It might be daunting to plan your first bathroom project that involves cabinetry. It doesn’t need to be complicated, though! This time, we are going to give you some top design tips on how to measure for bathroom cabinets.
1 – Measure your Floor Area
The first step is to know how much floor area you have to work with. Draw a floor plan, marking door, window, soil pipe, existing taps, shower or bath etc. Measure each wall, marking it on the plan. Graph paper is easiest, although there are lots of bathroom planning tools available online, or visit one of our showrooms with your basic floorplan and our advisors will be able to create a layout for you. Measure the height of the room, too, and the height of the windows/windowsills. This will be useful information if you want to include wall cabinets. Shown here, our 1200mm wide double Cashmere Pink Vanity with Marble Top and Curved Counter Top Basins.
2 – Short Projection Cabinets for Small Bathrooms
If you feel your bathroom is on the small side, consider utilising our clever Short Projection vanity cabinets. This is our Corsica Inky Blue design, which measures 350mm from front to back, rather than the usual 400mm. 50mm may not sound like a big difference, but it can really help when designing a small space and needing to allow for doors to open and close or drawers to be used conveniently and without overwhelming a limited floor area.
3 – Save Space with a Combination Unit
Measure your floor area to see if you can accommodate a Combination Unit. Shown here, our Capri Mystic Green combi! Combis are a good choice if you want to have a very neat, fitted look and don’t want to have a space between the toilet and basin. This means that a 1350mm wide Combination still has a spacious basin area, combined with a standard-sized toilet. This layout also works for a cloakroom. When measuring for plumbing, make sure that the unit sits centrally on the wall, with an equal space at both right and left-hand sides.
4 – Measure the Drawer Projection
One important thing to consider when starting to measure for bathroom cabinets is the space available for opening cabinet doors (which tend to need less space) versus the room needed to fully open a cabinet drawer. So always measure the drawer extension when drawing up a floor plan, leaving enough ‘moving around’ floor space to allow the bathroom to be used comfortably and safely. Our Elba Oak Wall Hung Basin Drawer Vanity is 800mm wide and 395mm deep, so allow about another 300mm-400mm in front of the drawers as usable floor space. If you’re unsure, visit one of our showrooms to see the furniture item in real life.
5 – Consider your Corners!
Corner cabinets are a popular and logical way of making good use of unused corner space – particularly in a small cloakroom. But there’s no reason why they can’t be included in a small bathroom or shower room too, perhaps combined with a corner or quadrant shower. The important measurement to consider is the projection along each wall, which will also give you the width of the front face section. All our cabinets have detailed measurements shown, along with top, side and front diagrams if you click on the Dimensions button in the description. Tape measures at the ready! This is our Lucia Chalk White Basin Vanity, which has a front-facing width of 592mm.
6 – Assess your Wall Space
If you are working out how to measure for bathroom cabinets, remember to assess your available wall space as well. Most of us tend to focus on how much floor space is available when measuring up for cabinets, but you can also use ‘eye level’ wall space to accommodate a tall cabinet, adding oodles of extra storage to your new bathroom. This is the Midnight Green Wall Hung Tall Cabinet, which measures just 350mm wide. It’s also available in Inky Blue, and there’s a fluted version too.
7 – Measure up for a Vanity Unit
A Vanity Unit, such as our Quartz Stone Grey Cloakroom Vanity, which has a semi-recessed basin, is modestly sized, so it can make a huge difference in a small bathroom or tiny cloakroom. As it’s semi-recessed, the basin is very usable, whilst the shallow-depth cabinet avoids taking up too much floor space. When drawing your floor plan, take into account the projection of the basin as well as the floor-standing cabinet. Here, the overall width is 450mm and the depth of the cabinet itself is just 195mm, the basin projection is 337mm.
8 – Pick a Back-to-Wall Toilet Unit
Work out your bathroom layout and think about choosing a Back to Wall Toilet Unit, shown here with the Tuscan toilet. It makes a bathroom look a little more pulled together and neater, and makes the floor space look more defined and easy to keep clean. As before, measure the front-to-back projection to assess your floor space. This unit, combined with the toilet itself, has a front-to-back projection of 250mm for the cabinet and 480mm for the Tuscan toilet.
Conclusion
When you are at the crucial planning layout stage, it’s important to be very precise with your measurements – millimetres matter! Too many cabinets can look crowded, but at the same time, work out what storage you need. (A declutter before you start is always useful!). As we mention frequently, moving around space is vital, not just to get in and out of the shower whilst avoiding bumping into the shower door, but to be able to open drawers and cabinet doors easily without encroaching on the flow of the floor area. Don’t forget, we would also love to see your new bathroom designs over on Instagram, @Bathroommountainuk!
