Shopping For The Bathroom Cabinetry

For my bathroom, I decided that getting the cabinetry nailed down should be the first job. I already knew I wanted a claw foot tub, since I would be able to have more inside tub space in the small space I had to work with. Given that "style", the cabinetry should come before anything else.

A builder I work with recommendationed that I work with Lee Turner at Kitchen Views (at National Lumber) in Newton, MA. I made an appointment with her and brought all my measurements, my wish list, and pictures to better describe the look I wanted.




I needed to choose the base vanity, a tower to go between the sinks for storage, an open "cabinet" for over the toilet, and possibly something to go on the wall above the foot of the tub. I wanted my furniture "legs" instead of a plain toe kick, and I wanted that detail to carry over in some way to the tower and the other pieces. I needed medium high quality cabinets and, of course, the best price they could give me!

Lee was very knowledgeable about her products, and the system she used to generate drawings and quotes. This is very important in saving you time and aggravation. It was clear that Lee was in demand, booked solid, and needed to be efficient in order to survive. That was fine with me, since I did not want to spend all day choosing cabinets. She guided me to the styles I might like, and I brought in drawers and other things to be able to choose a finish that would work with the bedroom furniture.

At the last minute I did decide NOT to go with the white I had liked in the pictures I brought. I was afraid to make the jump away from wood for the first time in my life.

Unfortunately, the tower had to go. If you remember from a previous blog posting, I needed both closed and open storage in it. The need for a tower came from the desire to have a hair dryer "garage", with a plug in it, so the hair dryer could be hidden when not in use. It turned out that unless I purchased a customer tower (at greater cost), I would have to buy a closed section for the bottom, and then stack an open section on top. Some sort of trim would cover the seam. Yuck! That would look "cheap". I needed a plan B.

I also decided not to put something over the tub since to look right it would need some depth, and I knew the tub would be about 4" away from the wall. I was afraid of injuries that might result when standing up to get out of the tub! I could always have thinner glass or wooden shelves installed, and certainly at a lower cost.

So here is the drawing Lee's system generated:

As you can see, my initial plan of having a tower and tall mirrors built into the molding around it had to be scrapped, but there are many designs I would be happy to end up with... I just had to come up with plan B.

I'll tell you the products I chose when the job is complete, but my next step was to choose the tub and all the plumbing fixtures.