Above the sink was a traditional medicine cabinet with a mirrored door. The cabinet was about 3 inches deep, which was plenty of space for
medicine bottles, tweezers, shaving cream, razors and other things you
would use to primp as you got ready for the day or for bed. The back of
the cabinet even had a slot where one could safely get rid of dull razor
blades. Believe me, years later as a remodeler I carefully harvested
hundreds of these in-wall cavities when tearing out walls!
You may love the sleek look of a pedestal sink. I get that. But before you pull out your credit card to buy one, think it through. Is
there enough space on the pedestal sink to store all the things you need
in your bathroom? Can the top surface of the pedestal even act as a
work platform? It might be slanted, and you can’t put anything safely on
the narrow or tilted surface. Will an electric-powered thing fall into a
sink full of water?
What about 10 years from now? Do you have small kids who will use the sink? Is one or more a girl? When they approach teenage years and
need all sorts of tools for their hair and face, where will these things
rest and be stored? You can’t put them in a standard medicine cabinet,
that’s for sure.
This is precisely why back in the 1960s my mom and dad had our pedestal sink removed and installed as big a vanity cabinet with a flat
top as could fit in the bathroom. Not only did the flat top allow more
things to be stored next to the sink, but the spacious cabinet below
also allowed for all sorts of things, including spare rolls of toilet
paper, to be stored right there in the bathroom.
I’m not sure that it’s still taught in architecture school, but there’s an axiom relating to function and form. It’s about the constant
battle for something to look great but also be practical. All too often
some people put the form first and function suffers. Pedestal sinks fit
really well into this argument. What will win the battle as you plan
your new bathroom for your existing home or your dream one?
