the joys and sorrows of a pedestal sink...

[sumbride]

I live in a small house, but the upstairs bath is quite large. Well, for a rowhouse. It''s small compared to modern construction baths. The renovation company put in a pedestal sink but it''s been a love-hate relationship ever since. It has sort of a curved lip so there''s nowhere for me to place anything while getting ready. It all falls into the sink. And there is NO counter space at all. I keep all my makeup and such in canvas bins and try to balance that on the sink while I reach in for the next product. It''s very inefficient, annoying, and you can tell the whole thing was designed by a man.

Anyway... so, after two years of dropping things into the sink, I accidentally dropped something that must have been really heavy because I cracked my sink. There is a crack branching its way through the basin. I originally thought it was a hair from my head, but as I was trying to wipe it away I realized "Nope. I broke it." It has since moved a bit and now it is sharp, so I''m worried and it needs to be fixed soon. But along the lines of Indie''s thread, I''m at a loss.

Do I replace the pedestal sink with another pedestal sink? or with a smallish vanity? There is a wee bit more room there because it''s a BIG pedestal sink, but there isn''t a lot of room. And yes, I know, pictures would help, but my bath is messy at the moment. I could pick a pedestal sink that is a little more woman-friendly, or get something more modern in a vanity with a fancy sink. And maybe some storage?

What would be better in the long run? Do people prefer pedestal sinks in general?

 

[strmrdr]

pedestal sink with wall racks/shelves can be pretty nice and takes up less room.

 

[blushingbride]

Our condo has a pedestal sink and we love the way it looks, but you''re right, there''s zero storage or room for getting ready in the morning. We actually bought something similar to this from Pottery Barn to give us additional room for all our things. If you love the look as much as we do, you could always do the same. But if it truly bothers you to have no room on your sink for anything then you should probably go with a different sink.

 

[sumbride]

There is quite a bit of built in shelving over the toilet, to the left of the sink, but as you have to sort of lean over the toilet to get to it, it''s a little bit less convenient. I filled it with canvas bins that can be pulled out. This works well for most things, so I''m not really hurting for storage, though I dislike having cleaning products visible, which they kind of are in the bins as the bottom shelf is more open.

So maybe a pedestal sink with a bit more flat space is the answer? Anybody ever replaced a pedestal sink with another one? Is this something I can do myself or best left to a plumber?

 

[Blenheim]

We replaced a vanity with a pedestal sink and I like how it makes the bathroom feel a lot larger. We currently just use the medicine cabinet plus a cabinet, but we have all of the extra shampoo and stuff stored in our other bathroom and mostly just store extra towels, toilet paper, and soap in the bathroom with the pedestal sink.

I specifically looked for a pedestal sink that would allow me to put, say, contact solution and a case on the side while I got ready. The one that we have (pictured below) works really well for that. I think that it has almost as much room as the small vanity in our upstairs bathroom.

My husband replaced it by himself, although the people at Lowes recommended having two people do it. He says that it was pretty easy, but he''s also pretty handy.

 

[sumbride]

Thanks Blenheim! Did you get that at Lowes? Was it stock or special order? Your bathroom looks great! That looks like the same style as mine but possibly a bit bigger. That could be the answer. I wonder if I could keep the same pedestal and just change out the sink basin?

 

[Blenheim]

Thanks, Sumbride! It was in stock at Lowes, for only $88! Linky. Our Lowes had it on display, so hopefully yours does too and you can see it in person.

It came with both the sink and the base, but they also have some where the sink and the base are sold separately. Depending on the way that the base and the bottom of the sink are designed, you may be able to replace only the sink. DH says that ours is built specifically for those two to fit together though, so it just depends.

 

[divergrrl]

Sumbride..welcome to my world. In my front bathroom (guest/kids) bathroom, I have a pedestal sink. The area where it is is rather narrow so my dh put in a pedestal sink years ago.

Well now that my son is getting ready for potty training and knows how to brush his teeth, wash his hands and face, I''m finding the pedestal to be an issue. I need a vanity so that I can put his "things" underneath in storage that I don''t have to look at. (I don''t like things out in the open so shelves don''t cut it for me).

We also have a square hole in the wall behind the mirror, so we are putting in a medicine cabinet as well.

DH & I are just looking for a funky old vanity (our house was built in 1903, so newer cabinetry looks out of place) and he''ll tile the top to match the shower & drop in the sink himself. I like my faucet in there, so I''ll just re-use it sincel I bought it & it matches my shower hardware. But the catch is that the cabinet has to be 19 inches. ARgh....

I love the look of pedestals, but they work better in a room where you don''t have a lot of use, like a half bath more for guest use.

I''m all about storage.....

 

[appletini]

Sumbride,
I feel your pain...our master bath has a pedistal sink so I claimed the guest bath b/c it has a real vanity.

If you want to stay with a pedistal style sink check out the Kohler Memoirs collection...it has a square ledge all the way around and is very pretty.

 

[sumbride]

Thanks again Blenheim! I like the style and it would fit well, I think. The reviews give it low marks for quality. Have you had any issues with it? The price is amazing. I was thinking this would be a $400 project. I haven''t told DH about it and won''t until I have a solution so he doesn''t freak out unnecessarily! Home improvement is more my thing than his.

Diver, I totally get it. Especially with young kids because your storage would have to be low for him. Our 2nd bath is much smaller and I understand why that space needs a pedestal sink, but my bathroom is wide open, a big square really, and I just don''t think it''s absolutely necessary for the space, but I do like the style. Just not in daily living.

 

[sumbride]

Oh, Appletini... I LIKE that!!! That would fit the style I''m going for perfectly. A bit more expensive than what I''d like to spend, but still totally do-able. Ok, so this one says "Fireclay" and I''ve seen others that say "Vitreous china". I wonder which one is more durable. And less likely to crack if I drop anything else on it. I''m sure what we have is builder grade, so the lowest quality, and anything else will be an improvement over the broken sink, but I want to make sure we only have to replace it once!

 

[appletini]

Date: 1/23/2008 2:22:31 PM
Author: sumbride
Oh, Appletini... I LIKE that!!! That would fit the style I''m going for perfectly. A bit more expensive than what I''d like to spend, but still totally do-able. Ok, so this one says ''Fireclay'' and I''ve seen others that say ''Vitreous china''. I wonder which one is more durable. And less likely to crack if I drop anything else on it. I''m sure what we have is builder grade, so the lowest quality, and anything else will be an improvement over the broken sink, but I want to make sure we only have to replace it once!

We have some friends that have this in their guest bathroom, so when we visit them its the one I have to use to wash my face put on make up, etc...so I can personally recommend it. Also one thing they added later on was they extened the wall out about 6-8" so that it formed a ledge not too far above the sink so that also created some instant space to store whatever kind of containers, etc.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 1/23/2008 2:59:06 PM
Author: appletini
We have some friends that have this in their guest bathroom, so when we visit them its the one I have to use to wash my face put on make up, etc...so I can personally recommend it. Also one thing they added later on was they extened the wall out about 6-8'' so that it formed a ledge not too far above the sink so that also created some instant space to store whatever kind of containers, etc.

Do you mean that they cut into the wall to make a ledge or that they pushed it out? I have a mirrored cabinet above the sink that holds my little bottles, but I have this issue... I take the face cream out of the cabinet, close the door so I can see the mirror, and then need somewhere to put the bottle while I apply it. It''s a logistics issue I think. And then bang, the bottle falls into the sink.

 

[appletini]

Date: 1/23/2008 3:05:43 PM
Author: sumbride

Date: 1/23/2008 2:59:06 PM
Author: appletini
We have some friends that have this in their guest bathroom, so when we visit them its the one I have to use to wash my face put on make up, etc...so I can personally recommend it. Also one thing they added later on was they extened the wall out about 6-8'' so that it formed a ledge not too far above the sink so that also created some instant space to store whatever kind of containers, etc.

Do you mean that they cut into the wall to make a ledge or that they pushed it out? I have a mirrored cabinet above the sink that holds my little bottles, but I have this issue... I take the face cream out of the cabinet, close the door so I can see the mirror, and then need somewhere to put the bottle while I apply it. It''s a logistics issue I think. And then bang, the bottle falls into the sink.

They brought the lower half of the wall out...it was a great idea...I would have never thought of that, but the hubby of that house is an architecht so he is always experimenting on his own house. Its so fun to visit b/c things are different every time.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 1/23/2008 3:16:11 PM
Author: appletini

Date: 1/23/2008 3:05:43 PM

Author: sumbride

Date: 1/23/2008 2:59:06 PM

Author: appletini

We have some friends that have this in their guest bathroom, so when we visit them its the one I have to use to wash my face put on make up, etc...so I can personally recommend it. Also one thing they added later on was they extened the wall out about 6-8'' so that it formed a ledge not too far above the sink so that also created some instant space to store whatever kind of containers, etc.

Do you mean that they cut into the wall to make a ledge or that they pushed it out? I have a mirrored cabinet above the sink that holds my little bottles, but I have this issue... I take the face cream out of the cabinet, close the door so I can see the mirror, and then need somewhere to put the bottle while I apply it. It''s a logistics issue I think. And then bang, the bottle falls into the sink.

They brought the lower half of the wall out...it was a great idea...I would have never thought of that, but the hubby of that house is an architecht so he is always experimenting on his own house. Its so fun to visit b/c things are different every time.

That''s really cool! I would love to be able to do things on a whim like that. My DH is a bit risk-averse so I have to have a whole plan sketched out before I can do things... mostly. Sometimes I just do them when he''s not here.

 

[phoenixgirl]

We had a pedestal sink in our tiny condo bathroom. We added a cabinet above the toilet and had a mirror with a ledge at the bottom of it where we kept a few things when we weren''t expecting guests. But ultimately our bathroom was so small that we had a stand alone cabinet in the bedroom with extra toiletry items (we had a real issue with storage space in the condo -- two coat sized closets and one pantry closet that wound up holding things like tools and paint and suitcases). We could keep a few things like a soap dispenser and toothpaste on the sink itself, so maybe you can find a better design. Good luck!

 

[lyra]

We had a pedestal sink in our powder room. To be quite honest, to me it was like having to clean a second toilet in the room. Just never felt good about it, and of course had all the issues you have: no storage, things falling off, etc. We replaced it with a small sink/vanity unit from Home Depot (same as Lowes?), where the top part is basically all "sink", and the lower part is storage with 2 doors and then it has ball "feet" on the bottom so it looks like a piece of furniture. It came with a matching mirror all for around $399. I like it much better, and it doesn''t take up anymore space really, and that was a big issue in that bathroom. Lots f storage too.

 

[eks6426]

What about getting a vessel sink on top of a furniture type stand that has open shelving? This would give you more counter space plus keep the open look. I saw a really great remodel on HGTV that did this in an older home such as yours.

 

[Joolskie]

Date: 1/24/2008 4:35:25 PM
Author: IslandDreams
What about getting a vessel sink on top of a furniture type stand that has open shelving? This would give you more counter space plus keep the open look. I saw a really great remodel on HGTV that did this in an older home such as yours.

This would be a great option if you would like to have more storage. Being an HGTV junkie, I have seen several makeovers where this type of vanity was used in a small bathroom. It maintained an open feeling while allowing for storage.

We have a pedestal sink in the powder room and it works fine. But in the master and hall bathrooms we have cabinet vanities. With two kids, we need the storage space.

 

[sumbride]

I finally told DH that I need a new sink in my bathroom. So last night I convinced him to go to Lowes and look, just to get some ideas. He specifically said he hates the vessel sink on top of a cabinet look. I think it''s really cool, but also so trendy I worry about it with resale value if we stay 5 more years or so. They had a couple of better quality vanity cabinets but they all seemed to have a heavy "McMansion" feel and that doesn''t suit our home. I found one I liked, but it was low-end particle board and I would rather not go THAT cheap on it. I don''t want it to look cheap, and I''d rather do a nice pedestal sink than a cheap cabinet.

They did have the Memoirs collection and Blenheim''s sink on display. I think the Memoirs one is a better fit, and luckily it is less expensive in store than the MSRP on the Kohler site, so it does fit the budget. I think I''ll look around some more though. I really think I would like a furniture piece with a sink set into it the most. Just have to find the right one. I might try some of the salvage house shops in Baltimore and see if I can find something quirky and not "new old world".