Medicine cabinet dilemma

last year

last modified: last year

Hi guys, I am renovating my small main bathroom and could really use some help.

The wall in front of my vanity cannot have a recessed medicine cabinet. It's a complicated story as to why, so just trust me on this...there is no feasible way to do it. I really need the storage, so this leaves me with two options, neither of which I am crazy about. I would love to hear which option you think would be better.

Vanity is 30" wide and standard depth (22" deep with counter). It is in the corner, against a wall.

Option 1 is to get a wall mounted medicine cabinet. This would give me the storage I need and give me an appropriate place to hang a hand towel (on the side wall).

Option 2 is to get a mirror in front of vanity and install a recessed cabinet on the side wall. Hand towel would have to go in a slightly award place.

I am worried about a surface mounted med cab sticking out too much and not looking good...but I feel that Option 2 might look too busy.

Thanks in advance for any advise you can give!

Featured Answer

PRO

Sorell Interiors

last year

@Jodi I think keeping it simple is the best, so frameless for the win. Then also getting the recessed cabinet frameless with similar attributes (like with or without bevel), and yes, the same height and lined up appropriately.

Comments (17)

apple_pie_order
last year
It's easy to get used to a non-recessed medicine cabinet when it has the storage you need. It is not so easy to get used to a hand towel in an awkward place.
Jodi thanked apple_pie_order
kandrewspa
last year
Medicine cabinets are put on side walls often enough. See if you can get a medicine cabinet and mirror from the same manufacturer in the same style so they match. Whether a medicine cabinet that is not recessed will work for you depends on whether you have room for a vanity that is a little deeper than usual, or a sink smaller than usual so you have room to put the faucet more forward than usual. If you do this, be sure to install the medicine cabinet high enough so that when the door is opened it doesn't bump into the faucet.
Jodi thanked kandrewspa
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Helen
last year
When I remodeled I had the option of eliminating the recessed medicine cabinet that was on the side and decided to keep it.

I kept it for functional reasons because it provided better accessibility fo those items which are typically stored in medicine cabinets like medicine because I can view the labels easiliy and they are easy to grab. Reaching for stuff on the wall behind the sink would have been much more difficult and storage in my various drawers and shelves would not have been as accessible. I have plenty of sorage in my bathroom and proximate to it but there is nothing quite like a defined medicine cabinet for a specific kind of storage.

My side medicine cabinet has a door that matches the doors on my vanity so the aesthetics are fine and of course any kind of design is a balance of function and aesthetics.
Jodi
Original Author
last year
Helen Thanks so much for your reply! Would you mind sharing a picture of your set up? I was thinking of getting this frameless mirror (linked below) to keep things from looking too busy, but not sure if that will look too boring. For the side cabinet, I was thinking of either matching the look of my vanity or framing it to look like a picture. Really hard for me to visualize any of this though.

Frameless mirror
Jodi
Original Author
last year
kandrewspa Thank you...you always seem to come to my aid with all my random questions! Really appreciate your insight :)
mojavemaria
last year
Just put the medicine cabinet above your vanity! That sounds like the most practical thing to do and there are a lot of nice ones to choose from.

We remodeled our two bathrooms and one we were able to put a lot of storage in so we replaced the vanity with a nice mirror. The other one we really needed the vanity storage and electrical in the sidewall made it impractical so we kept the over the sink vanity. It looks fine and makes sense functionally.
Jodi
Original Author
last year
mojavemaria Thank you for your reply! Would you mind sharing a pic??
PRO
Sorell Interiors
last year
I am never in favor of a wall mounted medicine cabinet as they take up too much visual space and will make a small room look smaller.
Jodi
Original Author
last year
Sorell Interiors Thank you very much for your reply! Do you think this frameless mirror would be too boring...or good to keep the area less busy looking?

frameless mirror

I think I would do the 20x30 and wondering what would be the ideal height for a recessed cab on the side wall? 30" high to match the mirror...or less? Thank you again!
eld6161
last year
last modified: last year

Here is one of mine. I live all the storage. I look at bathrooms with function first.
Jodi
Original Author
last year
eld6161 thanks! That doesn't look wall mounted to me...how far does it extend out? Looks great!
Jodi
Original Author
last year
Sorell Interiors so happy you replied again...ty! quick question...I was planning on not doing a mirror for the side cabinet. Either just a solid door (inset), opaque glass (inset into frame) or concealed to look like a framed picture. Do you have any thoughts on which would look best?
Helen
last year
last modified: last year
I am short and as I wrote I would not be able to access a cabinet that was behind the vanity especially with my higher height vanity. My master bsth is traditional as my onsorarion was a moxtire of Arts & Crafts, Prairie and Art Deco. Since the pictures were taken, I installed a Chinoiserie wallpaper which is an homage to Hollywood Regemcy 😂😂

The medicine cabinet is essentially a miniature of the vanity.
tracefloyd
last year
eld6161
last year
Jodi, it is recessed. Comes out enough be open the doors.
tracefloyd
last year
Oh I didn't realize that when I posted the pic, I saw it online and thought it looked nice but did no research My bad...Sorry.

Medicine cabinet dilemma

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