Am I super dumb (very possible) because what youre describing as your ideal solution just looks like a custom medicine cabinet to me (built into the wall rather than sitting on top of it I believe youre using inset to describe that)? You should put a medicine cabinet options section in your book. Did you outfit the mirror over another medicine cabinet? Our full bathroom on the main floor I opted for a pretty mirror, so I think I got the best of both worlds . If you need the medicine cabinet for storage, then I would much rather plan carefully and commit to a beautiful recessed one rather than wall mounted. Perhaps drink a 5-Hour Energy because you dont get to nap while the rest of us are trying to change the minds and world on this subject. Like, yes, they are expensive, but so are mirrors. I did, however, want to show you guys a genius storage solution for editorial reasons so we came up with this plan for the kids bathroom. You seem to be well-aware of space and money constraints and that theres privilege behind making more minimalist (bathroom product) lifestyle and style choices, so I dont see why oh those fancy hotel bathrooms wouldnt work for me has to turn into how can you possibility contemplate choices that dont work for everyone. :shrug: I do have a bit of a theory that to some extent, style does involve some impracticality or aspirational aspects. I love having sufficient storage space as much as the next American, but sometimes I just want to tell the people complaining about lack of storage (the same ones who are shocked that we didnt fill our kitchen with as manyRead more . We did ok planning ahead on outlets, switches and light fixtures though.cant win em all! The 90% used toothpaste, the Benadryl, the eye drops, the qtips, the razor, the deodorant, the shaving cream, the lotion, the nasal spray, the purfume, etc How does your design look with all that clutter? Even Costco-sized bottles of vitamins fit on the shelves. Im not anti-medicine cabinet, but theyre not the only option, especially if you have a vanity with a lot of storage. To me its all about personal lifestyle, and for me I am hugely pro-medicine cabinet. :) We still havent upgraded and now live with that teensy-weensy mirror tile above our sink even four years later because we just got so used to it I guess its kinda cute in a were-students-what-is-money-anyway kind of way. Well, Ill be honest and say that we dont need the storage at the mountain house like we do in LA because we have so much less stuff, PLUS our vanities have GREAT storage. Why on earth would you want your toothbrush out on the counter or on a shelf in the open? https://www.instagram.com/p/B0C11JBppWm/?igshid=jq0bofinhvpa, You said honestly I dont think inset should be done in a vintage style home. Did you mean in a modern home? Totally perplexed by this post. Also, most pretty mirrors are not made to be used a a door, they will fall apart. This is a good example of an inset medicine cabinet in a modern space that works. I couldnt tell the difference. You should be invited to do guest writing for EHD! To do inset/recessed, they have to be semi-permanent because it requires construction and thats scary if you arent really into something in the first place. Orlando Soria: I am fully on Team Medicine Cabinet. I have the #10 medicine cabinet in my own bathroom and it looks awesome. The oh but a medicine cabinet means you cant have a pretty mirror immediately popped into my head with the intro so I felt pleased to have guessed right on where the post was going Also Im sorry about the folks that seem to be a bit personally offended by not prioritizing maximum storage/function over form. It seems a bit disingenuous to include only examples of builder grade inset cabinets, then inspiration pics for the other styles. Same here to the cabinet, what I thought when I saw that photo, and coming down to comment! And drawers arent as conducive to lens cases, mouthwash, or toothpaste as the 3-inch shelf in front of you. Their frames are often too big and chunky (see new good alternatives in our roundup below). I debated about only a mirror. No one wants to have to dig through a huge bin to find the eye cream you promised yourself you would start using every night. I love it! We ganged 3 Kohler cabinets in our bathroom and have been thrilled with the results. Keep reading. Yes, sometimes I value style over storage and thats okay. ? Our house only had regular builder grade med cabinets to begin with, so I didnt even know inset was a thing (oblivious my whole life I guess) until everything was framed and drywalled and I saw them at Lowes and then I was like, oooooooooh, riiiight. Im a stylist, not a professional organizer. (2) we had a *minuscule* renovation budget, and (3) ours was on an external wall that didnt allow for recessing. They can look generic and builder grade. We got lucky in the house we own in Seattle, so Ill share a bit about that project in case it helps other readers (although weve rented it out and moved to London, so a) we cant share pics now and b) were stuck with annoying lack of storage in one of our London rental bathroomsa powder roomwhere believe it or not we sorely need it!) Cubiko Storage Mirror | 4. So I just buy decorative trays and put stuff on the counter. We couldnt come up with a compromise so we instead had NO mirror for the longest time (we both have big ones in our respective rooms) until not one of resident females, but my dad (who was over for a weekend visit) cracked and bough us a tiny mirror-stick-tile thing so he could finally shave his beard in peace. If youre my sister, you put it on a random piece of toilet paper INSIDE the drawer. We ended up getting a mirror with the little shelf at the bottom, which we will actually find useful because Im the kind of person whose top shelfie products My wife and I have tons of products that need somewhere to live, but honestly not more than can fit in a decent-sized vanity with drawers. Signature Hardware Teak Framed Double Door Medicine Cabinet | 17. The big revelation is that you can put a custom mirror on recessed between the studs storage? When we built (self-designed and we general contracted sooooo.we didnt quite know everything ?). We went with fancy mirrors in our master bath, then used medicine cabinets with art frames instead of mirrors on the side walls to get the storage we wanted. I moved into a house with two massive, ugly, faucet-obscuring medicine cabinets in the master bedroom. So while I do think some of those are solid options that can look pretty, they arent the best alternative. HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT WALL MOUNTED MEDICINE CABINETS? First off, I dont see why it would be horrible to recess some of the medicine cabinets in your roundup that have the option. Something new for me to obsess about in my next renovation. Jessica Helgerson does spectacular bathrooms, the majority of which have medicine cabinets built it. OMG Beth, I have had this same recurring dream for as long as I can remember! I wouldnt recommend for kids or teen baths who could be rough with the frameless mirrors opening and closing. So pretty, so functional, and our vanities are always clutter-free! The original bathroom in our 1930 Tudor house had a built in medicine cabinet which was pretty inadequate so we tried all kinds of tricks to add storage. If you just fell asleep, I suggest you stand up, walk to your medicine cabinet (or not), slap yourself in the face to stay awake. I love these cabinets. They look so much less clunky. Really. For example, the #10 from Pottery Barn in the roundup would get you the same look as the Laine & Layne reference. Maxwell Ryan of Apartment Therapy:(Had a long convo with him on the phone but heres a summary of what he said): He didnt even think of them for his Scandinavian style country house because he didnt want anything that they could put any clutter in and stylistically they would have been wrong. But like you I hate the builder-grade recessed style, and the only other vintage styles I liked were sized for a much smaller bathroom/vanity area (the non-recessed styles just get progressively bulkier) and we needed a mirror wide enough for the two of us to style our hair/brush our teeth at once. It works, was affordable, and looks really pretty! I have been thinking of ganging 3 cabinets in our master. Ive lived in a few houses with them, and they always just get really gunky and smell like Old Spice and Listerine and waxed dental floss. So what do I prefer? I am team function on this onedont think anyone is decanting contact lens solution, haha! After all, the sizes are pretty standard and it isnt much more mess than trying to pull of a builder grade glued on mirror. Vintage Medicine Cabinet Polished Nickel | 11. I didnt have any reference photos at the time, but I just found this and its PERFECT. I dont think youve given recessed medicine cabinets a fair shake. So during construction phase, our plan was to dig into the wall and build shallow shelves between the studs in the wall above the vanity and then place two pretty hinged mirrors overtop. Even with regular cleaning. Team medicine cabinet all the way. Ours was not, but I wouldnt have done this anyway. Ideally, youd be insetting them, but even surface wall mounted can look great (I like to frame them out in wood trim to make them look more integrated if they cant be fully sunken into the wall)like this: I like replacing crappy mirrors that are just glued to the wall with medicine cabinets. To medicine-cabinet or not to cabinet was one of THE big debates I had with my flatmate and friend when we moved in together! In lieu of the faux country MDF shelving unit we used to have over the toilet, we are doing a recessed 6 foot tall cabinet on the opposite wall from the sink/toilet. WHAT SAY YOU???? I thought that surely there could be an in-between, a happy medium: storage without the contemporary facade. It makes me mind having them out way less. Allows us to change the mirrors and the art in the frames whenever the mood strikes. My medicine cabinet fantasy(which is also shared by Nate Berkus and is a million-dollar idea): We need to have a universal hinge system that works with most new or vintage mirrors. ? She even mentions doing custom so shes not just limiting her criticism to modern builder grade. If only they made more stylish options with the tri-view! Not even just for their storage capabilites but mostly because with the slightly wider ones that are split three-ways, you can have a mirror that lets you see all sides of your head easily and AT THE SAME TIME! Im liking #2 and #24 above. Do you regret not putting one in or do you wish you had this custom hinged solution earlier like I do?? And I believe you can design a beautiful bathroom with a medicine cabinet. https://imgur.com/YuIM2cf (sorry, cant find a head on photo). It was more modern (which I think works better for something streamlined and inset) so it could have handled it whereas our 100-year-old Tudor might have looked a bit, well, clunky in a design sense. That would probably work for most of the daily ablutions and still keep things looking neat and designed. On the east coast many older homes have inset medicine cabinets. Think you are missing a whole category of vintage style medicine cabinets common in any house built before the 50s. This puts me FIRMLY in favor of medicine cabinets. You cant pretend its not a problem. Something that I hate in styled bathrooms is towels in a basket on the floor NEXT TO THE TOILET. Indeed, we did have ours custom built by the cabinet maker and I think they are absolutely gorgeous. But for the record, that one is custom (I think you push the glass to pop it out) and was likely thousands of dollars. Before buying a new one I did my research on how to inset, then my handy husband explained to me the existence of vent pipes for the sink so it cant be inset more than 3, plus he isnt interested in doing that work right now so we have a round mirror hanging on the wall instead and the medicine cabinet is still in the box. What is? I like to think that snoopers at least have the decency to only snoop on the immediately visible items and not rifle through a lidded basket. We added a medicine cabinet, and it was awesome. I think 9 times out of 10, inset medicine cabinets look less builder grade than wall mount. I would not mind a variation on the wood shelf under vanity mirrors though adding say a 4-6 tall enclosed space with either lift-up doors on the front or sliding doors. If they do, though, theyll probably be pretty sorry they did you cant un-see half used tubes of hemorrhoid cream or opened bottles of stool softener pills or giant medical grade pads haha! They are the recliners of the bathroom. And my bathroom is 32 sq ft so every inch counts! Its hard not to get behind this but its clearly custom and likely more expensive (Id bet around $1,200, not including construction). Loved seeing all the cute recessed medicine cabinet links though, thanks for that . Everything else fits in the drawers. LOL Im a dental assistant and I am always reminding people that toothbrushes left uncovered have poop germs on them (e. coli sprays up out of the toilet when you flush). This design is pointless and really expensive if something behind the wall needs to be fixed later. GENIUS. I dont think we have all misinterpreted her she said, honestly I dont think inset should be done in a vintage style home. And doesnt show one example of older homes with recessed cabinets. Love this round up though If I ever dare to go surface mounted again, its good to know there are some modern options on the market! Having them rip out the tile and find the space between the studs to build shallow shelves seemed totally unnecessary so we didnt, but that was our plan. For the master bathroom of the mountain house, we wanted a huge mirror to reflect light/trees (or at least no frames between mirrors) and for a hot (and possibly feverish) second, I thought that maybe something like this could work. I thought exactly the same thing and sent her examples of beautiful inset medicine cabinets in old homes. Perfect compromise! But I am so thankful we went for it because AM a messy and cluttery person who has a lot of crap the kind that I can shove into a vanity drawer (flat iron, deoderant, extra toothpaste, q-tips, tampons) and then the kind I like having a display of to know what in inventory and exactly where it is (all my facial stuff, make up, cleansers, lotions, medicine). Our main floor bathroom in the Seattle house was also the guest bathroom; it was a full bathroom but sized a bit more like a powder room, with the pocket door and everything. Same. So I think this is totally situational. I asked a few friend/experts in this field: Nate Berkus: Ive always avoided them but now the trade-off for storage has me slowly convertingI wish someone would invent one that universally works with a vintage mirror. Now, Nate just recently moved back to New York to an apartment that Im sure is big and beautiful but with two kids in New York City living, I get why he might be converting. My pickiness is just so specific and its hard to explain. Honestly, you can barely even tell its a medicine cabinet anyway, as its pretty close to the wall. I wanted a Pottery Barn one but my budget didnt extend that far. Were mid renovation on the powder bath and I will definitely opt for a pretty mirror in there without a medicine cabinet. I am firmly in the anti-medicine cabinet camp, and it has absolutely nothing to do with style! Ugh. So today, Im going to dive into the internal (and external) debate to have or not have the ultimate convenience of a medicine cabinet. I also really hate the bulky look of two side-by-side medicine cabinets! Well, theyre hit or miss. And lets face it, we arent. I know they can be a bummer for some designers who would rather have a pretty decorative mirror above a sink, but theres just stuff you can store in one that doesnt make sense anywhere else. One of my favorite things about old houses are the recessed cabinets! The reason I have been thinking of ganging is that we now have one of those huge glued-on mirrors and my husband wants to continue to have that much mirror- hed prefer to keep the existing mirror and the Hollywood lights above it- so it takes some doing to make both of us happy! These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Now, someday down the line when we renovate the bathroom Ill certainly try for something prettierbut never at the expense of function! Recessed storage and pretty mirrors can co-exist! I grew up with 3-way mirror medicine cabinets and loved them so much for doing my hair and seeing the back of my hair while doing a braid or updo When we built our new home, I insisted that the master and kids bathroom have 3 way mirror medicine cabinets for the hair styling option alone ha ha! Failing that, just stick a wall mounted one up, even though the original objection is that medicine cabinets often look builder grade? For instance, heres a bathroom I redid where there was only a tiny space between windows for a mirror. Sounds complicated. If I had more space, Id probably just be tempted to fill it with more products that I wouldnt even use before they expired. Vintage houses shouldnt have medicine cabinets, even though thats where medicine cabinets came from? Make handrails pretty! And no one wants to see all that, its not pretty. I love most EHD articles but this one makes me wordless. I havent replaced them yet because I probably want to work on the vanity too, and the bathtub, and the whole layout ?. Someone show me how an inside view of these drawers please. I just used the Pottery Barn Vintage Medicine Cabinet in the XL size and it is the bomb dot com if I do say so myself. This is one where I disagree. I dont have enough storage otherwise for makeup, hair products and tools, towels, back stock toiletries and cleaning products. Absolutely agree! To actively choose NOT to have the most convenient storage for the daily annoyances of teeth brushing and face washing seems outright absurd, and yet I have never in my life opted for this convenience. In the master, we wanted a huge mirror to reflect light and trees from the opposite windows. YES thats such a great solution. Wow. Thanks for posting these beautiful bathrooms. Its real. Agreed, thanks for sharing those details of the previous project as well as postpartum/toddler living solidarity! Thanks for highlighting some attractive options, will be saving this for future homes. If you need the storage badly, choose the function of the medicine cabinet. His general thought is this: its found space, previously unused, and you should use it if you need it, but stylistically he understands why designers, stylists and editors dont opt for them. The technique is called ganging and when done correctly involves about 1/4 inch between each cabinet and black tape on the wall between the cabinets so the gap is minimized. We still have the cheap 3 mirror medicine cabinet from when we moved in and looking to replace so this post was perfect timing! Wall-mounted medicine cabinets are great for the right small bathroom but it does project into the room and therefore eats up real estate (but I like a lot of them far more than the inset options). Full stop. ), then dont suffer through the pain of figuring out how to integrate it in a stylish way. 23.63 Wooden Round Mirror Cabinet | 22. There I said it. I cant stand the look of medicine cabinets either but have always had them. Agreed! I so wish I had a medicine cabinet, but instead they tiled in the big mirror, basically ensuring I can never replace it without remodeling. It reminds me of a recurring dream I have: I discover a room in my house that I either didnt know about or forgot about. I put a bunch of pretty containers on the shelves so that the toothbrushes, ugly product tubes, etc are mostly hidden. Be careful, dont let it be too chunky (which they tend to be) and make sure its the right style. In fact, when we moved to a new home, we immediately installed them in our new master bath because neither my husband nor I could stomach going back to vanity-drawer storage. I dont think EHD focus on budget friendly designs and there are plenty of high and low end med cabs in the market. The thing you DONT want to do is what I did. But! Piano hing is also a bad choice . I think I just dont like swinging things out towards my face? I mount an IKEA spice rack on the wall by the sink for skincare products. . I think the easy gut renovation solution is the the pretty mirror. Id rather have that wall left intact for some pretty art and have a large cabinet with a pretty framed mirror inset directly behind the sink. 48 Kyra Medicine Cabinet. Amber Lewis: I am not a fan or a heavy user of the Medicine Cabinet.. Benchwright Wall-mount Medicine Cabinet | 6.