hi,

we have two double vanities in our new build, im yet to see them installed but they are 1800, the sinks are 450 in one and 500 in the other, i asked for them to be installed closer to the edge rather than close in the middle so we had more room between sinks.

How much space do you have?

room is 3 x 1.8m but has a window in an odd spot on small length and doorway is on opposite side of room also on small length. because of the configuration of the old bathroom, that had a small 80x80cm shower on left as you walk in room, the light switch to room is on the outside wall in the hallway, not in the room itself...the door opens onto a wall which has a storage cupboard behind it....due to the window, i am just thinking of options if i were to keep the current window.. and so just want to know what was a reasonable double vanity that was actually useful....i think my mum's (in an ausbuild home is 1.8m), but i was just wondering whether people had smaller sizes that they found user friendly

ask two people to stand side by side at a long bench and then place two paper shapes (say 500 x 400 ovals ) on the counter to represent sinks and then add a collection of bathroom stuff (hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, bottles and packets of pills and potions) and see what feels best..i would rather have more counter than two sinks but there are smaller drop in sinks that take up less room than counter mounted sinks and custom made vanities can be made to suit the space...

Is it something like this

Hi CC

What is often missed on this is what we call wing room (ie elbow room).

If a vanity is up against a wall, the basin needs to be set far enough away so that when eg cleaning your teeth you have the room to cup water without feeling you are stuck in a corner or going to elbow the wall.

If it is as drawn above then I would be recommending a large single with two wall sets eg like this on the benchtop so that the space in between what would be two single basins can be used on the sides in a narrower setting...

If the vanity is not surrounded or bounded by walls then the elbow room comes from clear space and you can get away with smaller.

Cheers

Hi CC this was just a mock up to find out what the layout is or could be vanity sizes basins positions can be sorted once we have an idea of what we are working with, please don't remove any load bearing walls without consulting a builder or an engineer, thought I should mention that just in case someone else does. cheers

Hello!

The size you need will also depend on the sink you choose, how big is it? is it sit on or built in? Or semi-recessed?

The higher the basin sits on the bench, the more space you will require. If you have two small built-in sinks, you could be comfortable with 1400/1500, but a generous sit on will need 1800-1900 to be fully practical for both users. Semi-recessed can work around 1600/1700

Best of luck and I hope this explanation helps you decision making

Actually my preference is one rectangle basin with either one or two mixer tapes

hi Two's company renovations and siriluskey. Actually my sister suggested the big but single sink, but I ignored her (she didn't suggest the two taps though). I can see now how it would be useful. I had thought about doing the step out shelf because I want to put overhead cabinets above the vanity. I would like to have a wall hung vanity unit with either drawers or cupboards under it, because I want to gain as much storage as possible for towels etc. My house is lacking storage and room for storage.

Siriluskey, your picture is similar to my bathroom but I am not putting in a toilet. I am unsure of the long term plan for the house, as I am studying for a career change and may have to move for a job etc. In this case, I would rent the place out. I would like to keep the house long term because it is in a good position. The window is in an odd position. It is in the far RH corner of the back wall and the back steps are situated behind that wall. The window is a hung (timber) window. The door to the bathroom swings inwards to the RH wall. The doorway is for a 860mm wide door. The window is quite wide. I measured it earlier and including the door frame around the door opening (and vilaboard, and tiles ), there is only a width of approx 774-780mm available for a shower on the left of the room as you walk in. On the far back wall, there is only 722mm width to the left of the window once you account for the window frame and sill and vilaboard and tile width.

I was trying to see if I could avoid it, so minimise unnecessary changes to keep costs down, but I think I am going to have to replace the window with something smaller. The previous shower was tiny and had a shower curtain, but it really closed in the room.

I guess just to keep some continuity throughout the house, I will probably get a Quantum Quartz top in Luna White which is the colour that I have in the kitchen (there are now nicer colours, but I want to at least have the house appear like there was some planning in the scheme. I think the kitchen cupboards are in Egger Satin Premium White (which is white, but a warmer white than polar white etc. I probably will use this same colour for the vanity and see if the cabinetmaker can put in some timber laminate in the vanity somewhere because all of the house has mixed hardwood polished satin floors - If I end up only getting one sink, there may be the ability to make one part of the vanity have a tower for towel storage???? I really don't know. I try to get ideas from this website as much as I can and am trying to achieve a classic look and neutral look......not too modern and not traditional.........the choice of floor tiles and the room layout have been a dilemma for a while (as I am a bit of a perfectionist) and I fear that if I just go for 300x300mm or 300 x 600mm grey/concrete look floor tiles, then the room will look too modern. On the other hand, I considered putting back terazzo tiles (I jackhammered up the original terrazzo), but I don't want the room to be that stuck in the terazzo era.....(I am hoping by having a classic look (but not hampton, nor traditional), then I can both modernise or age the look of the bathroom via the accessories I add to it, which are easier to change than tiles. Any design ideas are always appreciated.

I think this could work for you having the shower space across the 1800 wall, there's plenty of room to make it wider to suit your need. The window would either need to be replaced and tiled up to the window or you could do like we have a water proof roller bind to cover the sash window or a plain shower curtain, cheaper and easier than changing the window

A long 500 deep wall hung vanity, with large single rectangle hand basin set on top of the vanity.

Mirrored shaving cabinets above this

A full height linen/ towel cupboard on the left as you enter the bathroom cheers

Thanks siriuskey. I hope you didn't think I was implying that your comment was not real. I only ignored my sister because she just mentioned it in passing amongst showing me 1000 tile options and I didn't know what she was talking about as I have never seen the long inset basins before for two people. That pictures looks really nice. If I can, I would prefer to have the basin totally recessed. Even though the rectangle may be a modern look, I think I prefer it over the round sink. I think the only issue with having one sink and one bathroom is when the guy wants to fill the basin with water to shave and someone else wants to brush their teeth/wash hands at the same time.

Hi there Not at all, I liked that your sister had a good idea, but can see where you are coming from. Bunnings has had a fairly recent addition to their bathroom vanities, lovely wall hung with drawer and gorgeous slim benchtop.

You mentioned that there was a cupboard behind the opened bathroom door, could that be updated for linen storage.

In this current layout, the shower is run towards the door with the shower and taps on the outside wall, this helps to direct water away from your large sash window. The shower would be narrow across and longer on the left wall.

The whole bathroom floor tiled the same and where I have a short wall that could be a glass screen?

I have added a 400 wide full height linen cabinet but if you were to use the other cabinet for bathroom storage you could certainly have a
longer vanity with either one or two drawers. This with the mirrored shaving cabinets should give you lots of extra space cheers

Ours is 1500 in the family bathroom and works well in terms of storage, bench space and elbow room.

When architects design multiple basins in one bench, whether they be private vanities or in public restrooms, the rule of thumb is always 800mm between basins and 500mm from the end basins to the wall. this allows for elbow room and freedom to move side by side.

Our 1200 wide double vanity works fine.

We don't leave stuff on top so it works for us. Truth be it that if it was bigger maybe we would leave items on the top.....

The top is a moulded one piece top rather than two separate basins/sinks.

Bronwyn, my sentiment exactly...I am also someone that can't decide - I know what I like and need to see the exact look for the layout of my bathroom and so far I haven't seen one that ticks all boxes....I am over it big time. It is so much harder I think, trying to work with what is already there as compared to starting from scratch....but what would I know, I have never built from scratch.

Interesting reading makes me realise we are also going to have restricted elbow room with our two basins in probably 1400 or 1500 bench so I might place them close together in the middle so we each have room on the side for toothbrushes and not to hit the walls on the side etc. BUT this only works for us because we rarely use the basin in our family bathroom at the same time and i don't see that changing. The main reason for having two basins in the ensuite is that I can't stand shavings and toothpaste spit left in the basin! I figure if I have my own clean basin then I can pretend my husbands doesn't exist. Now if only we could have two toilets ... :) I'm such a princess!!