Is there any reason why I can't mount a bathroom sink on top of a normal cupboard? Has anyone ever done it?

[Littlefish]

We are renovating our lovely Georgian farmhouse.

The next room on our list is our ensuite bathroom. The room has a sweet little Victorian Fireplace on one wall, so I wanted to make the whole room look less "bathroomy" than our family bathroom, and more like a room, if you see what I mean. We're having a free standing roll top bath in front of the window which is my absolute dream!

I found an oak washstand that I really like, but the company seem really rubbish - not returning calls, not being able to answer my queries.

The one I like is this one. However, it's really expensive (£800 ish) and I'm not sure I trust the company.

Is there any reason why I couldn't buy a pine cupboard from ebay, treat it with matt yacht varnish and then mount a sink on top? Presumably the plumbing would just go down inside the back of the cupboard, through the base, and then down under the floorboards with the rest of the pipework.

What do you think?

our last house has a sink-over-cuboard much as you describe.

the sink was installed, and a cupboard built around it. top of cupboard was all tiled, as that was what previous owner had wanted (and sink was a lovely avocado - mmmm!).

but no, no reason, as long as all sealed around edges etc.

Thanks silverfrog. The thing is, I think I want an old/antique looking cupboard to complement the fireplace. I won't get that if I have one built.

depends - you could find a cabinet that you like in a junk shop.antique place, and take it apart - use the doors/sides etc.

or buy the one you want, and take it apart before building the cupboard bit.

I just think it owuld be much easier access wise if you had eg: sink plumbed in by the wall - all the downpipes etc as normal, then cupboard sides, doors and top, using the wall as the back of the cupboard, iyswim? otherwise there's loads of fitting around/fiddly bits you'll have ot do, or the cupboard won't be flush to the wall because of pipes, and access would be compromised, etc.

our cupboard looked like a kitchen sink cupboard inside - shelf built around the necessary pipework etc. but it looked like a normal (albeit hideous tile-topped nightmare ) from the outside!

Yes I have.As long as there is room underneath for the plumbing its fine and looks a lot better than the ones you buy!

How much room do you think I need underneath noddy?

I see what you mean silverfrog - I could take something apart and re-build it.

What is the sink like Will it be set into the cabinet or sit on top with wall mounted taps?

Have done exactly as you describe, buying old cabinet off eBay and installing sink on top. It looks fab, and we got a bit carried away and bought a couple of marble floor tiles to make a top and shelf.

For reasons I can't remember (perhaps simply that I'm not very bright), we put the pipework behind the cabinet, with cutaways for access, and the plumber did struggle somewhat.

If I were to do it again I would remove the back completely (if construction allowed), or at the cutouts much more generous.

A lot depends on your actual cabinet: you can make decisions once you've got one to play with.

at make

Noddy - it will sit on top of the cabinet with a tall mixer tap also on top of the cabinet (I think). I haven't bought the tap yet though! If you click on my link in my first message, you'll see the sort of thing I mean.

Thanks ThisisANiceCage - it's good to know that other people have tried it, and it's not a completely crazy idea!

Might still be a completely crazy idea! [bgrin]

I've done it in the past, it's fine.

your bathroom sounds lovely Am at roll top bath!!!

Am at roll top bath and even more and lovely Georgian farmhouse!!

I've got a kitchen cupboard, with a lump of marble on top (well, it came from a funeral place so technically it's a grave-stone) with this on top.

Of course you can :)

It's only a cabinet/something to hold the sink up off the floor, whichever way you look at it!

SinkingFeeling - me too, me too - I was trying to gloss over that bit though :)

Just make sure the cupboard is quite low - most cupboards will end up too high once you put the kind of sink you linked to on top.

I was going to do it but struggled to find a low enough cupboard, so ended up building something instead.

It will be an absolutely gorgeous bathroom when it's done. We are very lucky to have found our dream home, in the village where we already lived, at a price we could (just about) afford, although, we'll being living on beans on toast for a long time. At least we'll be eating the beans in an amazing house .

We've completely renovated it though and it's been very hard work, so I like to think of this bathroom as my reward.

ecobatty - You're right, the height of the cupboard is proving to be tricky. I'll just keep looking and phone a few antique dealers around here to ask them to keep an eye out.

the top has to be absolutely completely 100% waterproof. Water will get down behind the tap and round the basin. A real marble top would be OK but they dissolve in limescale cleaners including most bathroom sprays, because they are a form of lime(scale)stone.

If you can afford £800 for a cabinet, you can afford a one-piece vanitory top, it has a basin set in a sort of worktop. Cheap ones are plastic, expensive ones are porcelain. You will not be able to cut them to fit so you will have to get, or have made, a cabinet to fit.

Remember to fix the cabinet very firmly to the wall or it might pull off and water squirt out of the pipes. If it is properly attached to the wall, it does not have to stand on the floor. A gap is easier to mop and dust under than a plinth or legs.

Don't have anything made of chipboard in a bathroom, including the floor.

BTW pop-up wastes always leak after a while.

We are about to do this too. The issues we have considered with our plumber and joiner are

1. Mount the sink on the wall independently of the cabinet so that you ever need to remove the cabinet the sink fixing remains unaffected. In effect make your cabinet a functional/decorative thing rather than structurally integral to the sink.

1. Ensure that the material you pick will withstand a very damp atmosphere and also water ingress from the natural dribbles one gets down a sink with normal use. Any treamment of the cabint with waterproofing material has to be inside and out or the inside wood will swell over time and bow.

1. Not recommended to have a back on the cabinet - fix it to the wall around the sink without a back. Won't look any different from the outside but if you get a plumbing problems then it will be less likely that the integrity of the unit will be affected by the access required for the repair.

Hope it works out for you - !! (how lovely to have a thread on such a specific point that it could have been made by a mind reading OP!!

p.s. you can tile the top, as long as it is made of a waterproof material such as cement board. Marine ply will last for several years.

I've got a magazine and someone's done this. They've bought a cheapo Ikea cupboard, had a piece of marble cut to make the worktop, and had a basin mounted on the top.
It looks way too classy to be IKEA.

Thank you so much to everyone for their comments. I've still got a bit of thinking/planning to do, I think.

LittlePushka - I didn't think I'd get any replies! I don't want the sink to be wall mounted - I definitely want it to be sitting on top of the middle of the cupboard, so I need to think about whether I can make that work with the practicalities of the plumbing.

We used reusable pushfit fittings on the pipework, and of course isolation valves, explicitly so we can move the cabinet and basin together if necess.

That sounds plausible NiceCage. I'll mention it to my plumber.