You don't have to spend a fortune on bathroom cabinets or settle for the stock cabinetry on the shelves at the Big Box Stores. Just ask them about bathroom vanities available by Kraft Maid, American Woodmark and other cabinet makers.

The costs of renovating bathrooms adds up very quickly. You don't have to break the budget or settle for cheap vanity cabinets that won't hold up over time. The latter is self defeating. If the vanity cabinet does not hold up, you have to change it and that includes the plumbing and vanity top.



Sizes of Bathroom vanity cabinets
Theoretically you can, but remember that kitchen cabinets are slightly larger than bathroom vanity cabinets. Also the vanity tops for a bathroom will not fit a kitchen base cabinet.

Vanity cabinets are similar to kitchen cabinets. They are essentially a box that has a decorative front and sides. Bathroom vanity cabinets are usually shorter in depth. They range between 18 and 21 inches deep and before adding 3/4 inches for the door. Bathroom vanity cabinets are generally about 33 to 33.5 inches high. Your standard kitchen base cabinets are 24 inches wide and 34 inches high.

What to look for in a quality bathroom vanity cabinet
The color of the cabinet is very important. After all, you will invest thousands of dollars in sinks, tubs or shower, ceramic tile, lighting and accessories. This is no time to skimp on the color of the vanity cabinet or the cabinet knobs or pulls.

If you are on a tight budget, you should certainly look at the stock cabinets in Home Depot, Lowes or any other big box store. What you will find is that they come in standard white, oak and maybe maple. They also come pre-assembled or you assemble them at home. These cabinets are very inexpensive, because they are made of Medium-density fibreboard (MDF or MDFB).

The problem with these MDF cabinets is that they tend to fall apart if they ever get wet. They actually absorb the water on the floor in case you ever have emergencies, like your sink, toilet or bath tub overflowing. After that it is only a matter of time before the veneer on the MDF starts to peel off.

A good bathroom vanity will have plywood sides at a minimum. This does two things. If you ever have the above accidents, the plywood will hold up better than the MDF. Also, the plywood is stronger and will generally last longer.

Where to find that quality bathroom vanity cabinet at a great price
You can find that quality bathroom cabinet at your Home Depot, Lowes or other home improvement store. It's in the Kitchen Cabinetry Department. Let us explain.

All of the kitchen cabinetry manufacturers found at Home Depot and Lowes also offer bathroom vanity cabinets. Most people don't know that and the kitchen designers at the big box stores don't advertise that fact. They would rather design and get you to install more expensive kitchens.

Now that you know the above, you can find a great selection of colors and door styles right in the kitchen cabinetry department. The bathroom vanity cabinets can also be ordered in the same color and style as the kitchen cabinets.

Stick with the stock cabinets and don't be fooled into thinking that you need a semi-custom or custom cabinet for your bathroom. The latter are the exception to the rule.

How to go about ordering the vanity cabinets
Armed with your knowledge of the above, you will want to download and print a copy of the bathroom vanity cabinet catalog that you are interested in. We're providing the Kraft Maid Bathroom Vanity Catalog [PDF] since that is what we bought. You can also download American Woodmark's Bathroom Vanity Catalog. [PDF]

You should download and print out the catalog. Bring it with you to the store. The kitchen cabinetry guys and girls at Home Depot, Lowes or Expo Design may not have the vanity cabinet catalog handy. However, the vanity cabinets are on their computer. We know because we ordered them.

Review the various sizes of the vanity cabinets in the above catalogs. Remember, these are stock cabinets so sizes are pretty standard, 24, 30, 36 and 60 inch wide vanity cabinets and the depth is about 21 inches. You can order a more shallow cabinet, 18 inches, if you are pressed for space.

Have your kitchen now bathroom vanity designer price up the sizes that you need. Remember the standard bathroom vanities are made of MDF or fiberboard. Now, add on to that cost of plywood sides (left and right is fine) and compare that price to the standard vanity.

We opted for a 30 inch, 36 inch and 60 inches bathroom vanity by Kraft Maid. We selected the door style and color. Delivery took about 4 to 6 weeks.

Dress it up with Knobs and Pulls
You can give your bathroom vanity cabinet any look you want. We bought pulls from Restoration Hardware in the same finish as the sink fixture. However, we opted for pretty standard pulls on the master bathroom.