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lillo_gw

Depth of vanity tower. Need your advice .

lillo
10 years ago

Done with the tile , now tackling the vanity !!! ( no end in sight ?) . The whole vanity is 98" long , it has 3 drawers in the middle 26 " x24" ( 3 " more than regular ) The two sides of the tower are 36" x 21" . The tower is going on top of the middle 3 drawers . It will be 26" wide , I Have not decided on the height yet, probably 54" . The arches above the sinks will go higher than in the picture. They will start where the middle tower ends and they will each have a 2 lights fixture under the arch, that will be more curved than in the picture .
What do you think of the overall design and measurements?
My question is , how deep should I make the tower ? 15" or 18 ".

Comments (69)

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No I didn't think of doing that mayflowers . I don't know if it is an option now ? I don't know if there are water pipes running behind or not . Early on I wanted to put a recessed medicine cabinet above the toilet . There were pipes in that area and my GC said that he cannot put an elbow to bring them down . It will create a water sound in the walls. I'll check with him . Thank you for the suggestion . I am also considering to have a garage with an electric plug instead of the first drawer in the tower so it will give more counter space if needed and I can tuck away my blow dryer , electric toothbrush and leave them plugged in .
    What about the arches and lights , what do you suggest ?

  • _sophiewheeler
    10 years ago

    What size sink do you plan to use here? 4" square one? Because a regular vanity sink won't fit in the configuration. And if it could, you couldn't get to the drain to hook it up. I can't imagine a plumber's face when confronted by an 9" opening that he can't even get a single one of his arms through to be able to hook the drains up.

    That design doesn't pass the "real world" test. It doesn't even pass the "design world" test as it's visually too massive and detail heavy for the space as well.

    The reason that people who put in 36" vanities have a blind panel for the top is that you can't put drawers where the sink occupies the space. You could have two very small drawers to either side, scooped out around a central sink, but think of them only holding toothbrush sized objects. You will need drawers done without any rails in between them, so that when they were all pulled out, you could have open access to the interior of the cabinet in order to access the plumbing. The center of the second drawer would also need to be scooped out to allow for the drain. But you could have a 3rd drawer that would be full access and hold quite a bit.

    However, you need to also simplify the uppers. Get rid of those valances. It's too much with the detailed glass. Use the oval framed mirrors of your inspiration to echo the curved lines of the glass without adding any more overwrought details. And shorten the whole thing up. Re-using the mirror isn't a compelling enough reason to make things incorrectly proportions.

  • enduring
    10 years ago

    I didn't read through all the post but I think the center tower is too over whelming, and divisive. Maybe some one mentioned splitting the towers already, but that is what I would like to see drawn up. Each mirrored area would have a narrow tower to the outside of the run.

    It might not work.

    This post was edited by enduring on Sun, May 12, 13 at 14:15

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Here is the interior of my vanity top drawer. Large cutout for the sink, below this draw you can see the second drawer underneath it which the cut out is smaller for the plumbing.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The biggest issue here is that my plumbing is already done for the sinks at 18 " from the sides . Splitting the towers is not an option anymore , getting rid of them is not either . The problem is that my GC was too lazy to get me the drawings until now . So now I have limited options . He is the one who did the drawings , so he should know if this is feasible or not . I know that he will do the two 6 " drawers on both sides of the sink . I have no idea what he will be doing with the two others , will they be without sides too , so when he removes the drawers he can do the plumbing. I'll have to ask him that . Thank you hollysprings for your suggestions . Let me tell you the main reason for me doing the two sets of drawers on both sides . So when you are standing at the sink you can use anything from them and put it back like olychicks did in her bathroom. this is why having 3 drawers under the sink is not feasible for me either, because I will have to step away from the sink to get anything from them , not stand at the sink and use what I need from them . So what other option do I have to put what I use everyday in a reachable place . I will be using the tower for the taller items that are infrequently used . I don't want and don't have the space to have medicine cabinets. olychicks in her pictures on this web has the same setting of 3 drawers on each side except that she has double doors under the sink . I am not stubborn as might sound , but I know how I'll be using my bathroom , so I want to do it the best way . I don't want to end up with a nice looking vanity that wan't serve my everyday needs . My only other option under the sink was to go with 18 " door and 15" drawers which will be unsymmetrical with the sink . Even like this I think that the second drawer will hit the water pipes . So I am limited with the 12" drawers any way . So what would I do the rest of the 36" ?
    So what other design do you suggest with drawers that I can use while standing at the sink, and will optimize the usage of my space ?
    , keeping in mind that my plumbing is already done at 18" from each end. Thank you again for all your feedbacks . I know you are all trying to help me . As usual nothing goes smooth in what I do .
    Busybee is the only one supporting me in my drawers . You must have a lot too?? .? I don't want to limit the tower to 12" as I previously stated that I might use it for other than toiletries , because I got rid of my linen clothet in that bathroom . So I want to maximize my storage area . I might need it later .

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    I think the problem is that you've accounted for everything in the bathroom except for the three bodies that need to be in that room--you, your husband's, and a plumber's!

    Olychick's bath for reference. She has much more than 9" on the sides of her sink and she has an adequate sink base. It's probably at least a 48" vanity without the tower and base drawer section.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is another picture from houzz with the same tower depth with regular size base at 21" counters,in a narrower space mine . Does it look so bad?

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://houzz.com/photos/164833

  • dekeoboe
    10 years ago

    Let me tell you the main reason for me doing the two sets of drawers on both sides . So when you are standing at the sink you can use anything from them and put it back like olychicks did in her bathroom. this is why having 3 drawers under the sink is not feasible for me either, because I will have to step away from the sink to get anything from them , not stand at the sink and use what I need from them . So what other option do I have to put what I use everyday in a reachable place .

    I am a bit confused by this. Your vanity is 36" and the drawers are 12" which means you have 12" in the middle. With this arrangement, I don't see how you can stand in front of the sink and pull out the drawer without moving to one side - unless of course you are only 12" wide and stand exactly centered in the middle of the vanity.

    Regarding the plumbing already being done, our plumbers told us it would not be a problem moving the drain 2-3" from how it was roughed in. But you really need to consider the space needed for the water lines. That is why if you look at premade 36" vanities you will not see on configured the way yours is.

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    I understand what you are saying, I like having drawer open while I am at the vanity. In my case, I can, by using the pencil drawer on my L shaped set up. For you, if you go with drawers at your vanity , you would have to have your items in a plastic basket type carrier and pull the entire thing out while you are using it or divide the center drawers in two( under the tower drawers) and you have one side and husband has the other. The drawers will be narrow in width same width as the glass section but with three of them assigned to you , you can organize your creams and cosmetics and have drawer open to you. Then you would store in your vanity drawers hand towels, wash clothes and once and a while or back up items.
    Also the plumbing should go in first and the drawers should be made on site after plumbing in so it can accommodate any issues plummer has. The plummer should be aware of the drawings and try his best to place his pipes to accommodate the drawers but it could be off slightly. But the small tweaking is made on site by the cabinet maker. This will pull together for you. Good you are addressing any design issues now. You thought the tile was the hard part!

  • dekeoboe
    10 years ago

    Also, in the picture of olychick's vanity that you posted, the six drawers on the right are not actually six drawers. They are three wide drawers each made to look like it is two separate drawers. She did that to get the symmetry she wanted, which was very clever. You might be able to be similarly inventive to achieve what you are looking to for.

  • terezosa / terriks
    10 years ago

    I'm late to the party, but I noticed that all the inspiration pics look to have about a 48" counter on each side, and a much larger doors below the sink than the OP's drawing. I love drawers and advocate for having as many as possible, but you need more open space under each sink. Have you thought of having a drawer under the doors below the sink? That's what we have and I find them very useful.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you again all for trying to help me out . As you all stated that the space under the sink 10" is too small . I will increase it to 12" or 14" and make the drawers smaller 10" or 11" . I hope that will work better , as in this picture on Houzz .
    Sofia, having to share a drawer with my DH is a big NO . I will be hearing all the time , what do you have this for ?.
    Terriks I like the drawers under the doors , but my DH had a back problem , so it's not feasible for him to use it , he needs drawers to use at higher level .
    I hope that my solution will work, and pass your inspection . I am linking the picture on houzz

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://houzz.com/photos/68213

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hey guys , check this one , it beats me up , it has 21 drawers !!!

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://houzz.com/photos/458087

  • treasuretheday
    10 years ago

    Here are the last three pictures that you linked...

    "Here is another picture from houzz with the same tower depth with regular size base at 21" counters,in a narrower space mine . Does it look so bad?"

    [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Milford General Contractor M.J. Whelan Construction

    [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Redwood City Architect Simpson Design Group Architects

    "... 21 drawers"

    [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Los Angeles Architect Tim Barber LTD Architecture & Interior Design

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Lillo, I didn't say share a drawer with your husband. Who in their right mind would want that. Go back and read. I said was exactly like in the above picture posted by treasure, first pic, is to change your drawers on the BASE cabinet under the tower where you have three large drawers to two separate side by side drawers (don't know your measurements) so that both you and your husband will have your own drawers side by side (separate drawers) to pull out while your at vanity. refer to first pic by treasure above.

  • GreenDesigns
    10 years ago

    Small drawers are practically unusable. That 10" drawer you are thinking about? It will nly be around 6" of space inside the drawer. You have to account for the face frame taking away space, and for the needed clearance between the drawer and face frame and then the actual width of the drawer material itself.

    If you want more usability, you need to make all of that small stuff into one big drawer, or else do doors. Tons of small drawers will end up holding individual bottles of hair gel in this one and blush in that one, and you will have less space that you have now with doors.

    You need aminimum of an 18" clear opening in order to access the pipes that need to be inside the cabinet. Even that is VERY VERY tight for a plumber to try to twist himself into knots in order to reach something with both arms.

    Therefore, under a sink, you either need doors that swing open to allow that access, or you need to do framless construction with single drawers across the whole width. That will preserve access by being able to pull out those drawers. You only need runners at the sides if there are single drawers. If there are multiple drawers, the space will need interior divisions to attach those runners to which will make the space inacessible for the plumber.

    How you divide that single drawer internally or faux for the exterior is up to you. But, try to avoid the higgledy piggeldyt look that your original post has going. It's way too much visually. Especially with the tower and valances. I'd remove the tower and the valances personally, but at least one or the other needs to go, and what remains needs to be simplified.

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    "The middle tower will surve the purpose of medicine cabinet and storage for blow dryer ( I am having a plug inside the tower ) electric toothbrush etc etc ."

    I'd shrink the center section and add those inches to the vanity drawers and countertop. Use one door on the tower-- you are trying too hard to have his and hers function there with the double doors, and that's cramping the whole design. Is it really that difficult to stand in front of the tower to open a door to get out medicine rather than from the side?

    Are there feet planned for the base to carry on the traditional styling of the mirror?

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Lillo, I know this is not your style that you are going for but so you can visual the size in comparison to the amt of counter top left. I was afraid of being top heavy , esp that the wood is dark so I streamlined mine to 8inches in depth, width is 16. Used a mirrored front to blend in which turns out useful because I can open mirror and bring it closer to me when applying makeup or position it when drying back of head. 8 inches is plenty of room to double up certain items and you can also put makeup brushes or eye pencils together in a glass and keep it on the shelf.

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Here is the interior of the medicine cabinet for a visual of 8 in in depth. Now I know you were wanting the linen storage but if you can put in drawers under vanity it would take care of the bath towels and hand towels.

  • _sophiewheeler
    10 years ago

    Just because someone puts something on Houzz doesn't mean it's a good design. Popularity doesn't equal good design either. There is a lot of non functional ill proportioned dreck on Houzz. The city skyscraper look with all of those towers is borderline good design in most cases. Where it's successful, the bath is LARGE to VERY LARGE. And the skyscraper look is proportionate to the overall size of the bath. Your tower is not proportionate to it's surroundings. Your bath isn't the size of Montana. It's "normal" sized, which isn't an indictment of it at all if you keep it's proportions in mind. Just don't try to park a Hummer in a zero lot line garage. It doesn't do anything but make you mad that you can't get out of the car after you've pulled in, and possibly damage the garage door and the vehicle's roof when you try squeeze it in place.

  • dekeoboe
    10 years ago

    The vanities with drawers that you are showing from Houzz are vanities that are larger than 36". You need to try to find some vanities that are 36" or less.

    Just because it looks like a vanity has a drawer right under the countertop doesn't mean it is a functioning drawer, especially if it is close to the sink. Some people add knobs or handles to faux drawers to give the illusion that it is a real drawer. Did your contractor state that all the drawers in the drawing you posted will be functional?

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you again treasuretheday for loading my pictures . No I am not doing the arches , i will just have the mirrors with crown molding on the top . The light will be inside the Mirror on top of the sinks . I will make the tower to open from the middle as one cabinet . I will defenetly not have 2 doors under the cabinet or anywhere in my vanity. I had these in my previous vanity and hated them everyday . For me they are a waisted space . I would rather have a limited space in small drawers than have them lost in that big space . I already have 9" drawers in my guest bathroom vanity ( put there by previous owners ) they are fine for me for my my everyday items that I use .
    So My only other option is to do what Sofla suggested to have 3 drawers like hers on each side and have the middle divided into 6 drawers they will have to be 12" or 13" each wide . The only issue here is that the tall items that I was going to put under the sink will not fit in these drawers . I will probably use the tower for these items .Also In one stack under the sink I will put my towels and linen , the other stack I will need to have dividers in there , so things won't get lost . I will run that other option by my DH and CG and see what they think . Thank you again all for your help and feedback

    .dekeobe ,the small middle drawer under the sink should be a blank space , there is no drawer there. He put a knob there by mistake . On the two sides there will be a 6" drawer covered with a 12" front just to keep the symmetry with the ones underneath . All the other drawers are functional .

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    This is a picture of my guest bathroom vanity. It has double sinks with two 10" drawers on the right and left of each sink in between them there is a stack of 9" drawers . I hate all the dead space behind all these doors , I wish they were drawers. You just shove stuff there and it gets lost .

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    I saw a design where the two sink bases were all drawers that could be pulled out for plumbing, and the center cabinet was a top drawer and a door. That section was about 20" wide and would allow you some deep storage behind the door for your Costco bottles. That way you only have one door to waste space.

    You would need to step back to open the drawers in your sink base, but the top center drawer could be divided so you and your husband could share it, or you could claim it since you said you don't want him looking at your stuff. It would give you a more proportioned tower if you made it 20" wide. Your sink bases would increase a little to 39". Lots of ways to configure it.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you again mayflowers for your help. But 20" inch again mean 10" each for two drawers . Moreover I can't ask my GC now to change the plumbing for the sinks . He already asked me before he did it. He will be made like hell , if I tell him now that after we did the plumbing and dry wall , that I want to change their place . I knew from the beginning that nothing is perfect like life. So I will just have to go with what I chose and be happy with it . I think I will go with what Sofla suggested to have 3 drawers 36" under the sink , and 6 drawers 12" or 13" under the tower . Do you think aesthetically it looks better like this ?

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Lillo, scroll up to midway where I posted the interior of my top drawer. The only space lost is the small cut out. Notice the compartments in front of cutout. Also look to the left , its partially cut out of picture, but I sectioned that according to the size of the large listerine bottle. I made it only wide enough so the large bottles like the listerine, hair spray , tall shave cream, etc line up and stay positioned with opening and closing. The center two sections is the curing iron and flat iron. The right side I put the hand towels in. The second drawer( I only have two drawers because I have a wall hung vanity) Is not divided the same way, one side is wide for three bath towels, the opposite side I use for about 6 thin towels for hair, the mid section is empty still. Find your tallest item that you would store there and have the cabinet guy accommodate it with the dividers made on site. All entire drawer should be done on site because he doesn't know how deep your sink is going to be and if there is any rubbing on opening and closing.

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    Lillo, the 20" center drawer could be split inside with a divider so you and your husband each have a side. But now it sounds like you're going to do all drawers anyway. Not quite sure how you ended up with 6 12" drawers in the center though.

  • raehelen
    10 years ago

    Hi Lillo,

    I've tried to follow this whole post...LOL Could you possibly post another drawing of where you think you are now? I totally get the wanting to have as much storage as possible in drawers. My drawers only vanity is being made as we speak (or maybe it's already done....). I have a MUCH tinier Master bath than you, and I am trying to squeeze every inch of storage space I can while not making it appear too crowded. Maybe one or two of my ideas can help you...

    Our vanity will be 40" wide and three drawers wide. Top two drawers are shorter to allow room for plumbing in back. Top drawer interior will be a U shape like Sofla's with storage at sides and a little bit in front of sink. I chose a very shallow sink, so that the second drawer can be a full drawer with just a U cutout in the back piece to slide under sink drain. Bottom drawer will be full depth (12") and 22"+ long- that's where I'm planning to store my towels.

    I am having a custom made cabinet to match vanity over the toilet (I have an 8" deep alcove there), it will be ~ 30 wide and 48"long, 8" deep and will store toilet paper and other sundries...

    Then, I am having a medicine cabinet made that will be partially set into wall and partially stick out 4" and 4" to a depth of 8", inside dimensions will be ~ 27" wide by 30" high. We will have a plug in there for my toothbrush. I am thinking that I will actually have more storage now that I did before with a 3 foot wide shelving unit as the shelves were so far apart that a lot of space was wasted. My previous vanity was just a 36" with 2 doors, no drawers at all, and one door didn't even open all the way as toilet was in the way.

    I will also have a 2 shelf high 30" wide niche in shower, so all shampoo bottles/shaver etc, should fit there.

    I am thinking (but maybe there's a reason you don't want medicine cabinets), that if you went with three banks of three drawers on your 98" long vanity, and then had 2 or even 4 (one on each side wall) medicine cabinets, that you wouldn't even need a tower on top of the counter, and wow, would I ever envy you that awesome counter space! Even room to dry a sweater... LOL

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I am having a meeting with my GC tomorrow to finalize the my vanity. Thank Sofla again for your feedback . It really helps . I don't know if I will be able to carry out your design that I started to like , but as you said the drawers and dividers have to be done on sight according to plumbing. ( can you post another image with your drawers with the dividers now ? ) How deep are your drawers .My GC is starting to be uncooperating , because he had to change the place of the fan plugs that were put in the place of my towel rack . He claimed that I oked it while I didn't , so his workers spent more time to change these plugs . So now he is on the defensive and claiming that I shouldn't change in the vanity since he spent 3 hours to do this drawing .
    I am going to let him choose either to carry out the design that he did with the 10" opening for the plumbing of the sink and deal with the plumber ,or he will have to go with your suggested design . I am also thinking to go with a smaller sink the kohler Caxton 15" , that will give me more counter space 10.5" on each side of the sink.
    Good to hear from you raehelen , I cannot do medicine cabinets on side walls because , on one side I have a pocket door and on the other there is a pony wall . I cannot recess a medicine cabinet on top of the toilet because of pipes in that area .i have no other walls left . Plus I cannot remove the tower and leave my sinks at 18" from each side that would look really odd .
    I am having a 12"x12" niches plus a smaller one for the soap and brushes I think 4"x12".
    Mayflower I will end up with 6 12" drawers in the middle because I have a 26" base under the tower . Look to the above picture of the beige vanity mentioned by Sofla , that has 6 drawers in there .
    So ultimately I don't know how my vanity is going to look . I will be happy either way . If I stay with my first design i will have 12" drawers on both sides under each sink and the 26" drawers under the tower . Or if I can change it to Sofla's design , I will have the 3 12" drawers for each of us and 36" drawers under each sink.

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    Go 17" on the Caxton. I was going to use the 15" in my 36" vanity and the bath salesperson said it'd be too small. I thought 15" looked fine, but I took her advice. When we were templated for granite last week, he said the granite will slightly overlap the inside of the sink rim. The porcelain sinks aren't a perfect oval so he can't cut to the sink. He fits the sink inside the oval he cuts from the granite. So that would have cut my 15" sink down even smaller.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you may flower for the advice I was just telling my DH that I was going with the small sink , he mentioned that he would be splashing water outside of the sink . I was going to go with 17" verticyl , but changed my mind to gain 1" on each side of the counter top . So I will go back to the verticyl . I really appreciate your help .

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Lillo , per your request for pic of drawer. The draw measures 9 1/4 approx. deep. the area in the center where the curing iron and straight iron are about 3 1/2 in deep. I don't know how to post two pics at once so I will post the bottom drawer in separate post.

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    bottom drawer. I put some towels in for perspective. Most of my towels I would store there is in the laundry. I am keeping only what I use. About three bath towels , one in use, one clean and one in laundry and a ton of wash cloths and thinner towels for drying up the shower and to wrap hair.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you Sofla for your pictures. I hope I can go on with this. I'll let you know.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Ok Sofla I just finished my meeting with my GC , he is better coordinating now . I am going to go with what you suggested . 3 drawers under the sink from each side and 6 in the middle . I asked him to make me removable dividers in the two bottom ones . I am going to go with a 12" depth tower as you suggested two . I have a cabinet in my kitchen that is 12" x 26" so I tried putting my stuff there and I fits . The garage unit in the bottom of the tower will be like a drop down drawer with hinges in the bottom . The one that lifts up is $350 for the mechanism , no way . This drawer will have a 10" front , on top of it a 6" divided drawer for my make up stuff like the one you have in your other vanity . I am happy now with my choice . Yeah the only different thing I did was to go with two separate drawers on the top 6" each wide , with a face of 10" , so when I put the knob it won't look odd with the ones underneath . My question is would I make it look like one drawer with one face that is just cut up at 10" on each side , or should I go with 3 drawers faces 10" on each side and a 14" one in the middle . What do you think would look nicer .? Anybody else feedback is welcome. Thank you again all for helping me.

  • dekeoboe
    10 years ago

    Can you post a drawing of the two options?

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    This sounds so much better. Glad to hear your GC stopped being such a baby about his 3 hours into that non-functional drawing and was willing to work with you.

    Your description of the garage/drawer with a hinged bottom is confusing. Do you mean a hinged door? You don't show a garage in your original drawing. What is going in the garage? It would be helpful if you could hand draw the tower for us.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I am going to have the garage at the bottom of the tower with an electric plug in there where I can keep my blow dryer, electric toothbrush plugged in and tugged inside it . When I need to use them . I just flip this drawer front down et voila I have them already plugged in there . I am including the drawing ( bad one , I tried ) . What do you think of the drawers which way should I go ?
    Sorry , there is a missing a in garage,

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Dekeobe this a rough drawing of the two options.taking in consideration that the next unit is having two 12" or 13" drawers on the top , two middle , two bottom like in the beige vanity above.

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Your getting closer to getting this figured out! The top drawer, on vanity are separate drawers ? three across, in picture on right. What is the left top drawing denoting? Two small drawers and a stationary middle? What is the center top drawer , inside will be cut out for sink, will there be any function to it, meaning a section in very front of that drawer. Your asking if the top drawer assuming that they are separate drawers should be trimmed out as there own drawers in pic on right, or be trimmed out to match bottom two drawers in pic on left? The pic on left would use less hardware.
    If you went with pic on right, three separate drawers , does your GC understand that you want the drawers flush w one another and not to see the cabinet face in-between. Full overlay?
    Also , the hinged garage w hinge on bottom, if there is hardware on it, it will not lay flat when open or it could scratch your counter. Is there room behind that garage to house the outlet box? Where is the outlet and is your cord to blow dryer long enough to reach your height at center of vanity.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Yes the center part of the first drawer is just a fake drawer , I will not put any hardware on it leave it blanck . The two drawers on each side will be 6 " wide drawers it will its own regaling from the inside 1" away from the sink . The 6" drawers will have a 10" face so I will be more symmetrical with the bottom drawers and the middle drawers . Or should I make it to appear like the bottom drawers as a one full drawer (the one on the left ) ?
    I know that for the garage in the tower it will not be flush and the hardware can hit the counter . I came across a thread here where somebody had this done with a certain hardware like the toy boxes . I will go back and check it and look myself for hinges that you can affix to this face and bring it up instead of down . The electric plug will be in there I can use an extension cord if necessary for the blow dryer , but I think the cord is long enough . Yeah I think I am getting closer . I will check with the GC if its full overlay or not , thank you for reminding me .
    I think I will go with 3 separate faces and keep the one in the middle blank . Should I make the face of each drawer 7" (interior width 6" ) and leave a 22" blanck face ? Or should I put a 10" face on it for the symmetry with the rest of the drawers , and leave 14" blanck face in the middle ?

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    I would do the top drawer like Sofla's. That's a lot of extra storage in the center section, and I wouldn't give up storage in a top drawer. You'll need your big bottom drawers for towels, so make the most use of that top drawer.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    My first drawer is only 6" tall by 6" wide so I am planning to just put in it the stuff that I use everyday like toothpaste , comb and stuff . I want to be able to use this stuff while standing at the sink out of the drawer and back to it , like part of my counter( remember i have marble so the less i put there the better ) . The depth of vanity 21" the sink overall width16" . I you look at the sink specs I have literally no room left at this level . Sofla drawer is taller , 9.5" she said , and maybe her sink is smaller . So actually I am not loosing any storage and just gaining that I can use these drawers while at the sink , not to have to step out .
    So back to my question how should I configure the look of my top drawers to match the bottom drawers and the middle drawers ?? I need to get back With him tomorrow , oh or actually today for that issue .

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    The top center drawer that you plan on keeping stationary, I would maximize that space. I would either make the door fold down like a pencil drawer that is used under kitchen sink for sponges. This will easily accommodate tooth paste, comb , floss, lipsticks . Or I would make it as deep as sink allows to hold something like eye make up remover size bottles. This is valuable space that can free up the 6 in drawer. If the space is slim enough to hold eye pencils its worth .
    To answer your question depends on what you do w that center drawer.

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    I'd make the top corner drawer fronts as wide as possible for the simple fact that you plan to have the knobs on the middle and bottom drawers line up with that top knob. With a 7" drawer front, the knobs will be 3 1/2" from the ends of your 36" drawer. Not sure how that would look. Or you can use a centered pull on your wide drawers.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I think I am going to do an 8" front for both drawers since the drawer itself is 6" , and I will use centered pulls for the two bottom ones. I like to have one handle to open the drawer versus two that you have to use both hands to open them . Thank you Sofla for the suggestion , I will ask my GC if I can do that . As I said before he is not easy to deal with , so I know he will tell me this is only done in kitchens , I have never done that before in a bathroom . This what he said when I told him that I wanted removable spacers for the 2 bottom drawers . He also mentioned that it will cost me more money for that . I don't know how since I am simplifying the work for him by doing three drawers , versus the six drawers and a door . Also removing three drawers from the total count of drawers with their soft close mechanism and hardware . I also shrank the tower to 12" instead of 18" that I previously requested . All this doesn't make up for installing removable spacers in the bottom two drawers on each side ????

  • hudsonkelvin
    10 years ago

    I think 18in size is enough for single vanity and mirror. I have also purchased one in this size. And it looks perfect in my bathroom. It is stylish yet simple and according to my budget.

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    I got the idea for using the hinge down drawer in center like in the kitchen because it was an option my cabinet maker brought up and I passed it along to you. Thats when I knew he knew his craft.
    I know exactly what you are going through with the GC saying its only in kitchen and making your feel like any change is going to be more expensive but more an inconvenience.
    I had the help of a designer and still my plummer had to move pipes because I walked away and in the shower I wanted the line up to be the shower handle top because used more, then the body spray handle and at bottom the handheld because used less and he had it the other way around and had to spend a morning fixing it . After his complaining it was two hours it took him and not all day the way he made it sound. I learned through this process to speak up along the way as soon as possible and suck up the attitude that might result.
    I agree with your decision to make them all 8 in drawers , instead of 10 in on the outside panels , less the cab guy will screw up trying to match with other drawers.
    It shouldn't cost more to make your change because you haven't started. The hardware you mentioned and hinges save you some money which can go towards the inconvenience of what they think it is.
    I got the same attitude from my electrician who never heard of putting an outlet in the drawer. He worked for the GC and initially he said he can do anything I want. Seemed energetic and easy to please. The outlet was in the drawer on the initial drawings but when it can time to install he was wanting to do it his way and I wanted the outlet cover flush and seen in back of drawer the way we do here on this site. He was going to put it on the wall behind the drawer and use extension or something two stepped. Thanks to this site I knew it could be done and what to ask for. He made an excuse the there is no room behind drawer for the outlet box , however,this was planned for with cabinet guy who built his drawer less deep for people who do this, making it sound like its requested a lot. I think he learned on the job from me.LOL. The day he came to do his electrical finish work his arm was in a sling from surgery and he had his employee there doing a lot of the work we discussed.
    Get strong and tell them how you want it. Each day is a new day. This is a custom job , they should expect it.

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    "This is a custom job , they should expect it."

    Good point, sofla!

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks Sofla for your encouragement , I know these people want to do things their way. Thank God it is the attitude of the GC only, the people that do the actual job have been nice and accommodating until now . The only person I haven't met yet is the painter . The other workers tell me he is excellent , so I am crossing my fingers .
    As you said I will suck up his attitude until he does what I want . I am not shy and will put my foot down until this job is done . I think by now he realized that he will have to do what I want even if he haven't done it before .
    Today I told him about the drop down front of the sink . Thank God he didn't say that this is only done in kitchens . I just had to repeat my quest twice for him to understand what I want . He only told me that he will have to check with the cabinet maker to see if there is a space to place it .
    My big argument with him now is the garage at the bottom of the tower . I found that Blum has hinges that can lift the top up or to 100 degree . These hinges cost $38 not $ 350 as he told me . I sent him an email with this information , so he called me saying that he knows about these hinges and they are for big doors not a 10" one . I was pretty sure that in the spec they Said it could work with doors 10" to 13" . So I called Blum co. Customer service and checked with them . They told me exactly what I already found out that it is a model specifically for small doors . Even after telling him that , he is still arguing that he has the Blum catalogue and it doesn't have this model no. In it . Finally I told him you either call Blum yourself or go on their website and you will find that it exists . I am trying really hard to keep my calm until this job is done . As you said it too , you need to understand in everything that they o for you so you can get what you want . Oooof