as big as it used to because of all the head room, clear view through the shower, and perception of higher ceilings.

To be clear, he has not said a word about permits. That would be different. I told him to tell me what it would cost and I would make a decision. The problem is that he just told me t was impossible without giving me all of the information. It is a small bathroom and every inch makes a difference.

we are definitely doing our own painting as well.

i think he is mainly a tile guy, but he has also balked at some of my tile ideas too. So it is not as though this is the only thing he has fought me on--I'm fairly frustrated in general.

More later; in line for a return.

And we are not recessing the IKEA cabinet; it is too big in any circumstance so it is being returned. I want to order a new cabinet hopefully with a plug, even if it is more expensive, and go cheaper on some other options for maximal function on that one option.

With the roburn, the outlet cabinets were six inches deep, IIRC. That was several years ago. If you are getting a recessed cabinet, make sure your wall can handle the depth of the cabinet with the outlets. I believe walls that have plumbing are six inches deep, but IDK.

Also there was more room in the 4" deep cabinets I looked at. The outlets took up a lot of space IMO.

FWIW, I wonder if some contractors don't understand why someone would want to put money into a tiny bathroom to get exactly what you want. If it's the main bathroom you use to get ready, it can be the most important room in the house. Just because it's the size of a closet doesn't make it any less important. I can spend a couple of hours in my tiny bathroom some days. It's like a spa. It's so much less stressful to have an extra two inches here and there - something about personal space. Before I had a medicine cabinet in the wall to the right of my vanity, and I wanted to punch that thing every time it opened. Even recessed it jutted out two inches - two inches too many. It was just too intrusive and "in my face". After the remodel, when the building inspector walked in to the bathroom, he leaned back and said "whoa". It took him by surprise how high end my little 5x7 bathroom looked. The contractor said he was proud when he saw that reaction. :-)

This is what irritates me. I have never asked for his opinion on my design, and he doesn't live here. It is not his money. That sort of reaction DRIVES ME INSANE. This is a room that will get heavy daily use. I am a bath addict. I sometimes take two-hour baths.

I've just returned the curved Kohler cabinet, so I'm going to look at some others this afternoon. I obviously have to order something at some point after I talk to contractor one more time about the cost of recessing it. It may well be that it's stupidly expensive, but all he said was that it would be more work and that he 'd have to cut into the drywall, not that it would make him pull a permit.

ok, he told me to go ahead with ordering a 4-inch deep, 14-inch wide cabinet and acted like it would be no big deal. He did not name a price so I am going to assume it is not exorbitant (every other time he has been specific about pricing). I think he knows he was bluffing.

14 inch wide might fit in between studs, if the studs are in the right place. Mine is 19" wide over a 24" wide vanity. It's a similar style to your original choice, no frame, which reduces the bulkiness factor. 14" might be ok if it gives you enough room. If he can keep all the studs it might be less expensive to install. At least you can have the head space.

You know what though, why 14 inches if it doesn't have to go between studs? Maybe that was just his default medicine cabinet width answer.

Yeah -- my worry there is that he is just planning to stick it between the studs....that is the reason for 14". And if so, unless the opening happens to be perfectly centered over the sink, you are liable to end up with a cabinet off center from your vanity.

Well, he is just not thinking. I mean we just had a conversation about framing it out, I.e. Cutting the studs. Surely he does not think I am ok with it being off center. Surely not!

Robern changed the way the electrical comes into the medicine cabinet so it is no longer part of a shelf and take up space anymore. Personally I would go with a 6" deep cabinet at a minimum so you have maximized the space and semi recess it. I have one 6" medicine cabinet and the others are 8" deep. I much prefer the 8" deep cabinet. You have more options than the Robern for medicine cabinet with electrical. I did find the Robern PLM series was very well priced in comparison to the Sofia or Sidler.

Good luck!

Ok. I returned a bunch of stuff today that now won't work for the bathroom, and canceled the more expensive light fixture, so I am in a position to get something like a Robern without causing my H to have a stroke. Initially I couldn't imagine it, but I can really see how the functionality is worth it.

I will, though, also be putting three stacked Lillanjen cabinets from IKEA behind the bathroom door since I have the space. They're 8" deep, 25" tall, and 15" wide. So that will give me some storage too. But not convenient like a medicine cabinet when you are getting ready.

Get a little plastic basket with a handle to put your "getting ready" stuff into. You can store the basket in the ikea cabinet, and put it on the counter while you are getting ready. I have one with an acrylic organizer in it with all my daily makeup. It works really well.

Yeah, the countertop is going to be small--that's one concern as well. There just isn't room for much of a countertop at all in this room. Layout:

Purrus,

That is a good idea for behind the bathroom door. I might steal that but are you sure a door can take that weight.

Not the door itself. The wall behind the door.

(Exactly where I tried to squeeze in that huge white IKEA tower in those pictures I posted the other night.)

Did you pick a sink yet? I got a kohler impressions(?) sink for my 24" vanity. It's integrated white cast iron. It has a surprising amount of counter space for a 24" vanity top. Nice cute circular sink depression. You can't store anything on it permanently except a soap dispenser, but there is enough room for the little plastic basket I got at bed bath and beyond.

Otherwise you can put the plastic basket on the toilet seat. I put a washcloth down to keep from scratching the toilet seat. Mine is painted wood and it does not like water splashed on it either.

Make sure your vanity will support the weight of your countertop/sink.

I got an IKEA godmorgon vanity so I have to get an IKEA sink. I think I am going to exchange the Braviken sink I got for an odensvik tomorrow when I take back a bunch of my recent purchases. (The odensvik has worse counter space but is deeper--the Braviken is super shallow and I was worried about splashing all over the place!)