Small bathroom vanities:
what fits a half bath.

For a single sink, the most common widths are 24″, 30″, 36″ and 48″, about 20–21″ deep, and about 32″ tall to the top of the counter, by those guides.

Ours come in four standard sizes each. The Rustic Bathroom Vanity Base is 32″ tall to the top of its cabinet, and each size takes the sink top beside it, about 1″ wider than the cabinet:

The Rustic Wood Vessel Sink Vanity is built lower, because its bowl sits on the counter (why a vessel sink vanity is lower): 27″ tall to the top of its planked top, and 18″ deep at every size:

Those guides suggest a vanity 24–30″ wide for a powder room or half bath. Our 24″ and 30″ sizes fall in that range, and the 18″ and 20″ ones are narrower still. What matters more is the room the sink needs around it.

The International Residential Code (IRC), the model code most US states base their house codes on, puts a sink’s center at least 15″ from a side wall, and the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA), the kitchen and bath designers’ trade group, recommends 20″. So in a space between two walls, a sink needs at least 30″ of width by code (40″ by the NKBA’s guideline), however narrow the vanity under it.

So a small vanity can’t sit tight against a side wall. With the sink centered, the 18″ Rustic Bathroom Vanity Base’s 19″ sink top needs a gap of at least 5½″ to the wall by code (10½″ by the NKBA’s guideline). The 20″ Rustic Wood Vessel Sink Vanity needs at least 5″ by code (10″ by the NKBA’s). Some states and towns change these rules, so check your local code.

The same as any bathroom vanity: about 32″ to the top of the counter, the standard height in those guides. They run from 30″ to 36″, the tall end sold as comfort height.

Our Rustic Bathroom Vanity Base is 32″ tall; with a sink top on it, commonly ¾″ thick and up to about 1¼″ for stone, the counter stands about 32¾–33¼″. Our Rustic Wood Vessel Sink Vanity is 27″ tall, and a typical vessel bowl adds 5–6″, so the rim is at about 32–33″: 32″ with the 5″ bowl drawn here.

Fig. 1Front · 18″ and 20″

Sink makers’ guides put a comfortable rim for most adults at about 34–36″, so for a household of taller adults, aim there. Either vanity can be built to another height, quoted with its shipping: ask us for a quote.

By code, at least 15″ from the sink’s center to a side wall, 30″ between the sink’s and a toilet’s centers, and 21″ clear in front; the NKBA recommends 20″ to a side wall, 18″ from a toilet’s centerline and 30″ in front, to anything opposite. On our narrowest vanities:

• —Beside a toilet: the 30″ between centers is the one that counts, more than the code’s 15″ or the NKBA’s 18″ from a toilet’s centerline to the vanity. It puts the toilet’s centerline at least 20½″ from the side of the 18″ Rustic Bathroom Vanity Base’s sink top, or 20″ from the 20″ Rustic Wood Vessel Sink Vanity, its sink centered.
• —In front: with the 18″ base’s 17″-deep sink top, the code’s 21″ makes 38″ from the wall behind it to anything opposite, and the NKBA’s 30″ makes 47″.
• —Doors: check that the bathroom door and the vanity’s own door open past each other. Each of our vanities has one door as standard at its narrower widths.

If you’re replacing a pedestal sink, our note on replacing a pedestal sink with a vanity covers measuring and the plumbing.

Where floor space is tightest, the Rustic Bathroom Vanity Base: with its sink top, the 18″ base takes a 19″ × 17″ footprint, where our narrowest Rustic Wood Vessel Sink Vanity takes 20″ × 18″. Otherwise, it comes down to the sink you want:

• —Rustic Bathroom Vanity Base: a sink top you buy separately, with its sink in it, on a 32″ cabinet; 18″ wide and up, from $499.
• —Rustic Wood Vessel Sink Vanity: its own planked pine top, undrilled, with the vessel bowl of your choice on it, on a 27″ cabinet; 20″ wide and up, from $539.

Both have an open back for the plumbing and come raw, stained or painted. The sink and faucet aren’t included with either.