For a bathroom vanity with drawers, plan the sink bay first. The sink bay is the part of the cabinet under the sink, where the drain and the supply lines run. As a general rule, the drawers go where the plumbing isn’t, or they get cut around it. At 24 or 30 inches, that can mean doors under the bowl, and drawers only where the sink and the cabinet line leave room for them.
Settle that on the drawing. Cabinets are built to a drawing, so a layout that ignores where the drain and supply lines sit can leave you with fewer or shallower drawers than you pictured. Or a reworked cabinet plan after the order. Fixing it on paper can be easier than fixing it after the cabinet shows up.
The drawer layout is one decision inside a bathroom remodel, and it’s easiest to settle on the drawing with the rest of the room.
The Sink Bay Is Where the Drawers Stop
One maker’s guide to sink cabinet accessories is blunt about it. Sink base cabinets don’t have drawers, the guide says, and most carry false drawer fronts instead. A false drawer front is a panel that looks like a drawer front but doesn’t open. That’s why a vanity can show drawer fronts across its face and still have a plain door bay behind them.
You can read that maker’s guide to sink cabinet accessories yourself. It covers sink base cabinet types and the accessories made for that space.
The same guide lists tip-out trays and U-shaped pullouts among its sink accessories, and it describes that space as traditionally unusable. That’s a fair starting point. The bay isn’t empty.
Why is it so crowded? As a general rule, the drain drops straight down from the bowl, and the trap and the supply lines can run through the middle of the cabinet or toward the back. A plain drawer box can have nowhere to go in there, because the box would run into the pipes. That’s the general principle, and your designer can tell you what your own pipe locations allow.
Four Layouts, Side by Side
A narrow vanity handles the bay in one of four ways.
| Layout | What you get | What it gives up | Width to ask about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doors under the sink. | You keep the full open height under the bowl. | You reach past a door to find things. | Any width works, including 24 inches. |
| Doors plus a shaped pull-out. | A tray slides out around the plumbing. | The bay loses some open height. | Ask the designer what the cabinet line offers at your width. |
| A drawer cut around the plumbing. | You get a real drawer at the sink. | The notch takes space out of the box. | One maker’s part is premeasured for 30-inch and 36-inch bathroom cabinets. |
| A wider cabinet with drawers beside the bay. | Plain drawer boxes sit next to the sink bay. | The cabinet needs more wall. | Ask the designer how much wider the cabinet has to be, and check the wall. |
That’s a layout comparison, not a shopping list. The cabinet line you choose, the sink you pick and where the drain sits decide what’s possible in your bathroom.
Where the Drain Sits Sets the Limit
A bowl centered on the cabinet puts the plumbing in the middle. That can leave a narrow strip of usable space on each side and not much else. Move the sink toward one end and the plumbing moves with it. As a general rule, that can free a full column on the other side for drawers with no notch in them.
Sink position gets set on the drawing. The vanity top, the sink and the cabinet are chosen together, because the cutout in the top has to line up with the bowl and with the bay below it. Ask your designer to check where the pipes come out before the layout is locked.
Storage accessories belong in that same conversation. Designers can help you design customized storage accessories for your kitchen and bath cabinetry, so your essential items have a place.
What You Store Picks the Drawers
A vanity is one of the busiest storage cabinets in a home. It holds toiletries, spare rolls of toilet paper and styling tools. Those things don’t want the same space.
As a general rule, flat items you reach for every day suit a drawer. Think brushes and cosmetics. Tall bottles and bulky supplies suit the open bay behind doors, and so do spare rolls, because height isn’t rationed down there.
So make the list. Write down what lives under your sink, then sort it by height. The tall half of that list tells you how much open bay you need, and the flat half tells you how much drawer.
At 24 Inches, Plan for Doors
That same maker’s guide names four sink base cabinet widths: 24, 30, 33 and 36 inches. A 24-inch cabinet is the narrowest on that list, and it’s the one where drawers can get hard.
In a cabinet that narrow, the sink bay takes a large share of the width. That’s a general principle, not a measurement of your cabinet. So treat a drawer at 24 inches as a bonus to confirm with your designer, not as the plan. One maker’s shaped rollout is premeasured for 30-inch and 36-inch bathroom cabinets only, so ask whether the cabinet line you like offers any shaped part at 24 inches. It may not.
A powder room gets tight fast. There’s a separate post on where to spend and where to skip in a half bath remodel if that’s the room you’re working on.
Construction matters more when the box is narrow. A face frame — a wood frame around the front of the cabinet box — can be a bigger factor in a 24-inch cabinet than in a wide one, and that trade-off is the subject of how framed and frameless construction compare.
At 30 Inches, a Shaped Drawer May Be an Option
Another maker lists a U-shaped rollout built for bathroom sink cabinets. Its page says the part adds the convenience of a drawer to bathroom sink cabinets and is designed to accommodate plumbing. U-shaped means what it sounds like. There’s a notch at the back of the drawer, so, as a general rule, the drawer can wrap around the trap and the supply lines instead of hitting them.
You can read that maker’s page for the U-shaped rollout yourself.
That maker lists the rollout premeasured to fit 30-inch bathroom cabinets and premeasured to fit 36-inch bathroom cabinets. Those are the only cabinet widths on the page.
The notch takes something back, though. It removes space from the drawer, so the drawer carries less than a plain box of the same width. And the sink has to sit where the notch is, which puts sink position back on the drawing again. Other makers may handle it differently, and whether your cabinet line offers a shaped part at your width is a question for your designer.
Choose the Layout That Fits Your Situation
Find your situation, then take that layout to the drawing.
- You need the clearest bay for tall bottles and spare rolls, or the cabinet is 24 inches wide: doors under the sink, because the bay stays open from top to bottom.
- You want to reach into the bay without giving up the doors: a shaped pull-out, which can bring the back of the bay out to you.
- You want a real drawer at the sink, your cabinet line offers a shaped part at your width, and you can fix the sink position early: a drawer cut around the plumbing.
- Drawers matter more to you than a few inches of wall, and the wall has the room: a wider cabinet with plain drawers beside the bay.
What Planning the Bay First Gives Up
This approach has a real downside. A drawer cut around the plumbing holds less than a plain drawer of the same width, so you trade capacity for the convenience of a drawer at the sink. The cutout also pins the sink and the drain, which means changing the sink later can mean a different drawer, or a different cabinet. A pull-out in the bay gives up some of the open height you had under the bowl. And more moving parts means more to look at before you sign off.
So look at them. McDaniels lists drawer and guide construction as one of four points that differentiate cabinet quality, along with wood species and color, cabinet construction and joinery. Ask your designer to show you how the drawer boxes and the guides are put together on a sample.
Bring the Width, the Sink and Your List
Three things settle a bathroom vanity with drawers: the width, where the sink sits and what you store. Bring all three before the cabinet is ordered, while the layout is still a drawing.
At McDaniels’ Lansing showroom you can see bath cabinetry on display, and the designers there can help you design customized storage accessories for your bath cabinetry. The team can also help you maximize your space with the latest storage options and create a layout that promotes an organized and relaxing bathroom. The experienced designers are available for complimentary consultations.
While the plan is still on paper, book a complimentary design consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Vanity Drawers
Can you add drawers to a vanity that doesn’t have them?
It depends on how the cabinet is built. One maker’s guide says most sink base cabinets have false drawer fronts, so what looks like a drawer may be a fixed panel. Real drawers can mean a different cabinet, or a shaped part made for that width. Ask a designer before you buy anything.
Are the drawer fronts on a vanity real?
Not all of them are. That maker’s guide says most sink base cabinets have false drawer fronts. So ask whether the front opens, and ask what sits behind it.
Can a 24-inch vanity have drawers?
It can have a drawer where the plumbing isn’t. But in a cabinet that narrow, the sink bay can take much of the width, so there can be less left over. The shaped rollout on that maker’s product page is listed for 30-inch and 36-inch cabinets only. Ask your designer what the cabinet line offers at 24 inches.
Does an off-center sink change the drawers?
It can. As a general principle, moving the plumbing to one side can leave a column on the other side for drawers. The top, the sink and the cabinet then have to be ordered to match. Ask your designer to draw it.
What belongs in the drawers and what behind the doors?
A vanity holds toiletries, spare rolls of toilet paper and styling tools, and those don’t share space well. As a general rule, flat everyday items go in a drawer. Tall bottles and spare rolls go behind the doors, where the open height is.