i don't know how feasible this is for you, but my bathroom has a built in sliding door medicine cabinet. there are two quite large panes of non-bevelled mirror which slide open to reveal a 3 or 4 inch recessed shelf unit. the sliding mirror doors take up the whole wall behind the sink and toilet underneath the wall-mounted lighting, so it seems like you could build something similar by mounting a very shallow shelving unit to the wall and framing in the sliding doors in front of it. you'd lose about 6 inches of space, but all in all it's probably my favorite part of my bathroom (nice big mirror is good for my narcissism AND brings light and the illusion of space to the bathroom). i'll email you a photo if you're interested but unclear.

I have these mirrors as my medicine cabinet in my apt. They are wonderful. You can get two and mount them on the wall, the mirror swivels around and on the back side is storage space. They are great- everyone the comes to my apt always comments on them.

Unfortunately this picture does not give them justice.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15553&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=32459&langId=-1&categoryId=16074&chosenPartNumber=50073895

I feel your pain. About a year ago, I was looking to find a simple, modern medicine cabinet that didn't cost an arm and a leg, but I couldn't find anything. I too wanted to avoid the beveled mirror, which I think looks cheesy, but alas found nothing. I ended up with something that I'm not completely happy with.

I'm surprised about the preference for sliding doors versus hinged.

Sliding doors always drove me crazy. And the tracks can get a little gunky.

It's funny how the simplest designs are the hardest to find. I guess manufacturers are overthinking their products too much.

I agree with the sliding doors, not a big fan functionality wise. I prefer to have both doors open when viewing the contents of the cabinet.

One of the things I've been looking for (if you don't mind me jumping in here) has been a black flat door medicine cabinet. It's incredibly easily to find cabinets with mirrors, but I can't seem to find a small cabinet with plain flat faces, I'll paint it myself if I have to.

I'm with you guys on finding a reasonably priced medicine cabinet that doesn't look cheesy, and isn't hinged. I've been searching in vain for a decent one that will match my one bathroom's 1950s tile and look period but not cost me a fortune.

I have no suggestions, I just want to commiserate. Good luck.

i sooo agree about bevels. yuck.
i don't want to deal with hinged or sliding mirror doors.
we mounted a large plain flat mirror on the wall + put the medicines + toiletries in a separate cabinet

I hate the sliding doors, too. I've had both types and much prefer hinged.

If you do a custom thing.....spend a little extra to get the mirror edges polished or you'll forever have jagged reflections. Seems small. Feels big.

Lots of hidden treasure on the Internet. Like this idea, where the mirror is stationary and the cabinet BEHIND the mirror slides out (no gunky rails):

Scroll down here to Aluminium Bathroom Mirror Cabinet with Sliding Body:
http://livinghouse.co.uk/acatalog/Bathroom_cabinets.html

This shows a cool wall-mounted sink with sliding cabinet with mirror front:
http://www.spacify.com/ListProducts.asp?dept_id=451&parent_id=267

Dwell UK:
http://www.dwell.co.uk/proddet.php?101688&src=kelkoo

Apparently the UK is the place to be:
http://www.inspirationsbathrooms.com/product-details.aspx?ID=2008

Yeah, still:
http://www.marksandspencer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Section_Id=1555&Product_Id=1479768

Take a look at those offerings. See if any appeal. That's just the first few links. If there is a style that you adore, then we'll try to find it locally for you. Or I can post more links if you don't like any of them.

not sure about sliding doors, but the robern m series is quite plain. i got the version with the vertical incandescent bulbs on either side -- good for putting on makeup, etc. and it's a pretty nice look. also, when doing your research, check to see how much room you have _within_ the wall. we used to have a 3" depth -- now we have 8" of storage. really handy...

By the way, yes, I did see you wanted to have it recessed. If you're in apartments with similar layouts, your bath sink backing up someone else's bath sink... What happens when you cut into your wall only to find that the majority of the cavity has already been filled with your neighbor's recessed medicine cabinet? Who owns the cavity between the walls? Do ya just get mean and push theirs out? ;)

Next thing to think about. So you do cut into the wall, your neighbor hasn't done it, but decides to later. They get the back end of your cabinet. So do they get mean and push yours through?

You decide at a future date to replace the cabinet. Your own sunken one. And can't find one that is of the same measurements. You find one you love that is smaller. Oh boy. Get to replace and recut that drywall. Or do some hokey patch job to make the smaller one fit in the larger hole.

The surface ones that have the cool light and the portion behind that slides are great, and they do NOT look like there is a medicine cabinet behind them. Nosy people that aren't used to such things won't be able to browse the contents of your cabinet, by just pulling or sliding obvious doors. Oooooh. Secret compartment!

Wait - are you my husband?? Because we have been having the same exact problem. We too have tiny bathroom and don't want to lean into the shower everytime we need to grab the toothpaste. Our current one must have once been great - sliding doors, deep but recessed, very minimal. But as you say above, it is from the early 60's. Forty years later it is rusted, the mirrors are chipped and the previous owners put 3 or 4 layers of contact paper on the interior. Honestly I've kind of given up hope and have been looking into what it would cost to get new mirror doors made and re-paint or powder coat the metal parts. Good luck - we feel your pain!

This must be an old post, because ChrisG asked the same question in March:
http://tinyurl.com/log2v

Anyway, I started puttering around some more, and found this:
http://www.afinacorporation.com/Signature/signature_bathcab_gd.html

Yeah, yeah, it's BEVELED. BUT, if you start looking around on their site, they have a bunch of different "frame" styles for the cabinets, and some of them have the option for Beveled Glass (BV), which may mean they can provide non-beveled glass.

All you really NEED is the right cabinet that will fit the opening you have, or of a size you want, that HAS the sliding tracks. You can then have the glass made in the right size, which others have mentioned already.

View their many frame options, maybe you'll find one you like. There are ornate frames. Plain metal frames. Plain colored frames, like black, white in the Color Wave group.

There's a link there to find your retailer, give it a shot. The worst thing they can say is "no, we can't do that." But I bet they can.

Not to hijack this post, but I have a related question. I have one of those old-time metal medicine cabinets with the metal hamper attached beneath. I know Curtis rescued his, but I'd like to replace mine with a stainless steel cabinet or a mirrored cabinet. The current cabinet/hamper is recessed three inches and sticks out two inches. It's approximately 60" long by 22" wide. I know I won't find anything as long, but I'd like to use as much of the space as I can--and it can't stick out more than about 3 inches or so.

If anyone has brilliant ideas, let me know. I was even wondering if someone use the existing frame and could fashion a flat steel door on the hamper part and then I could sandblast or powdercoat the rest so it matches.

Try Moss in Soho.

Would this once from Ace Hardware help?

http://www.acehardware.com/sm-zenith-metal-top-light-medicine-cabinet-701l--pi-2048515.html

Also where can I find the one you show in the picture?

For the best Euro-minimal idea I suggest the robern A series and a mirror. Non - beveled doors 12" wide, yeahm they swing, but at that size no big deal. See this kind of cabinet and mirror combo all over europe.

Come in many heights.

http://catalog.robern.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?item=15909&prod_num=AC3075P&module=Designlogic+Series+A+Cabinets&rs=1