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.

Whether you redecorate or decorate your home for the first time, starting off with the bathroom is not only wise, but also necessary. Because the actual room is not that big, you can slowly let your creativity take hold when you are ready to choose bathroom furniture.

Can you remember how dull and dreary your grandparents or even great grandparents’ bathrooms looked like. This was only because they used their bathrooms for functionality. Aesthetics didn’t play a huge role in those days, purely because industry had not yet become creative enough. There just wasn’t enough demand.

Once plumbing moved into our homes, things started looking much better for the old bathroom. When material like porcelain become abundant, the manufacturers of bathroom furniture finally realized that they can be much more creative with color and shapes.

With time, our bathrooms became bigger and fuller. Now we have a myriad of things to choose from; like beautifully crafted vanities, basins and bath tubs. With these new features, there also sprouted bidets, urinals and functional showers. Needless to say, with each piece of furniture there was also an accompanied set of accessories.

Let us look at the shower. Many years back it was a stall like structure with a curtain hanging on a rod which enclosed a small space on the bathroom floor. Water had to run into a outlet drain which caused many problems. Today it’s not just a frame and glass, but to a bathroom’s ambiance and personality it can play a huge role. Glass doors or shutters are stylishly crafted with patterns or prints covering the glass.

The cream-de-la-cream in bathrooms, is no doubt the bath tub. Here you can really express your inner desires. How about a large old fashioned enamel one, standing on exquisitely crafted legs and matching faucets to boot! Or, if you want a body massage, why not get a water jet tub. Just think about lying in one and letting the water massage those tired bones. Also stunning would be a corner tub with lots of room for two!

Let’s not forget the “throne” – which has of course taken on he life of it’s own. Nowadays toilets are an art from. They are available in variety of colors, matching your bath tub and vanity of course. Have you seen some of the seat covers in the stores? They are even filled with water and have fish floating around.

Yes, bathroom furniture has come into it’s own. The evolution was swift and painless. It is a thrill to be able to walk into a showroom where the entire bathroom is exhibited. You immediately know that maybe it’s time for you to upgrade yours!