Medicine cabinet in powder room?

I'm moving my first floor powder room. It is very small and for guests only. Standard medicine cabinets are a bit large, but I could easily have a small one made of mahogany. It would be recessed and match the paneling.

But is one needed? I could simply slap a mirror on the wall. Things one would stock in a powder room are tissues and extra toilet paper. Neither would fit in the medicine cabinet. If I put one in, what should I stock in it? I could put packets of aspirin. Condoms are free in NYC. I could stock them. But really there doesn't seem to be anything important enough to stock there to justify having one.

What would you stock in one?

Don.

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Reply to
Don Wiss
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i don't have any medicine cabinets in any bath in my house. in one, i cut out the drywall between 2 studs, drywalled the hole, and built an oak shelf rack into the hole. in back of the sink is a 6'x6' mirror. all things that went into the standard medicine cabinet are stored in drawers in the sink cabinet instead.

in the master bath, i made 2 stained glass edges mirrors and hung them behind the sinks. again, all 'stuff' goes in the sink cabinets.

Reply to
chaniarts

I don't have one in my first floor powder room but sink is in a cabinet where things like toilet paper can be stashed. In another powder room in the basement , there is a cabinet but no under sink storage but toilet paper can be put in the medicine cabinet. TP is the most important item and with no storage you'll probably have to leave a roll out somewhere.

Reply to
Frank

Can it be partially recessed?

Reply to
recyclebinned

Stack three or four rolls of TP on the plumber's plunger. Place on toilet tank.

Cover with a cozy made by the wife to match the curtains.

Reply to
HeyBub

Ours is empty.

Some things that _could_ be in there:

Bandages, mouth wash, extra soap, tweezers. I'm thinking health related but not personal.

I think it's a case of getting a little extra storage space for not much cost.

Oh, yeah, most important, it gives snoopy guests a place to look.

Reply to
Dan Espen

I moved into a house with 2 baths. One did not have a cabinet and the other did. We remodled the one with the cabinet and left it out.

A medicine cabinet in the bath is a bad place to store medicine. It often gets hot and humid in there if you take a good hot shower.

Unless you can think of anything really small and usefull to store in it, it is just another place to have to clean.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

If you have non-family guests, it would be nice to have spare toiletries, a la hotels....especially for those who might forget stuff and don't know ya' well enough to ask for a tampon or a toothbrush. Or just make up a nice little basket of stuff to keep in guest room. Paper cups, antacid, cold med, mouthwash, tylenol, diaper cream if babies visit....I could make a really big list :o)

I have a collapsible lawn/leaf bag to use as clothes hamper that I keep for when the kids visit from out of town.

Reply to
Norminn

I suppose I should have written "could" be recessed.

It can be whatever I have made. I have never seen one that is small. The appropriate look for the room and house is:

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I suppose what you point out, and having it just the size for TP, is the best solution. Let me go measure a roll... The ones I'm buying are 4-1/4" to 4-1/2".

Don.

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Reply to
Don Wiss

Bandages! Of course. Other suggestions also good, though a bar of soap would go so slowly that it doesn't have to be there. But no matter how small I make the cabinet there would be room for it.

I'm all for that.

So true.

Don.

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Reply to
Don Wiss

The powder room is tiny. Smaller than you can believe. No cabinet under the sink.

I don't think it can be made deep enough into the wall. But maybe if it projected a little. Getting the TP into it would justify having one.

Someplace would be difficult. Though I suppose I could add a shelf over the toilet. This is an open issue problem.

I hope to not have to use a plunger. I can't put anything on the toilet tank. The flush trip is in the middle. That would be the logical place for tissues. I'm going to have to mount something on the wall. Or a shelf with the TP and tissue box.

Here's the shortest projection toilet I could find in the US:

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Don.

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Reply to
Don Wiss

This is a powder room on the parlor floor. Any overnight guest would be using a bathroom on the next floor up. By guests I didn't mean overnight ones. Some guests would be men working in the house. Others could be party guests.

Plucking out of your list I like: tampons, paper cups, and antacids. Though I've never taken an antacid and don't know when you would want one. (I've never had heartburn.) And the kitchen with drinking glasses is right next door*.

  • The current powder room is a corner cut out of the kitchen, ruining the kitchen layout.

Don.

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Reply to
Don Wiss

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Why would you want any of that stuff in a powder room that isn't one of the main bathrooms? I've never had anything in my 1/2 baths like that. My current one has a pedestal sink, mirror, toilet, and that's it. And I don't think it's unusual. If you put in a traditonal style vanity/sink, you have space under it for some stuff, but I get along fine without it. The only reason I would see for a medicine cabinet to some other kind of storage would be if the bathroom were used regularly by someone staying there.

Reply to
trader4

When I redid my main bathroom I took out the old recessed medicine cabinet. My wife wanted a wall mounted unit on a side wall.

Instead of patching the wall I framed the recess, put a mirror in the back and a shelf on the bottom. My wife keeps a couple of perfume bottles, etc. on the shelf.

In a powder room, you could put in the recess since a mirror is always nice in any bathroom. Some flowers and a bowl of potpourri on the self would be a nice touch.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I was looking at the medicine cabinet at Pottery Barn that I linked to in a followup posted below. In one of the in situ pictures was a wall cabinet. They no longer stock it, but again to get the mahogany and small size I would have it made. See:

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Such a cabinet would be over the toilet. It could solve where to put the towels. The downside is it will be mostly empty, unless I can come up with even more ideas of what to put into it. The tissues could go in it.

Don.

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Reply to
Don Wiss

Our 4 bathrooms have one with mirror door. Cabinet is recessed into wall and mirror door is bit above wall surface. They are handy for keeping knick-knacks.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Any time I have a shelf, cabinet, drawer, closet, it always fills up. If there is nothing, it does not get filled up.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

put things visitors will find interesting:)

be imaginative, perhaps some info on witches or other things:)

have fun with your guests:) Then tell them its a joke:)

Reply to
bob haller

Arsenic powder.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

B Creative. How about one of those little door/window alarms that sounds like the beginning of WWIII? They open the cabinet to snoop and the next thing you know, the next door neighbors are running over to see what the siren is all about

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

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