I love storage. I need storage. But I don't love bulky vanity sinks. As we renovate our bathroom, I find myself gravitating toward pedestal or console sinks, but I am not ready to give up all the wonderful storage space our current 1980s double vanity provides. Because our master bath also happens to be the main guest bathroom, we need a place to hide away our family's medicines and toiletries. But where?
I know I could look for a cool vintage piece on Craigslist or at estate sales. And I have my eyes peeled. But what about storage furniture made specifically for the bathroom? What about the standard retail options out there? I have been scouring the internet for tall storage cabinets that have a little footprint but provide a lot of cabinet and storage space. To limit visual clutter and mess, I prefer shelving with cabinet doors that close to open shelves.
I could get two such cabinets to flank a single sink. Or just a single cabinet for one side of the sink and a piece of art above a towel rack (or other wall-mounted accessory) on the other side to create a feeling of balance. Shopping for bathroom furniture without a bathroom designer or contractor (who can go directly to a wholesaler) can be tough, though. Below are some of the retail options I have come up with. But I would love your suggestions.
Do you have any good sources for floor cabinets for the bathroom?
FIRST ROW
1 Hutton glass door hutch and base from Restoration Hardware, $499.
2 Clockwise from top left: Paterson tower from Crate & Barrel, $299. Lliangen cabinet (variations available) from IKEA, $164.98. Godmorgan cabinet from IKEA (other colors available), $229. Home Decorators Parsons from Home Depot, $299.
3 Fullen high cabinet from IKEA, $49.99.
4 Borla wood cabinet in honey oak from Modern Bathroom, $499.95.
5 Pharmacy bath cart from Pottery Barn, $499.
SECOND ROW
6 St. Paul Del Mar tower at Home Depot, $179.
7 Pharmacy large bath cabinet with drawers, burnished steel, from Restoration Hardware,
$1195.
8 Insignia Providence cabinet from Lowe's, $514.
9 Natural bamboo long wall hung cabinets from Hastings Tile & Bath.
(Images: as linked above)










White Enamel Flatwa...
I like the idea of a little cabinet or one of those little round bar carts, even, tucked between two pedestal sinks.
I intend on removing my vanity in my 1/2 bath and put a pedestal so this is perfect timing. I'm looking for something like the Pottery Barn one with window doors on top and solid doors or drawers on the bottom. Thanks for the post.
I use freestanding storage in my bathrooms. You need to keep in mind, though, that if you intend to "hide away...medicines and toiletries", you don't want glass-front units. Glass front is for display, not real storage.
I recently purchased this unit as an alternative to the Crate & Barrel tower shown above and I've been very happy with it. It's a nice combo of hidden and open storage and it holds a surprising amount of stuff given its size. http://www.target.com/p/Fieldcrest-Armoire-White/-/A-10939654#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink
I also have the Fieldcrest Armoire from Target, and I really like it. I swapped out the knobs for nicer ones. It's a surprisingly good looking and well-made piece for the price point, and since it's tall, it holds a ton. Keep in mind cubic inches of storage when you purchase something like this--every inch counts in my home.
Bulky vanities are so practical. But, unappealing. They’re great for storage, but you need a fairly large space for them. The bath we’re renovating is not that large, and a console sink will be so much more appealing.
We’re solving our storage issue with a giant, custom, recessed medicine cabinet. The bath was gutted anyway, so we were able to use an available wall cavity… it’s the greatest decision we could have made. Plus, the mirrored face makes the area seem larger and brighter. It won’t resolve storage for towels and stuff, but I am amazed at how much fits in there.
We have a pedestal-style sink (no storage) but 14" between the sink and the wall, which will nicely fit a shelf tower (yay storage!). However the only outlet in the bathroom is on that wall - so to give access to the outlet we have to use open shelving. I'm planning to use baskets on each shelf to hide/contain toiletries.
That Target one looks like it has great potential (with different knobs!). Wish I had the floor space . . . are there any étageres that look decent?
We have a pretty small bathroom but there's a section next to the toilet right before the door that's just wall space so we've been looking for a nice cabinet to fill that space since there's literally not other storage in the bathroom.
Got something like this at Home Goods a few years ago... Open shelves on top (for folded towels, covered containers for things like cotton swabs, and decorative items) and glass doors on the bottom for whatever. (You could frost or fabric cover the glass if you wanted to hide things.) Mine is espresso which matches the vanity, and mine is on a turntable base -- swiveled around the back side is a full length mirror.) It fits opposite the door to the bathroom, with the fixtures off to the side, so it's perfect for my space.
In our bathroom, we have an Ikea Expedit shelving unit. It has five shelves, so we added doors to the bottom two shelves, two drawers to the middle shelf, and kept the upper two open. It works great and was cheap ($60 for the shelf + $75 for the drawers/doors)
Shelf: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70116276/
Drawers: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80166567/
Doors: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00171704/#/40166569
ps. you should never store medicines in the bathroom... it degrades them like no other and will make them less effective. store in the kitchen.
I use a bank of old lockers.
I don't like putting cabinet in the bathroom because it can hesitate to my eyes.And I think I can move easily.