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Here is the space where my vanity will go. The vanity i'm planning on purchasing is below. How can i fill the gaps on the face and on the top?

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ndnchapathi69
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    Have you confirmed that the drain pipe on the left side of the opening is going to work with this cabinet? It looks very close to being at the same height as the bottom of the doors. Will you be able to fit the trap in there? It would be a real bummer to have that pipe hit right where the shelf is. – spuck Jun 23 '22 at 20:29
  • Is 48" the width of the cabinet or the countertop? – spuck Jun 23 '22 at 20:31
  • Open up the drywall on the left side and see if you can move the drain around to the back. It looks like there is some electrical in the way but I am not sure. Then finish the area drywall and floor and install your cabinet centered. – Brian from state farm Jun 24 '22 at 14:10
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    Side note, but is that - carpet? In a bathroom? There's a reason they don't usually do that. If it gets wet frequently, you'll have a serious mold problem on your hands. Hope you're planning on taking that out as part of this remodel. A small, moveable rug is fine to keep your feet warm/dry after a shower - you can clean those easily, or replace them when they get really nasty. But wall-to-wall carpet is very hard to keep clean in a wet environment. – Darrel Hoffman Jun 24 '22 at 18:32
  • Hey 48 inches is the width of the countertop, also the carpet will be replaced with tile. – ndnchapathi69 Jun 24 '22 at 22:57
  • As far as fitting the vanity to the cabinet, i confirmed it will fit, but i just need to cut out a circle to left side of the vanity – ndnchapathi69 Jun 24 '22 at 22:58

3 Answers3

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This is a free standing vanity. It is not made to finish against a wall. The cabinet part does not lend itself to adding what we call "fillers" as a standard vanity cabinet would. The open shelf on the bottom is the main culprit for this.

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Anything you do to try and add onto the countertop itself is going to look bad- it will look like what it is- an unnecessary add on.

You are better off to just do a good job on the drywall repair and mount your cabinet/ countertop as it was designed to be installed- centered between the walls with a space on each side.

I cannot see any way to make this look better than that.

Otherwise, get a 48" standard box cabinet and 2- base fillers which you cut down to 1 1/2" each to fit wall to wall. Then procure the correct size countertop (and matching backsplash).

Kyle
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    I think disguising the waste pipe coming out the side might be useful for aesthetics, but that should be focused on the pipe rather than the cabinet. That said, I'm not sure how the vanity will fit into the space without building it in place, or disassembling it, because of that pipe. – computercarguy Jun 23 '22 at 15:11
  • I had something similar with a 2" gap on one side of my vanity, and definitely understand the desire to fill it in. Cleaning inside the gap would be annoying, not to mention the aggravation of dropping an item and having to fish it out with a yardstick. I used the same filler for both the vertical and horizontal surfaces, with the horizontal piece sitting just below the bottom edge of the ceramic vanity top. I don't see a big issue with the open bottom shelf, just add a panel on both sides to prevent items falling off the shelf into the gap. – Nuclear Hoagie Jun 23 '22 at 16:28
  • Yes, with a bunch of work you could make this built in looking. My point is why bother ? Either use it as intended (free standing) or get a proper cabinet/ countertop set up. Also, I totally agree that cleaning around this freestanding unit in such a tight space is a nightmare... – Kyle Jun 23 '22 at 16:40
  • When gaps are this tight, take extra time to ensure that the vanity is properly centered. Being off by a smidge could make the gap on one side twice the size of the other, which will stick out as *very* obvious. – bta Jun 23 '22 at 18:09
  • @NuclearHoagie Definitely seconded. We have one of those little gaps between a vanity and the tub--annoying. – Loren Pechtel Jun 24 '22 at 00:22
  • @computercarguy - You're not thinking like a plumber. Which is someone willing to cut your house in half to do their work. Whatever's left over from your house is another trade's problem to fix. - You cut the pipe down to a stub. Then butcher a hole in the cab where it needs to go large enough to accommodate a fitting (so, too big). I've also cut my share of shelves to fit a trap on these stupid cabinets. Or you can pony up $2k and we can put the plumbing where it belongs and end up costing you $10k. - *"The vanity i'm planning on purchasing"*. how 'bout ya don't (spend $1k on a fake cabinet)? – Mazura Jun 24 '22 at 01:10
  • I would get a narrower vanity, like 42". The 48" is always going to look crammed in there, and as noted above filler will look stupid – user278411 Jun 24 '22 at 08:44
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I think I might try pushing the cabinet all the way to the left, leaving a gap of about 3" on the right.

Then mount a towel bar all the way across, maybe 12" above the countertop or so.

Then hang a bunch of long fluffy towels in there.

Roger
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  • This is a good idea. If doing this, I might consider trimming the countertop flush with the cabinet body on the left edge. – spuck Jun 24 '22 at 15:04
  • I like this idea, actually i saw they make 3 inch spice cabinet fillers that pull out, maybe i could store haircare products and what not in the pull out https://www.amazon.com/Hardware-Resources-Dead-space-Technology-Eliminate/dp/B07PHVJJHN/ref=pd_lpo_5?pd_rd_i=B07PHVJJHN&psc=1 – ndnchapathi69 Jun 26 '22 at 23:44
  • What would you put on top of the spice cabinet to finish the countertop? – spuck Jun 27 '22 at 15:32
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Because of the layout of the drain, you are probably best returning the free standing vanity and going back to a built in. You are going to spend many days trying to fix walls and deal with the drain. In the end, if you stick with the ill fitting vanity you won't be satisfied. Sorry.

DrBB
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