Bathroom vanity design question

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neb

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#277082 24-Sep-2020 21:43

We're looking at replacing the existing pretty run-down bathroom vanity, which is in this general style:

These are surprisingly expensive for a few bits of of flat-pack HMR MDF and a basin, there's a pile of much cheaper ones in this style:

The main differences are the lack of handles and the use of a much shallower curved basin, a bit like a C turned on its side rather than the standard deep basin. Does anyone have any thoughts on these? My assumption is that the lack of handles is one reason why they're cheaper, wondering whether this means they pick up more dirt on the doors where you open them or if there's any other drawbacks, and whether there's drawbacks to the weird basin shape. In addition presumably they've cut corners elsewhere as well...

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#2573804 24-Sep-2020 22:06

We put one with a similar shallow basin in a flat. Water splashing everywhere. Probably the type of taps and their placement/height could make a difference to this. Trade Me have some not bad units. Daughter got a nice one there in beige which was made with ply base rather than MDF.

neb

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#2573806 24-Sep-2020 22:13

Eva888: We put one with a similar shallow basin in a flat. Water splashing everywhere. Probably the type of taps and their placement/height could make a difference to this. Trade Me have some not bad units. Daughter got a nice one there in beige which was made with ply base rather than MDF.

Good to know, thanks! Yeah, looked there and then went direct to the supplier sites which are about 5-10% lower than the TM price, e.g. the Trade Depot one in the second photo was $30 cheaper outside TM.

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#2573810 24-Sep-2020 22:28

Greenhomenz in Trade Me has a lot listed made of plywood. Go to their other listings and they have white similar to the one above. It’s worth paying a tad extra for plywood. Don’t know if you are Auckland based.

Listing #: 2784227650

neb

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#2573813 24-Sep-2020 22:39

Eva888: Greenhomenz in Trade Me has a lot listed made of plywood. Go to their other listings and they have white similar to the one above. It’s worth paying a tad extra for plywood. Don’t know if you are Auckland based.

Thanks, we're about ten minutes drive from their showroom, already had them on the shortlist, specifically this one. In fact they're cheaper than everyone else which made me a bit suspicious, and they have the handle-less doors and curved sink so until now they were at the bottom of the list. It does look pretty nice though...

Wheelbarrow01

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#2573816 24-Sep-2020 22:41

Eva888: Greenhomenz in Trade Me has a lot listed made of plywood. Go to their other listings and they have white similar to the one above. It’s worth paying a tad extra for plywood. Don’t know if you are Auckland based.

Listing #: 2784227650

Wow they would be great for rental properties - I've had tenants who didn't bother to tell me there was a leak and the MDF vanities got ruined. It's happened more than once.

On the flip side, the one time a tenant did report a leak under the kitchen sink, I sent a plumber around and he found nothing wrong. Sometimes you just can't win lol

neb

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#2573817 24-Sep-2020 22:48

Wheelbarrow01:
I've had tenants who didn't bother to tell me there was a leak and the MDF vanities got ruined. It's happened more than once.

Well you've only got yourself to blame there, if you'd installed a tenant-proof sink/vanity like this:

then you wouldn't have this problem.

timmmay

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#2573889 25-Sep-2020 07:28

When we purchased a whole bathroom full of stuff through a bathroom firm's cash account about 8 years ago we got around 50% off everything at the plumbing store. Just FYI, there's plenty of scope for them to discount if you ask and they want to.

I wouldn't get a vanity without handles. Sounds annoying.

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Bung

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#2573893 25-Sep-2020 07:49

A lot of hinges and drawer slides have a push to open feature that pushes the door/drawer out. You could always adds handles if that is too confusing. Most bathroom vanities end up full of junk that you have to sort through. We halved the size of the replacement. The basins are ok, they hold enough water. Watch for fit of the outlet

Eva888

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#2573985 25-Sep-2020 09:23

I think the flush no handle look is nice and upmarket looking. Good for little kids as they don’t have an obvious handle to pull open so hopefully they will ignore it. The beige colours are very smart looking. Also consider what @bung said about a narrower vanity and if you have the room next to it you can put one of those matching narrow tall cupboards in a corner that can take towels etc and they utilise high wall space.

I would never buy mdf again for a wet area. As soon as there’s a small break it swells like wheat bix and not repairable. We tried to fix the bottom of the door on one in a tenancy by using fibreglass and painting over, but it looked like an ugly sore thumb.

Froglotion

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#2574103 25-Sep-2020 11:05

While some will be overpriced, as with everything you get what you pay for. If you want it to last, spend a bit more than the trash available at some stores. The tops on the cheap ones scratch so easy that it will soon look like crap and you'll regret buying the cheapest you could find.

Froglotion

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#2574105 25-Sep-2020 11:07

I was at a house the other day that had two trade depot bowl sinks, exact same model on box, but they were slightly different sizes, thicknesses and colours. They looked great sitting next to each other on the vanity base. Not.

neb

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#2574171 25-Sep-2020 12:30

Froglotion:
I was at a house the other day that had two trade depot bowl sinks, exact same model on box, but they were slightly different sizes, thicknesses and colours. They looked great sitting next to each other on the vanity base. Not.

Yeah, that's why we're doing a tour of assorted showrooms on the weekend to get a feel for build quality. However hearing about people's experiences has also been very useful, for example we're at the bottom of a long hill and the water pressure in all the houses here is quite high so a bowl that splashes a lot is a definite no-no, particularly for the guest bathroom where people won't know about the high water pressure until the first time they get a faceful of water.

(And we can't turn it down too much because then it messes up the shower hot/cold mix, we've tried that juggling act before).

Froglotion

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#2574183 25-Sep-2020 12:45

Depends on the tap, but a restrictor in the tap head could be an option? I know I removed all of mine when I moved in, or the plumber did. Think they came standard with them to save water. When you say you turn it down, is that the whole house supply or under the vanity?

neb

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#2574203 25-Sep-2020 13:10

Froglotion:
Depends on the tap, but a restrictor in the tap head could be an option? I know I removed all of mine when I moved in, or the plumber did. Think they came standard with them to save water. When you say you turn it down, is that the whole house supply or under the vanity?

The whole house supply, every tap has very high pressure. The tap-head add-on restrictors are pretty ugly but I can ask the plumber about getting a low-flow tap, which makes a lot of sense, the bathroom taps are the ones that get used the most by people who don't know about the high pressure.

nickb800

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#2574225 25-Sep-2020 13:37

neb:
Froglotion:

Depends on the tap, but a restrictor in the tap head could be an option? I know I removed all of mine when I moved in, or the plumber did. Think they came standard with them to save water. When you say you turn it down, is that the whole house supply or under the vanity?

The whole house supply, every tap has very high pressure. The tap-head add-on restrictors are pretty ugly but I can ask the plumber about getting a low-flow tap, which makes a lot of sense, the bathroom taps are the ones that get used the most by people who don't know about the high pressure.

I think you can get restrictors which go before the aerator at the end, so not visually noticeable and after the hot/cold mixing. Alternatively, use Isovalves for hot/cold, which you can use to adjust hot/cold pressure to find a setting that works.

I don't think there's much variation in flow rates between different taps, not like shower heads

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