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If you’ve begun shopping for bathroom sinks, you may have already become overwhelmed with the sheer breadth of choices available to you. From pedestal sinks to vanity sinks, from porcelain to stainless steel, the options and consequences of isolating a single choice are endless.

Bathroom Sinks Style: Pedestal or Vanity?

The first choice you must make involves the most fundamental of sink choices: do you want free-standing bathroom pedestal sinks or do you want bowls set in an enclosure? Both the vanity sink and the pedestal sink will hide your plumbing and drainage and both come in a wide variety of shapes and styles.

Vanity sinks are great for giving you plenty of space for both grooming and storing your assorted bathroom accouterments, such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, hairbrushes and more. Vanities with vessels also give you an opportunity to establish a color and style for your bathroom. If you decide to go with vanities with bowls, make sure they match your mirror. You also want to make sure the material of your surface top matches the materials used in the rest of your bathroom.

Pedestal sinks are especially great for smaller bathrooms, such as powder rooms. While they don’t provide the working surface of a vanity, they can fit into much smaller areas and still provide both function and elegance. However, a pedestal style can’t provide the storage capacity of a vanity, so if you need to store toiletries or the like in that bathroom you’ll want to make sure you have a separate cabinet available. Pedestal vessels by their nature create a bold statement of style. While that style can still be quite diverse, from classic and ornate to sleek and modern, you still have the basic look of a free-standing vessel upon a stem or column.

Undermount, Overmount or Solid Piece?

Another fundamental consideration you will want to weigh is whether you select an undermount sink, an overmount sink or a vessel where the surrounding material and bowl are all the same in a single solid piece sink. If you choose a pedestal vessel, in a vast majority of the cases you will be limited to a single solid piece.

But if you choose a cabinet with an inset bowl, you can either have the bowl installed into the cabinet from the top with a lip around the top (an overmount sink), or installed upwards from the bottom to create a smooth surface from the vanity sides right up to the dip into the bowl (an undermount sink). Undermount sinks provide a more bold appearance and are great if you want a clean, flat surface all around your vanity. Overmount sinks can be easier to install and are really the most common style of bathroom vessel you’ll see.

Solid piece sinks are when you have the vessel sculpted into the same piece of material as the cabinet surface. These are great for creating a seamless look and feel. While they limit your material choices and give you less flexibility for changing your appearance in the long run, they are also very easy to clean and maintain. With a seamless solid piece vessel and vanity design, you never have to worry about the germs and grime that can become trapped in those creases between the vessel and cabinet surface.

When you’ve decided between a vanity sink or a pedestal sink and then from undermount, overmount or solid piece sink vessel designs, you’ve greatly narrowed your choices. This makes shopping for bathroom sinks much more simple and intuitive.

To learn what you must know about buying and installing an undermount bathroom sink or any other type of bathroom vessel, please visit my new and comprehensive guide: Bathroom Sinks