Poll

Bathroom sink - medicine cabinet or mirror?

Only registered users are allowed to vote for this poll.
18 votes were received.

Medicine cabinet	12		67%
Mirror	6		33%

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I realized that I have a bias so strong toward the medicine cabinet that I never considered a mirror. I know HGTV types often prefer mirrors because they're easier to frame in reclaimed wood than a medicine cabinet. My wife lands somewhere in the middle - she'd prefer something more stylized but appreciate function.

Ever start a renovation project without realizing it? I removed a cracked sink with faucets that failed to close all the way. Now I'm here.

Medicine cabinet or mirror?

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If storage is a premium, Cabinet.

Larger room gets Mirror.

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Staunton, Virginia

I'm not sure how to vote we have a medicine cabinet mirror on the side and a large mirror on the front. Both get used.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

Haven’t had a medicine cabinet in decades, but they are functional.
I think a mirror is the more modern approach.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

If the vanity has lots of storage or there is another item with storage, go for the mirror.

I put a medicine cabinet with mirror, similar to this, in a small bathroom that has worked out well. It can be either surface mounted or recessed (in a non-load bearing wall).



Home Depot

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Northern California Coast

Quote
Ombligo
I'm not sure how to vote we have a medicine cabinet mirror on the side and a large mirror on the front. Both get used.

Every place I've lived in has had this setup; the only almost exception would be a rental condo I had (built in the early '70s) which ONLY had a mirrored medicine cabinet in each of the two bathrooms, with blank wallspace everywhere else. It was functional, but seemed kinda downscale to me - like being in a cheap motel.

If storing meds in the bathroom that's a bad idea. Both our storage cabinets in our main bathroom are from Ikea and are holding up quite well.

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Grateful11

I’d say both. If you have space then mirror and non mirror cabinet. Otherwise mirror cabinet

You have to ask yourself...

Do I feel form... or function.

I would not go without a mirror, as it has not only form, but function as well.

Then, if there's no handy storage space such as a vanity, then I'd try to find a small, stylish cabinet that would be mounted under the mirror.

This allows for a larger mirror and illuminations (side-by...).

Although there might be an actual attractive version of unattractive but functional cabinet above.

Less form, more function, if compromise is necessary, but it precludes the proper use of 'renovation'.

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We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
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You make me pull, I'll put you down.

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In the downstairs bathroom we have a huge mirror with a medicine cabinet with a mirror on the sidewall. Upstairs the SO built out a 3 door mirrored cabinet fitting the width of the sink.

Lighting IMO is the more important issue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2022 03:17PM by Lizabeth.

Quote
Bernie
Larger room gets Mirror.

I forgot how large bathrooms have become in newer, larger homes, although I'm sometimes reminded when I look at the design of certain bathroom fixtures. Its certainly on display in bathroom fixture ads where the bathroom is clearly several times larger than my first apartment.

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Quote
mattkime

Quote
Bernie
Larger room gets Mirror.

I forgot how large bathrooms have become in newer, larger homes, although I'm sometimes reminded when I look at the design of certain bathroom fixtures. Its certainly on display in bathroom fixture ads where the bathroom is clearly several times larger than my first apartment.

Yeah, that trend has made it harder to find good fixtures for more traditionally sized bathrooms. Mine has wall space where a mirror could be mounted, but currently that is taken up by towel rods. I have a "medicine cabinet" but the only medical items it ever holds is bandaids and some skin ointments.

We know the trend in the last several decades has been ever-larger mirrors. That doesn't work with medicine cabinets, which nestle between wall studs if built into the wall (as they should be.)

For the 2 baths in the 1939 house we just moved into, each also has a full-length mirror on the back of the entry door. It's built into the door with some framing around it, not just hung on it with clips.

Here's one of the medicine cabinets. The other is identical but a little rusty.









This upstairs bath is the first project on my list. It never had a shower, and we take showers. Luckily, there's a long closet space on the other side of the wall where all the plumbing it located. They didn't conceal the plumbing in the wall like they did for the downstairs bath.

I'll be keeping the medicine cabinet of course, but I may lower the brown trim. It circumnavigates the room at such a high level the medicine cabinet (and, mirror ...) are awkwardly high. I'm 5' 10' and my face appears in the lower half of the mirror, The sink has a fairly high backsplash but it doesn't even come near the brown trim.

Another thing that's nice about medicine cabinets is you can use sconces for lighting instead of the overhead and avoid the shadows.

>We know the trend in the last several decades has been ever-larger mirrors.

I suppose, like everything else...

> That doesn't work with medicine cabinets, which nestle between wall studs if built into the wall (as they should be.)

You can install a series medicine cabinets. Obviously you end up with a surplus of storage unless someone has a significant makeup collection.

>Here's one of the medicine cabinets. The other is identical but a little rusty.

Wow, thats much nicer than the two we have. Same build quality but you have a much nicer mirror.

>each also has a full-length mirror on the back of the entry door

I have one of those in my office. I have no idea why its there.

The height of your medicine cabinet would drive me crazy.

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Upstairs the SO built out a 3 door mirrored cabinet fitting the width of the sink.


That reminds me there are a number of larger medicine cabinets that have three mirrors.

Those with narrow mirrors and a correspondingly narrow medicine cabinet don't look nearly as nice as the larger versions.

Having all three mirrors opening is very handy, assuming the outer mirrors swing inward.

I like having both side and over the mirror lights, so mirrors that open wouldn't be a problem.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

mirror plus vanity below

Quote
mattkime

The height of your medicine cabinet would drive me crazy.

Yeah it’s weird. I measured the trim moulding, about 4 1/2 ft from the floor. The middle of the medicine cabinet is about 5 1/2 ft from the floor.

Been reading that wainscoting should be about 1/3 of the way up unless going for a trendy 2/3 up.

In our bathrooms it just about bisects the wall (they are 8 1/2 ft ceilings.)