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Trends & Creating your Dream Bathroom – Vessel Sinks

Modern, traditional, fun, elegant, cutting-edge: These diverse adjectives can all be used to describe vessel-style sinks.  One of the newest trends in bathroom fixtures, vessel sinks are actually based on a centuries-old design: china washbasins that were used in the days before running water.

In the simplest terms, a vessel sink is a free-standing sink, finished on all sides, that sits directly on the countertop or furniture on which it is mounted. Within that definition there’s a veritable fleet of vessels available in various shapes, sizes, depths and materials. Today, you can find vessel sinks made of traditional cast iron, as well as glass, natural stone such as marble, decorated vitreous china or porcelain and even in select metals, such as stainless steel, copper and bronze.

No more matching

The traditional rules for choosing bathroom fixtures dictate that your sink, toilet and tub be in the same color family and fashioned from the same or similar materials.  With vessel sinks, those rules no longer apply. You want your vessel sink to coordinate with the other fixtures in the room, certainly, but you don’t need to match them.

“If you’ve got a standard toilet and a standard tub, you can do anything with a vessel sink,” says Seattle-based interior designer Barbara Kalis. “The trend is for it not to match.” For example, if you have a white toilet and a white tub, says Kalis, you could choose a white vessel sink, “or you could do metal, you could do glass, patterns—almost anything you want.”

Practical considerations

It’s a good idea to decide whether you want a vessel sink before you start planning the plumbing in your new or remodeled bathroom. The type of sink you install will impact the placement of your pipes.

Vessel sinks also require a different counter height than most traditional bathroom sinks. Conventional recessed-bowl sinks sit at counter height, usually 32 to 36 inches above the floor, a comfortable height for most adults for brushing teeth and washing hands.

If the sink is designed to sit on top of the counter, however, it stands to reason that the counter height needs to be lower. Consider whether you want to lower all of the countertops in your bathroom or have counters of varying heights.

Another installation option is to mount your vessel sink on the wall with a bracket or install it on a piece of furniture designed expressly for a vessel sink.  Mounting a vessel sink on a stone or wood pedestal can add design style to match any taste or budget. 

The good news is that you can use almost any type of countertop material you like, according to Kalis. “I’ve seen vessel sinks on wood planks, on concrete, on tile, including mosaic; I’ve seen them on granite or marble pedestals or slabs.”

Keep in mind that the vessel is likely to draw more attention than the countertop it sits on. “They tend to be the focal point of the bathroom because they’re so beautiful, so it’s best to make the countertop secondary,” Kalis says.

Fitting faucets

It’s important to choose the right faucet for any sink, but vessels require a few special considerations. You want the water from the faucet to flow down into the bottom of the sink; if the flow hits the side of the sink, it can cause splashing. In addition, you want to make sure there is enough room between the faucet and the sink for users to wash their hands or brush their teeth.

Many bathroom faucets are designed to be attached to the sink base, or to the countertop behind the sink. Because vessel sinks sit above the countertop, they require a counter-based faucet with a long neck that can reach up over the side of the basin and also allow adequate clearance in the basin. Another option for a vessel sink is a wall-mount faucet, which designer Kalis says makes the most practical sense.

In either case, you need to make sure your faucet has a long enough neck so it will reach to the center of the sink. “Most wall-mounted faucets have a bigger throw–or reach--from the back of the wall to the middle of the sink,” Kalis says.

The shape of things to come

Another reason to love vessel sinks is the variety and uniqueness of their shapes.

With vitreous china vessel sinks, Kalis says, the shape is the carrying element more than the color. “Vitreous china sinks are like black-and-white photos, where you focus on the shape of the sink,” she says. Some  have deep bowls, while others are shallower. Some porcelain Vessel sinks are fluted, other models are square.

Because they are not confined to fitting neatly within a sink-sized hole on a flat countertop, vessel sinks often have uneven rims. An oval-shaped vessel countertop lavatory sink, for example, is lower in the front than in the back.

Vessel vicinities

Have you fallen in love with a vessel-style sink, but don’t know where to put it? Vessel sinks can make elegant additions to powder rooms, where sinks are primarily used for hand washing, instead of shaving, teeth-brushing and the occasional pet bath.

“I think powder rooms are wonderful for vessel sinks,” Kalis says. “The powder room is the jewel of the house, where you can go crazy with your design. A lot of people like to use color and texture in their powder rooms in ways that they wouldn’t elsewhere in the house.”

The beauty of vessel sinks can also make them look less durable than standard built-in cast-iron sinks—not always an illusion, depending on the materials used to make the sink.

“They do look more delicate, but that’s why we’re seeing them in bathrooms, not kitchens—because the use is so different,” Kalis says, and adds: “You always need to be careful with the materials you use—and you need to consider how you live with them.” Glass sinks, for example, can’t be scrubbed with steel wool.

Thinking ahead

For homeowners who are concerned that installing a vessel sink in a bathroom will brand it as “turn of the 21^st century,” Kalis says not to worry.

“A fad turns into a trend and the trend then becomes standard,” she says. “The [vessel] style has been around too long now to date the space. It is no longer a trend; it is part of the design ethic.”