Blimey, that\u2019s a cracking question. Honestly, I was just chatting with my mate Sarah last week\u2014she\u2019s got this tiny loo in her Clapham flat, you know the type, where you can practically wash your hands while sitting on the loo if you really tried. And she was going on about how her old medicine cabinet was just\u2026 wrong. Made the whole space feel like a cramped tube carriage during rush hour.<\/p>\n
Right, so size first. In a small bathroom, you don\u2019t want a cabinet that shouts, \u201cLook at me!\u201d You want it to whisper. Recessed is the way to go, honestly. If the wall allows it, tucking it right into the studs saves every precious inch. I learned that the hard way in my first studio in Shoreditch\u2014bought this gorgeous, chunky mirrored cabinet from a vintage shop on Brick Lane, hung it up, and promptly kept bashing my elbow every morning. Not the zen start to the day I was hoping for!<\/p>\n
Width? Keep it modest. Something around 16 to 24 inches wide usually does the trick. Anything wider and it starts to bully the sink. Depth is the real secret weapon, though. A shallow cabinet, maybe 4 to 6 inches deep, holds your toothpaste, floss, and that posh face serum you treat yourself with, without sticking out like a sore thumb. Oh, and height! Tall and slender can be brilliant. It draws the eye up, gives an illusion of height to the room. I saw one in a hotel in Bath once\u2014a sleek, floor-to-ceiling mirrored cabinet next to the sink. Felt downright spacious, even though the room was probably the size of a postage stamp.<\/p>\n
Now, mirrors. This is where the fun starts. A plain, frameless mirror on the cabinet front is the safe bet, sure. But in a small space, I reckon you can be a bit more cheeky. A mirror with a slim, elegant frame\u2014think brushed brass or matte black\u2014can add a dash of personality without eating into visual space. It\u2019s like putting on a statement necklace with a simple black dress. Just\u2026 lifts everything.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s a trick I\u2019m utterly obsessed with: mirrored cabinets where the mirror is the entire front, edge-to-edge. No visible cabinet lines, just a seamless, reflective surface. It literally makes the wall disappear. My friend Jamie did this in his cottage in Cornwall, and the first time I saw it, I blinked. The whole room felt twice as big. Magic, it was.<\/p>\n
Lighting is its best mate, of course. Sconces on either side of a mirrored cabinet? Perfection. It flatters your face and bounces light around like nobody\u2019s business. Avoid the single, harsh overhead light if you can. Makes everything feel a bit like an interrogation room, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Steer clear of those bulky, ornate frames or cabinets with loads of fussy detailing. They just collect dust and make a small room feel busy. And for heaven\u2019s sake, make sure it\u2019s positioned at the right height! You shouldn\u2019t have to stoop or strain to see yourself. I stayed in an Airbnb in Edinburgh once where the cabinet was hung so high, I only ever saw my forehead. Quite the mystery, that was.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, it\u2019s about choosing something that serves you but doesn\u2019t crowd you. It should hold your bits and bobs quietly and make the room feel a smidge brighter, a tad bigger. Like a good supporting actor in a play\u2014essential, but not stealing the scene. Sarah ended up with a simple, recessed cabinet with a clean, frameless mirror. She says her morning routine feels less like a battle now. And sometimes, in a small bathroom, that\u2019s the real victory, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Blimey, that\u2019s a cracking question. Honestly, I was just chatting with my mate Sarah last week\u2014she\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bathroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bathroomsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}