A vanity cabinet buying guide Singapore homeowners can actually use starts with measurements, not materials. Material is the question everyone asks first. It is worth answering, but it does not decide which cabinet fits your bathroom. Wall length, door swing, finished floor height and the position of your existing waste pipe decide that.
Here is the order these decisions run in.
Measure first, and write the numbers down
Come with numbers, not a photo of the bathroom. Four to take:
- The full wall run. Wall to wall, measured at roughly the height the cabinet will sit, not at floor level. Skirting, pipe boxing and a corner that is not quite square all eat into the space you think you have.
- Door swing. Which way the bathroom door opens, and whether a cabinet door or drawer can open at the same time without catching it.
- Finished floor height. If the tiles are not laid yet, the floor will end up higher than it is today. Ask your contractor what the finished level will be and measure from there.
- Clearance to anything fixed. Toilet, shower screen, window ledge, water heater. Note how far each one sits from where the cabinet will end.
Save those four numbers on your phone before you leave the flat. Every conversation after that one goes faster, including the one with us.
Choose the basin before the cabinet
Vanity cabinets are largely sold as sets, and the basin defines the set. Our wash basin page groups every basin we carry by how it mounts. In our own vanity cabinet range, a double door cabinet with a ceramic insert basin, the same cabinet with a seamless quartz undermount basin, and the same cabinet with a quartz table top are three separate products. Choose the cabinet first and you have chosen the basin by accident.
So settle the basin type first.
- An art or countertop basin sits on top of the counter. It raises the working height, which changes the cabinet height you want underneath.
- An undermount basin is fitted beneath the counter surface, so the counter runs unbroken to the basin edge. The counter has to be cut and finished for it, which is why it arrives as part of a set and not as a later swap.
The tap is decided with the basin
A basin either has tap holes drilled in it or it does not, and that decides where the tap can go. A deck mounted tap sits on the basin or the counter. A wall mounted tap needs the water point brought up inside the wall, which is contractor work scheduled long before anything gets delivered. Look at basin and wall taps while you are choosing the basin, and check the hole configuration matches.
Confirm the plumbing before you commit to a unit
Find out where your existing waste pipe and water points sit. Photograph the pipework under the current basin if there is one. Then ask your contractor two things: whether the unit you like works with the pipe position you have, and whether a wall hung cabinet can go on that particular wall. Both answers belong to the person doing the installation, and both are cheaper to get before the order than after it.
Mirror and storage are one decision
Mirror cabinets sit in our vanity cabinet listings and our mirror and shelf listings at the same time. The mirror is often where the storage is. Some carry a towel bar built into the frame. Work out whether your storage is coming from the cabinet below, the mirror above, or both, before you fill the wall with the wrong half. Anything left over goes to bathroom accessories, and those are easy to add later. A mirror cabinet is not.
Material comes last here, on purpose
Two things worth knowing. Our PVC bathroom cabinets carry a laminate finish over the base material, so raw PVC is never visible, and they do not yellow over time. And no stainless steel bathroom cabinet, at any grade, is fully waterproof or rustproof. It rusts eventually, and it can pick up contact rust from a metal item left sitting on it.
That is the short version. The long one is already written: stainless steel versus PVC bathroom cabinets, and which is actually waterproof. Read it once your measurements and basin type are settled, because material is the decision you can still change at that point.
If your bathroom is small
The sequence above still holds. The sizing trade-offs get tighter, and we have written those up separately: how to choose a small bathroom vanity in Singapore.
What to bring to the showroom
Four measurements. A photo of the existing pipework. Your basin type. Whether the mirror is doing storage duty. With those in hand you can rule out most of a showroom floor in the first ten minutes and spend the rest on the units that actually fit.
Common questions
What should I measure before buying a vanity cabinet?
The full wall run at the height the cabinet will sit, the door swing, the finished floor height once tiling is done, and the clearance to fixed items such as the toilet, shower screen and water heater. Write all four down before you leave the flat.
Should I choose the basin or the cabinet first?
The basin. Vanity cabinets are largely sold as sets built around one basin type, so choosing the cabinet first means the basin has been chosen for you.
Does the tap have to be chosen at the same time?
Yes. The hole configuration of the basin decides whether a deck mounted tap will work, and a wall mounted tap needs the water point brought up inside the wall, which is contractor work planned well before delivery.
Can I install a wall hung vanity cabinet in my bathroom?
Ask your contractor. Whether a wall hung unit is workable depends on the wall it is going on, and that call belongs to the person doing the installation.
Do PVC bathroom cabinets turn yellow?
Homus PVC bathroom cabinets have a laminate finish over the base material, so the raw PVC is never visible, and they do not yellow over time.
Is a stainless steel bathroom cabinet rustproof?
No stainless steel bathroom cabinet is fully waterproof or rustproof at any grade. It rusts over time and can pick up contact rust from a metal item left resting on it.
See them in person
A vanity cabinet is hard to judge from a photo. Bring your four measurements and we will work through the basin, tap and mirror with you on the floor. Both showrooms are open every day, 11am to 8pm.
116 Lavender Street, #01-03, Pek Chuan Building, Singapore 338730
1 Tampines North Drive 1, T-Space, #01-18, Singapore 528559
