4 Men 1 Lady

a lifestyle blog about the persuit of bringing beauty to a house full of men.

Vessel sink?

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Now that I’ve let you in on our “little” (ahem) basement project now the fun begins…picking out finishes.
First up, bathroom.
The basement bathroom will be getting the least amount of use (I think) so I’m wanting to experiment with elements I might not normally use in a high traffic bathroom. I’ve been pinning way too many inspiration photos on my bathroom Pinterest board to get my creative juices flowing. Looking back, I’ve noticed that I’ve catalogued quite a few bathrooms with vessel sinks…

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Vessel Sinks

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

So tell me…are you a fan?
Anyone out there have a vessel sink that can share some pros or cons?

Comments

  1. We recently moved into a house that has a vessel sink in our guest bathroom. I LOVE the look of it – it’s fun and funky. A real statement piece! I’m not sure what the pros are yet, other than looks – we haven’t lived here long and really don’t use that bathroom much. The only cons I have so far are that 1) it’s harder to clean around (but in a guest/non-high traffic bath that’s not really a big deal), and 2) it’s very tall! We have a taller bathroom vanity, and adding another 4 inches of sink height above that along with a tall faucet, makes it tricky for some of our smaller guests (or ahem, me!) to wash their hands or brush their teeth. I keep a small stool in there to compensate, but it’s something to think about. Otherwise, I’m very happy with it.

  2. All of those inspiration photos are gorgeous! I love the look of vessel sinks but don’t know how functional they would be in my household. We just remodeled our kids’ bathroom and opted for a one-piece sink/counter. I figured that would be much easier to keep clean. I’ve never had a vessel sink so don’t know for sure but I would think that water/grime would collect around the edges and base. Also, I have often wondered about the counter-height…do you put the top of a vessel sink at the would-be counter height which would result in the actual counter being low? ….or is the counter at a normal height and the sink would be awkwardly high (especially for kids)?

    • Those are good considerations. I will for sure have to have the counter lower. I’m also concerned about getting grime behind the sink where my hand may not be able to reach. On the other hand, I do like to make life more difficult for myself when it comes to good design. The beauty and “coolness” of it might out – win the functionality. Thanks for your insights!

  3. I love the look, my husband is not a fan. Any water that splashes out (which it does) has to be wiped up (we have wood countertops) and the height diminishes the accessibility making it hard for kids to use it, but other than those two issues, I absolutely love the look, very fresh and modern!
    xo
    Kate

      • Easy there; husbands often forsee how a material choice is going to behave. A handy husband not only forsees problems, but will be expected to fix them too. Have a heart for those who will have to react if it chips.

  4. We have one by Kohler that’s a lot like the one in your 8th image from the top. And after living with it for 4 months (we inherited it with the house), I’m not sure I’d do it again. It looks pretty, but the original tap didn’t have a long enough reach to get to the middle of the sink, so there were some annoying water issues. We had to add an extension to the end of the faucet but that didn’t solve everything 100%. It’s true that it’s a little harder to clean around than a conventional sink, but that doesn’t bug me as much as the fact that it doesn’t contain splatter or splashes to save its life. Maybe it’s just too shallow over all? I feel like everything lands on the counter (which is dark – again, not my choice) or the mirror. It would probably be fine in a bathroom that doesn’t get much use, but ours in in the master ensuite bath, so it’s used a lot.

    • She is right, you HAVE to make sure the faucet fits the vessels sink so it splashes correctly, it’s all has to fit together.
      I personally would love to try one, a square-ish one, because our vanity is low and it would “RAISE UP” the area we could rest our arms on, and not have to LEAN OVER so much –with a tall husband and no kids, it could WORK for us..but I am looking into them and found a few that I liked. DO IT! You need to also know that you have one in that space because it would not be used so much, and you could give us all FEEDBACK Michelle! 🙂

      • You’re exactly right. Boy, these vessel sinks are proving to be quite a chore. I hope it’s worth all the hassle in the end. But for sure! I’ll give you my honest feedback.
        Thanks JaniceMarie!

  5. We added a frosted glass vessel sink to our powder room when we did some renovations a couple of years ago. We selected a faucet that specifically made for vessel sinks so we had no problems with that. If you are designing this bathroom from scratch and can select the right faucet right up front, you shouldn’t have any problems. Our vessel sink is more bowl shaped, and we haven’t had problems with splashing (other than when our son purposely splashes water – but that would happen in any sink). The vessel sink does sit higher, but again, if you are designing the bathroom from scratch and not dealing with an existing cabinet, then this won’t pose a problem for you either. There are a lot of cabinets that are specifically made for vessel sinks and that are built lower as a result. I don’t know if I would pick a vessel sink for the bathroom where I would be brushing my teeth and getting ready every morning, but in our main floor powder room it sees a lot of hand washing action and after two years I have no regrets. Hope that helps!

  7. I have 2 vessel sinks in my ensuite and a regular sink in our main bathroom. To be honest, I wouldn’t go with a vessel sink again. I just find them inconvenient – a bit of a space/counter hog and tough to clean because for some reason, water splashes everywhere. We have also found that they have some pooling issues that have led to a permanent stain in one of them (could just be a one-off?). They’re only 4.5 years old so not like they’ve had a ton of time with water pooling?! Sorry to be a downer 🙁 They look pretty, but I just wouldn’t choose one again for myself. Lots of people like them!! Plus, if it’s not used often, it may not bother you at all. That’s just my 2 cents 🙂

      • I too have water pooling issues. It drives me crazy because we have hard water so mineral deposits build up in that area. The only other problem I have is with cleaning behind the sink but it’s not impossible, just takes extra effort. That said, I love my sink. I would do it all over again.

  9. I just stayed in a Disney resort where the bathroom had a vessel sink. I was excited to use it because I really love the look, and I had the same questions. The one con that has me really second-guessing putting one in at home is that the water kind of sits there. It does drain of course, but as someone else mentioned there are ‘pooling’ issues. Any time you’d want to wash something down…soap, toothpaste…it doesn’t get there as quickly. Thanks for giving us a chance to weigh in – this was a great question.

      • You just got the key to this in your comment! A basin that (1) slopes inward (2) is a little smaller than usual in order to still afford some counter space, as some of these babies can just be HUGE (3) lower the counter a bit to accommodate those little men in their quest to “Wash Your Hands” (4) Choose an extremely cool faucet that will provide ample space to deal with the washing process without spalttering water everywhere.

        What I love about the ‘visuals’ in having one of these in the house is that they are unexpected. You step into the bathroom and BOOM! Bath fixtures as an art form! I am already excited about this project – now you have me really pumped!!

        • You’re right! It’s art. Kind of like Carrera marble. It’s not the most functional of counters in that it stains, chips and etches but people still do it for the beauty. I’m going for the beauty aspect. Thanks Friend!

  10. I have a frosted glass vessel sink. Not a big fan of it but came with the condo. My vessel sink has a slow drain and it’s really a pain to clean. At first I thought it was my problem but my friend had the same issue, too. He said because the vessel sink does not have a hole like a traditional one, so will likely to have a slow drain. I’m going to change mine to an umbrella metal drain and hopefully that will solve the problem. You may want to check your new vessel sink drain and see if there’s a big enough gap for the water to go down.

    • I’d love to know if the umbrella drain works. I’ve got the same problem with both of my vessel sinks. I LOVE the look, and it isn’t a big deal with the 1/2 bath, but in my main bathroom it clogs easily. I need to get a new drain (despite preferring the look of the grid drain I’ve got) but want to make sure I’m buying something that will work.

  12. Oh Michelle I totally hear you on the looks department but I don’t know, I HATED my vessel sink and we just got rid of it. We didn’t put it in, the previous owners did and I was so, so happy to see that thing go. Now, we had a clear, bowl shaped vessel in our one main floor bathroom – with 2 kids it’s the absolute worst sink possible. Too high, clear so every.single.thing showed up on it, annoying to clean, splashy etc. I think they’re ok if it’s in a powder room and not going to get used much but I would be really reluctant with three boys even if it’s a bathroom they’re not going to use on a regular basis. Most models also don’t have an overflow so if there is any possibility of little hands messing around with it, there is also the flood possibility. I know what you’re saying about playing around with different styles, etc., but I think undermount is the way to go – maybe switch it up when those little boys are teens!

  13. You have the cutest style! I so admire you being able to keep it so clean with little boys!
    As for the sink, let me forewarn you– they aren’t super user friendly. They may look cool but they are super annoying. They have them in the Empire Hotel where I stay in NYC a lot for work. The sink is shallow and the water hits it and then splashes on you so you’re all wet. If your kids turn on the water hard then they will be soaked!
    You could get one of the deeper ones which is probably better but I’m not sure. Again, they look trendy and cute but the use is super tricky!

  14. Hi there, Jay and I were in Hawaii on vacation and stayed in a room that had the bowl shown on the last image above but the bowl was green. At first sight, I thought, wow, the appearance was totally trendy and very nice to look at. Then I turned on the water and what the owner did was turned the water pressure down so when the tap was turned on full blast, it did not do the splash thing. I could tell right off that that was the only way this configuration of the bowl and tap would work with high traffic in the room. Since I will be the recipient of staying in this room when I come to visit, I think it would be OK – but when the boys are downstairs and use it, you may want to reconsider. I totally agree with Jill. Unless you turn the pressure down, you will be faced with the problems Jill mentioned. Love, Mom, PS, can’t wait to see the transformation.

  16. I scored one at a Thrift Store for $20 and it was brand new. While I don’t have a problem with the sink, when we put it in on our butcher block counter some reaction happened where the caulking met the wood and it’s really gross looking. My husband used clear caulk and it looks like it’s black around the sink. I think I may scrape it off and try to cover it with white caulk. Maybe that would help, but definitely research what to use if you use butcher block.

    Kari

    • Wowzers! You get the medal of the day for that comment. THANK YOU, THANK YOU for telling me that! We were also planning on putting our sink on wood if we went that direction. I will definitely owe you Kari!

  18. We’ve had two vessel sinks since we did a remodel in 2004. A large rectangular long one in our master, and a small square one in our powder room. It was the one thing that I desperately wanted (and they were very expensive at the time!). Now it is one of my main regrets because they are just not functional, but it could be how we put them in. The master bath one is just too big for the counter so all this stuff ends up clustering on top and around the sides (basically I’m lazy, I’m sure I could find a place to put everything away…), and it is impossible to clean behind. The powder room one is cute, we put it on a chunky wood dark wood end table from Cost Plus and it looks great, but once again impossible to clean around. Also, because they are squared off, it seems like it is more difficult to clean them and for the water to drain.

  19. MICHELLE!! I literally JUST finished installing my vessel sink in the main bathroom of my house and we LOVE it! It adds such a clean, modern and different look to the bathroom. We chose the Kraus sink with the chrome Ramus faucet (you have a Kraus sink in your pics so I thought you might recognize those names) and so far we are so happy. I found a Craig’s List dresser that I painted Hale Navy (B. Moore color) and I painted my planked walls a soft grey color. In my small cottage house, I think it fits the look perfectly. Good luck picking out your finishes and I am a definite YES for a vote on vessel sinks. 🙂

    PS – I’ve been following your blog for 2 years now and you have actually inspired me to a more clean, modern style in my home b/c I was always so drawn to your look. Thanks for all the ideas!!

    • OK I literally just did the happy dance! I MUST SEE PICS of your house. Do you blog? Facebook? Please share pics. Thanks for your comment. I bought the sink already but after all these negative comments about vessels sinks I was seriously considering sending it back. Thank you for shedding some positive light! Woot! Woot!

    • I just read some of the other comments above and wanted to add –

      1) If you choose a deeper sink, there’s hardly any splashing
      2) choose a shorter dresser/cabinet and there are no issues with height – my 3 year old uses our vessel sink all the time with her little stool with no problem. Our dresser cabinet is 30″ tall with a 5″ sink and we love that it’s more “kitchen counter” height – more comfortable to use.
      3) we have no problems reaching behind the sink to clean around the faucet – I actually find it’s easier to reach than my last sink and faucet combo
      4) we used white caulk around the sink over a navy-painted then poly’d surface with zero issues
      5) our faucet came with this cap-thing inside at the end so when the water comes out, it sort of diffuses it but still has good pressure which equals less splashing.
      6) One con: There is no overflow protection – We chose the type of drain that allows the bowl to fill b/c my husband shaves in that sink. So I do have to be careful that no little fingers decide to push the drain down and fill it up. But I look at that as a small worry compared to all the other things we love about it.

      Sorry to be so wordy but wanted to be thorough 🙂 Good luck!

      • I can definitely send you a picture – which way is easiest for you to receive it? I can email it to you if you want as well.

      • Good to know. Here’s my take…with pretty things, whether its fine jewelry, marble counters, and apparently vessel sinks…you just have more responsibility to take care of them. I’m just going to have to be on top of caring for it and making sure it’s well cared for. Thanks so much for your pointers. I’m now 99.99% convinced to keep my vessel sink. 🙂

  21. We have a blue glass vessel sink in our kids’ bathroom. I installed it about 3 years ago, on a granite countertop. The faucet we have almost looks like a water trough pump faucet, so we’ve never had any trouble with water pressure or splashing. I have been noticing some water leakage underneath the sink, so I think I’m going to have to re-do the caulking sometime in the near future. That being said, my sink is very pretty, WHEN IT’S CLEAN. It’s in the kids’ bathroom, so you can imagine that the gunk piles up. But, for me, it’s no biggie to wipe it clean every other day or so — takes 2 seconds, and the tradeoff is that my sink and bathroom are extra pretty. When guests come over, they always comment.

    • Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I think they key is you just have to give it a little TLC everyday to keeping it clean. Pretty always takes a little more work. 🙂

    • Holy cow! What an amazing transformation! It looks ah-mazing. I can see what you mean about the cleaning issue being tricky for little hands but boy does it look amazing. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

  23. From your inspiration pics, it doesn’t look like you are going in this direction, but I would stay away from clear vessels if you have hard water. We have hard water, a high traffic bathroom, and a clear vessel and it’s almost impossible to keep it free of water spots. We had originally opted for it since our bathroom is small and since it was clear, it kept the room feeling a little more open. We will switch it out at some point, but the only I’m eyeing (similar to #4) is spendy, so we are holding off for a bit.

  24. Just got here through YHL’s blog and love your site! Had to comment on the vessel sink issue, even if it might be too late! I like the look but the functionality isn’t great. It is more dysfunctional than just being “hard to clean around” though … I’ve put in travertine tiles and am planning marble everything in my new bath … I will sacrifice some function for style!

    The house we bought has two vessel sinks in the hall bath, with pump-style ORB faucets. I like the faucets OK, but we must have hard water because the faucet spout (open channel where the water comes out) is constantly kind of crusted-white looking, like the water is evaporating and leaving some mineral residue or salt. The pump style faucet would probably be fine for a low-traffic bath, but ours is not and sometimes, if I turn the faucet on low for the cat to take a drink (I know, why? What can I say, she’s my kid), the pressure will drop and since it doesn’t have enough “oomph” to pour out, it trickles down the metal and the water runs back down the pump faucet “body” and floods the counter top. Argh! It’s a delicate balance to have it on forcefully enough to use but not so much it’s wasted and not so low it can’t run out of the spout properly.

    We also find the actual sinks, sort of a bronze colored glass with grid/strainer drains and a flat bottom, do not drain well for love nor money. Water pools in them, so especially if you are brushing your teeth or making lots of soap bubbles when washing your hands, there is a yucky slow-draining pool that you have to come back when it’s finally drained to rinse out the sludge left sitting in the sink. We even had a plumber out to check to see if the drains were clogged, and he said this style of sink is notorious, and his best suggestions were to replace the grid strainer with a pop-up or replace the glass vessel sinks with ones with an overflow/vent hole, which allows air into the pipe (or out of the pipe … heck, I was terrible at physics) so the sink will drain. I’m tracking down some white porcelain vessel sinks with the vent hole to replace these sinks at the first opportunity to try to salvage the new granite counter top and new pump faucets. If you google “vessel sink won’t drain” you will see a lot about it and hopefully be able to plan ahead to keep from experiencing these problems!

    • NOOOOOOOOO! I mean I’m for sure happy that you shared your experience but it sounds like the sinks have been nothing but a headache! I’m going to have to check more in to this. Thanks so much for stopping by and for sharing your experience. Hope you’ll stick around! 🙂

  25. Chiming in sort of late, but…. We’ve just installed 2 glass vessel sinks on floating vanities (with drawers) and granite tops in 2 bathrooms (half and full) as part of a whole-condo remodel. I think you have to talk things out with your contractor or, if DIYing, do a lot of research. Maybe even comsult a plumber. I talked a lot with my contractor about making sure the final sink height was comfortable for every day use (I have used vessels that required hyperextending your elbows to get your hands into the bowl and avoid splashing). In the master that meant dropping the vanity 1 inch. Not noticeable visually, but oh so noticeable in terms of usability. I think you also need a contractor knowledgeable about this kind of install–pop up drains, the faucets you’re considerung, caulk, talking with granite fabricator about the size of the drain hole they cut, etc. or, again, lots of research on your end for DIYing. Granted we are DINKs and I may be wiping out my glass sinks to prevent the water spots (FL = hard wtaer) but I already do that in the kitchen. It’s a habit Mom instilled. So my vote is yea. Just do your due diligence. Then have fun with it. Good luck!!

    • Thanks Jen…I’m surprised how much planning and research has gone in to this sink. It will be a little extra work to maintain but I hope the payoff in the end is worth it. Thanks for sharing your experience! 🙂

  26. Oh this is cool! These are nice photos of vessel sinks. I have been looking for some great ideas on bathrooms and vessel sinks because i am planning on some bathroom renovation and i have always wanted vessel sinks. I find them really beautiful and they could definitely spruce up a bathroom. Thanks for these photos. Thanks for these ideas. I guess i’m ready to go shopping for vessel sinks this weekend.

  28. I work for a homebuilder and two of my gfs just built a house with us. They chose a very modern vessel sink and faucet and have nothing but problems. They look so pretty but make such a mess! The faucets have no screen and when water hits the square edges, they splash everywhere! Nevermind the awkwardness of trying to wash your face….

    We are replacing sinks in most every house that had the combo with one with rounded edges as many homeowners complain. I’d suggest making sure your faucet is placed exactly right so you don’t get the splash back if u want to do it!

    • Ugh! That is horrible. What an epic fail in the sink dept. Thanks for the tip. I’m make sure and manuever it to get that faucet exactly right…otherwise I’ll be in the same boat.
      Thanks Cindy.

      • Hi Michelle I have sold and installed hundreds of vessel sinks. For those sinks that are shallow or small , one needs to turn down the water pressure at the valve under the counter top. Turn on each hot and cold then regulate the flow with the valve handle. There are 25 employees at this design center and have had no complaints. Hope this works for you. Roger ceo

        • Thank you so much for this info. I bought a vessel sink but after all the negative feedback I’ve been regretting it ( and I haven’t even installed it yet)! Much appreciated!

It is nice to meet you!

Hey there! I’m Michelle; I’m an Passionate DIY’er and in constant pursuit of how to bring beauty to my house full of men (3 boys + 1 hubby). Stick around and see what I’ve got up my hard-working sleaves!

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