Looking for advice on using a vessel sink and what height to put the cabinet and sink at. Seems like the top of the sink needs to stay around the typical height of 34″ +/-. My sink is 7 and 3/4″ , that puts my counter height at 26 and 1/4″. Seems really low. Any ideas. Thanks Michael
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Replies
I think the height of the bowl's rim is a matter of personal taste. Personally, I think higher is better. So it's up to you and your desisgner. I've installed a few, and am working on another similar, although more custom project now. This one has two bathrooms with "vessel sinks."
The guest bath glass vessel (polished Solex) will be a typical installation, resting on a 34-in-high countertop, with only a drain hole through the tile surface. This one's rim will be about 41-inches above the floor. Since the surface is tile, we have the option of setting the vessel on the roughtop (below the tile) and then tiling around the bowl - thus lowering the rim an inch. I think these higher vessels look good and work well, especially when I picture "olde tyme" sink bowls on hotel room dressers or tables: you drip less on the table while washing your face. Try it with a mockup on one of your countertops.
The master bath vessels (16-inch, round Durangos - they look like stone) will be installed atypically: although likewise intended to rest on the countertop, we're going to drop the 8-in-high bowls through it so their rims are 2-inches above the surface. The bowl bottoms will rest on shelves inside the cabinets, 6-inches below the countertop surface. The surface will be 32-inches from the finish floor, so the vessels' rims will be 34-inches high - that's what we're used to. To insure the grout stays in the seam between the granite and the vessel, the granite guy will cut an angled hole in the slab to accept the uneven bowl surface (that won't be easy). Unfortunately, these vessels aren't intended to be supported by the granite. All this because the masters of the home are not that tall. Oh, don't we all just love these designers? Ha, ha.....
Gary W
gwwoodworking.com
Edited 3/20/2006 2:14 pm by GaryW
Edited 3/20/2006 2:16 pm by GaryW
I had this issue with the sinks in my bathroom. I used glass bowls, so recessing them slightly into the counter was not really an option. Many cabinet companies make cabinets designed to be used as built in desks. They are typically shorter, 28 inches or so depending on manufacturer. I would definitely pay attention to this height. Mine were 28 inches high, and the sinks added another 7. I'm 5-7 tall, and they feel high to me. You can generally cut an inch off the bottom of the toe kick without affecting the cabinet to lower the top. Measure, measure, measure/ Rig up a table at the potential heights, set the sink on top and try it out.