Some of the most innovative designs are born of necessity – which means some of the most creative, storage smart bathroom vanities are made for really small bathrooms. But just because you have more space to work with doesn’t mean you should waste it by installing an inefficient, outdated vanity. Better storage options are finding their way into vanities of all sizes, and while some of the most compact, efficient models tend to be pretty modern in style, it’s increasingly possible to find contemporary conveniences built into vanities with a more traditional look.
Smart Storage Starts Small
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Innovation in bathroom storage starts small, literally. When you don’t have much space to work with, your vanity has to be designed to make the most of all of it. That means trimming down the size as much as possible, stripping away extraneous details, and finding a way to make use of every available inch of interior space. The most iconic example of this is the modern wall mounted vanity. They’re small, square, and simple, often with top-mounted vessel sinks that maximize the space inside the vanity, and two-tiered drawers: one U-shaped to accommodate the sink’s plumbing and store small toiletries, and a larger drawer to store towels and bigger bottles or beauty care products.
Dressing Up The Bare Bones Box
This kind of bare-bones, stripped-down look isn’t for everyone, but it makes a pretty good baseline when you want to start building back on more details. Adding legs, detailed cabinet work or decorative hardware, and stone vanity tops all help create a more luxurious, traditional feel without substantively changing the actual cabinet box you’re working with. An undermount sink also has a more traditional feel, but will take up some of the space inside the vanity. That means instead of a full-sized drawer, your vanity will only have room to accommodate a small flip-down drawer, which is less total storage, but still better than a faux drawer panel! That said, a vanity with legs can also be a little taller without ruining the look, which means you can probably squeeze in an additional drawer at the bottom for added storage.
Smart Storage For A Bigger Bathroom Vanity
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The best thing, though, is that all of these features scale up beautifully. While they’re a necessity on a compact, modern vanity, they’re a convenience on a roomy double vanity, sneaking storage for small items into the places they’re most convenient and reachable rather than leaving the space wasted or inaccessible. Larger storage smart bathroom vanities also tend to tweak their cabinetry. While it’s rare for traditional vanities to have all drawers and no cabinets, it’s becoming much more common for cabinets to be divided up with shelves, even ones on pull-out rollers, to make more of the cabinet usable and the stuff inside more accessible.
Improve Your Storage By Embracing Your Clutter
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On the other hand, while many small vanities are designed to maximize your ability to cram stuff in them, larger modern designs tend to conform to the way you actually use your vanity, rather than an idealized, most-efficient setup. That often means open shelves or cubbies where it’s easy to set or stow your toiletries or towels without ever having to open a cabinet or drawer. It’s a look that embraces natural clutter just a little bit, with layouts that make it a little more natural to put stuff “away” without leaving it all out on your counter. These types of vanities are often paired with catch-all wicker or canvas baskets, where you can toss makeup or hair care products, keeping them roughly sorted and out of sight without a lot of fussy organization.
A Place For Everything And Everything In Its Place
Of course, if you have a bigger bathroom, there’s no need to rely exclusively on your bathroom vanity for storage. Many luxury remodels feature big banks of bathroom cabinets – ones even more extensive than you’d find in a large kitchen – but if you ask me, it’s smarter to divvy up the burden. Instead of a long row of standard cabinet boxes, look for storage smart bathroom vanities that come paired with specially designed add-on cabinets. Instead of generic storage space, these are tailored to your needs: linen cabinets, laundry hampers, storage hutches, and so on are all made to store specific items, which means they do it more efficiently, saving you space and making your bathroom easier to use. No matter what size space you’re working with, it’s worth looking for storage smart bathroom vanities that will make the most of what you have, and work with you instead of against you!
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