Small Vanities Buying Guide
Two measurements decide a small vanity: the wall length and the clear floor in front of it. Most wrong orders come from fixing the first and ignoring the second. The sections below cover the width for each room, a sum that shows when depth matters more than width, and the checks on fixing, basins, plumbing and care that a compact cabinet leaves little room to get wrong.
Pick by room
A powder room vanity is about 400mm to 500mm wide and about 220mm to 350mm deep. It only has to hold a basin and a place to rest a hand towel. A small ensuite takes about 500mm to 750mm, and 600mm is the practical minimum if you wash and shave there every day. A small main bathroom can take 750mm to 900mm when one wall is clear. If you are unsure, 600mm and 750mm are the safest widths, because they fit most walls and leave the walkway intact.
Our recommendation: choose the width from the wall, then choose the depth from the walkway sum below. Depth is a separate spec on every product, so read it on the page before you add to cart.
If the width is what holds you to 600mm, check whether the toilet or the shower screen can move. Shifting either can free enough wall for a 750mm vanity. The one thing not to give up is the shower: do not shrink it to fit a wider vanity.
Measure the room in four steps
Use a tape measure and a pencil, and write the numbers down before you open a product page. First, measure the clear wall length where the vanity will sit, from the corner or the door frame to the nearest obstruction. Second, measure the room depth along the line you will walk. Third, measure from the centre of the toilet pan to the wall you plan to use. Fourth, mark where the door swings and where a shower screen or bath edge sits.
Do the walkway sum
You need about 700mm to 750mm clear in front of the vanity to stand and move. Subtract the vanity's depth from the room's depth along that line and see what is left. In a room 1,200mm deep, a 500mm standard cabinet leaves 700mm, which is the bare minimum. A 390mm unit leaves 810mm, and a 220mm unit leaves 980mm. If the sum comes in under 700mm with a standard cabinet, the problem is depth, and a shallower unit solves it where a narrower one would not.
Vanities that are 300mm or 350mm deep
People search for these depths because the walkway sum decides the order. Our ADP Petite, Petite Rail, Petite Shelf and Glacier Lite Mini, and the Timberline Oscar and Ollie, are about 220mm deep. The Timberline Frankie and Lottie are about 240mm and the ADP Eli Mini is about 250mm, all under 300mm. The Marquis Oxford Ensuite is about 340mm, which is under 350mm. The Marq Compact is about 390mm, so it sits just above both. Check the depth on the product page, because a basin top can add a few millimetres to the cabinet depth.
Shallow cabinets pair with small bowls, such as a 360mm round basin, and each drawer holds less than a standard unit. For a powder room that suits the job. For a bathroom you use every morning, 340mm to 390mm gives you a larger bowl and more drawer room while still keeping the walkway open.
Which range for which job
For a powder room, start with the smallest footprints. The ADP Glacier Lite Mini is a 400mm wall hung unit, 220mm deep and 555mm high, with a gloss white ceramic top, an integrated basin, one tap hole, an adjustable shelf and a soft-close door that hinges left or right. The ADP Tiny is 465mm wide, 260mm deep and 515mm high, also with a ceramic basin top. The ADP Clifton Mini is 470mm wide, 392mm high and 250mm deep. The Otti Mini Ensuite is a 400mm wall hung fluted unit in Woodland Oak or Sable Walnut, built from high moisture resistant plywood. The Marquis Asti Baby is 400mm and the Caleta Compact is 430mm, and both can hang on the wall or stand on a kickboard. The Ingrain Round Fluted is the outlier: a 400mm floor standing pedestal in ash-stained timber with a 410mm round top and a single soft-close door.
Which side does the tap go
Plan this before you order, because on a small vanity the tap hole decides which wall the supply has to come from. The Otti Mini Ensuite and the Timberline Ollie, Oscar and Lottie have tops that reverse so the tap hole sits on the left or the right. The ADP Tiny has a right-hand tap hole only, at the 2 o'clock position, so a supply on the left means a different vanity or a pipe move. The Frankie has a fixed panel on the tap side that hides the plumbing, and its door hinges on the opposite side.
Narrow, slim, compact or mini
Shoppers use these words loosely, and so do product names, so ignore the label and read the width and depth on the product page. Before you compare products, decide which dimension you need to reduce. If it is depth, go to slimline vanities. If it is width, stay here and compare 400mm to 600mm vanities.
Wall hung or floor standing
Choose wall hung when the walls are open or about to be retiled, and choose floor standing when the walls are finished. A wall hung vanity leaves the floor visible, which makes a small room read larger and makes cleaning underneath simple. In a small room it can also look lighter: a wall hung 750mm unit can look less bulky than a 600mm floor standing unit with a heavy kickboard and a thick top. A floor standing vanity covers floor pipes and avoids the wall work. See wall hung vanities and freestanding vanities.
Fixing a wall hung cabinet
A wall hung cabinet needs fixing to a support beam fitted between the studs. Add extra noggins before the wall is sheeted if the cabinet height calls for it, and make the noggin wider than the vanity. If the wall is already tiled, the support has to sit behind the tiles and the wall may need opening, which is the reason to choose floor standing in a finished room. The wall must be plumb and the floor level: fixing to a bowed wall twists the cabinet and can crack the top, so the installer packs the cabinet out until it sits true.
Basin, top and tapware on a small bench
Decide the basin and the tap together, because they set the tap hole and the height. Compact vanities often come with the top and basin as one piece, which keeps the footprint small and removes a joint to seal, so check what is included before you compare products. An above-counter basin sits on the bench and raises the finished height, by about 100mm to 150mm for a vessel basin, which is a real loss of clearance on a short cabinet. The tap hole position is set when the top is made. Where the bench is very small, a wall-mounted tap clears it entirely, but the plumbing then has to be planned into the wall before the wall is lined.
Height and comfort
Compact vanities come in several heights, from wall hung units hung to suit you to floor standing cabinets with a fixed overall height. Basin rim height is what you feel every day. For most adults a rim between 850mm and 900mm from the floor is comfortable, and a wall hung cabinet lets you set that number exactly. A floor standing unit that is 900mm high, like the Eli Mini, puts the top near the upper end of that range. In a home with children or a shorter user, a lower mounting height on a wall hung vanity is easier to live with, and the same cabinet can be raised later if the household changes.
Finishes and colour in a small room
Light finishes reflect more light and make a small room feel open. White gloss and matte white cabinets do this best, and a pale woodgrain adds warmth without darkening the room. Fluted fronts, such as the Otti Mini Ensuite and the Ingrain Round Fluted, add texture and shadow without adding depth, so they suit a powder room where the vanity is the one feature. Dark finishes can work in a room with good light, but in a windowless powder room a lighter cabinet keeps the space from feeling smaller than it is.
Handles take up space too. Finger pull and push-to-open fronts keep the face flat, which matters when you stand within a step of the cabinet. On a vanity 220mm deep, a flush face means a door that does not catch a hip as you pass.
Looking after it
Wipe the cabinet with a soft cloth and a weak solution of non-abrasive detergent, and dry any spill. Ceramic tops and basins clean the same way, but a scratch in the glaze cannot be repaired, so do not use abrasive pads on them. Solid surface and engineered stone tops wipe clean with a damp cloth and mild detergent, and although they resist heat well, a hot item should not sit directly on them. Check the silicone around the basin and the bench and redo it where it is cracked or lifting, because that is how water reaches the cabinet.
Mirror and light
Choose a mirror slightly narrower than the vanity, about 50mm to 100mm in from each side, and hang it about 100mm to 200mm above the bench or basin rim so it clears the tap handles. On a 500mm vanity that gives a mirror of roughly 300mm to 400mm. In a room with no window, light from both sides of the mirror shows your face evenly and takes the shadow off the basin. Browse mirrors, basins and taps and mixers to finish the room.
If a small vanity is not quite right
A little more bench: 750mm and 800mm vanities. A personal bathroom with more room: ensuite vanities. An awkward wall or a depth that is not listed: custom vanities. Every size side by side: the bathroom vanity guide.
Shop by brand
Small vanities here come from ADP, Timberline, Marquis, Otti and Ingrain.
