How to Choose Your Bathroom Furniture

Choosing bathroom furniture involves more than just considering the style or vibe you’re looking to convey inside this enclosed space. While this aspect of it is important, suffice it to say, there are other factors to take into account, like your budget and the space available. 

To guide your thought process regarding your furniture choice, we’ll first look at the way each aspect of it can shape your final decision.  

How to Choose Bathroom Furniture

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What type of material suits your budget?

As with any renovation or remodelling project, the allocated budget is an important factor to consider. The latter will significantly affect your choice of furniture material used and, ultimately, means you’ll have to choose between different furniture categories: melamine, solid wood, acrylic, or thermoplastic furniture.

MDF: $

While MDF (mix of synthetic resins and fibreboard) is a very humidity-resistant material—it’s waterproof—, let it be said that it’s probably not the best choice for your dwelling if you have young kids. 

On that note, to put it simply, MDF is a rather fragile material and it’s difficult to repair without said touch-up being apparent. For those who aren’t in the aforementioned boat, it’s a worthy option, as long as a high-end finishing product is applied to its surface. MDF furniture isn’t likely to shift or buckle, it will keep for a very long time, which gives it a considerable edge. 

Melamine: $ to $$

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For those with a budget that makes purchasing real wood furniture a stretch, you can always consider melamine bathroom cabinetry. It’s a very affordable material that’s available in a wide range of colours and models. As for those who still think of this material as “cheap,” know that it has come a long way, and its manufacturing process was refined over the years. 

In fact, applying a coat of lacquer to the wooden surface significantly improves the material’s overall resistance, and helps it retain its original sheen and colour. However, note that lacquered melamine is more expensive than standard melamine. 

While standard or lacquered melamine are commonly sought options, let’s just say that there’s a new kid on the block: polyester melamine. For a more detailed explanation, polyester melamine cabinetry is made with a melamine core and MDF edge banding, covered in a polyester overlay. Especially resistant and aesthetically pleasing, melamine is a very worthy option in terms of value for money. 

Thermoplastic: $ to $$$

Here’s another really popular option: thermoplastic. The latter has the added benefit of being seamless. Given that factor, this material is great to create a refined design, which can be easily magnified by opting for a high-gloss finish surface. Note that a matte finish is all too possible as well. In terms of pricing, first, let’s just say that this material is available in all price ranges, which makes it a suitable option for all budgets. 

Solid wood: $$$

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Continuing along the same lines, let’s move on to solid wood bathroom furniture. Before reading on, you undoubtedly know this is a more expensive option than composite material-made cabinetry. So, you have to consider your budget to make sure you can go ahead and purchase this sort of furniture before proceeding with your research. 

For those who are leaning strongly toward this option, note that over the last few years, there’s been an ever-increasing trend in favour of exotic wood. Indeed, mahogany, teak, bamboo, and most notably, eucalyptus bathroom furniture are yet again on the rise. And, there are two main reasons for that: they’re low maintenance and rot-proof. Maintaining such furniture is relatively modest overall, despite the need for applying protective oil to surfaces.

By the way, selecting wood labelled with either PEFC or FSC is highly recommended as it enables you to make an eco-responsible choice and ensures the wood that was used to manufacture the furniture pieces was sourced from a sustainable forest. 

Acrylic: $$$

Before listing the main characteristics of acrylic furniture (a mix of synthetic pine fibres covered in an acrylic film), let’s just acknowledge the fact this material is rather expensive, which is why it isn’t recommended for projects with budgetary constraints. People usually choose this material for its gloss factor, which, due to its overall brightness, tends to make any room in which it’s installed look bigger.

Not only is it unrivalled gloss-wise, but it’s also highly resistant to stains and water, which makes it the perfect option to consider for a bathroom. What’s more, let’s just say that this material’s aesthetic tends to withstand the test of time. 

Need more information about bathroom furniture pricing? Check out this article. Are you looking to remodel your bathroom and want a ballpark figure to plan your budget? Check out our 2023 Home Renovation Price Guide. 

Tailor Your Bathroom Furniture Choice to Available Space

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It goes without saying, but if your bathroom has a very limited amount of space, you’re definitely facing constraints, furniture-wise. Since you’ll need to maximize your space as much as possible, focus your attention on wall-mounted furniture. Since the latter frees up space at floor level, you’ll then be able to add little baskets, small-scale furniture, or other storage items on the floor, beneath the furniture piece.

If your heart is set on freestanding furniture (especially for your vanity), choose models with elegant and slender furniture legs. This not only creates a lighter appearance, but you’ll also benefit from additional space between the furniture legs to accommodate storage baskets or other storage items of your choosing. 

For storage furniture, strictly speaking, it’s best to add tall, linen cabinets. These narrow and towering shelving units are the ideal option for small bathrooms, given that they require little floor space and rely on their height to create storage space. Aside from this point of interest, bathroom linen cabinets can also be wall-mounted, which is best the of both worlds, really.

Bathroom corner linen cabinets are especially beneficial in confined spaces as they effectively use up all the nooks and crannies to maximize the available space.

For medium to large bathrooms, there’s a more diverse range of options. In fact, you can opt for either wall-mounted or freestanding furniture, which provides little storage space. Along the same line, let’s just say that if you want to go for bigger furniture pieces, you can certainly do so.

Looking for small bathroom-related layout ideas? Check out our article! 

Everything considered, what about the style of your bathroom?

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When choosing bathroom furniture, on the practical side of things, there are unavoidable considerations such as budget and space. Albeit, one still can’t overlook style. As with every other room in your house, you’ll very likely want to convey a certain vibe and instill some zen-filled R&R. However, the question is, which style appeals to you most? Is it contemporary, zen, farmhouse, or traditional? So, how can you choose the right bathroom furniture based on the style you’re trying to convey?

Contemporary design

For a contemporary design, it’s often advised to choose furniture with straight, refined lines. Note that geometric shapes (most often squares or rectangles) are often embedded into the cabinetry. This style calls for a simple design while leaving the door open to a multitude of colours, but those with a matte or lacquered finish work equally well. Black and grey are two obvious choices in terms of cabinetry colour. 

Zen design

As for a serene-like style, a zen design offers a similar look to that of the contemporary style, aside from the nuances used. Amongst these, first, let’s emphasize refined decoration and the use of very few to no decorative items. Secondly, note that sombre and light colours are more often used compared to bright and loud colours. That’s why white furniture is more often than not favoured at the expense of bolder options. 

Famhouse look

Regarding the farmhouse look, it’s clearly the flag-bearer of all things wood. Whether it’s refined or raw-looking, the latter is often chosen for cabinets, storage units, and even the vanity. Wicker baskets and ironwork are also inherent components of the design, which is gaining momentum, year in, and year out.

Traditionnal look

Last but certainly not least, the traditional look embodies refinement at its best. This style, combined with a throwback-like ambience definitely relies on 19th-century-inspired furniture, like a vanity with curved lines, a freestanding linen cabinet, or even the signature velvet chaise in a corner to lay your clean clothes. While white is often featured, sombre colours like greyish-blue, pastel green, or dusty pink are also among the favourites. 

Plan Before Choosing Your Furniture

Before going ahead and picking out your bathroom furniture, make sure to carefully plan out the floor space that each piece of furniture will occupy. While the fear often lies in purchasing a too-big cabinet that ends up being cumbersome, note that the opposite is just as valid. In fact, buying too small furniture, or too few pieces, can leave the space looking empty or lacking in style altogether.