Bathroom Furniture Suites - A Size Guide

Thinking of a bathroom re-fit? Are you replacing a worn bathroom suite and wondering what, exactly, to replace it with? It could be worth considering a bathroom furniture suite.

A traditional bathroom suite consists of a WC, pedestal or wall mounted basin, and bath. An L shaped bath provides a variation on this theme, for households who require a spacious shower as well as their bathing space, and don't have the room for both. And a shower suite - WC, basin, and shower enclosure - is the ideal solution for a small bathroom where there just isn't the space for a bath, or for households who don't use a bath and prefer a regular shower instead.

A bathroom furniture suite replaces the traditional pedestal basin or the more contemporary wall hung basin from a suite with a washstand or vanity unit. Consumers are then free to add to the set whatever additional sanitaryware best suits them: a bath, an L shaped bath, a shower, or both a bath and a shower.

Bathroom furniture is useful in any size of bathroom: it provides integrated storage inside and presents a sleek, coordinated finish on the outside.

In a smaller bathroom or petite cloakroom, a bathroom furniture suite may be a space saving option. A tiny wall hung basin looks minimal, but if you need any storage space then you have to add a cabinet or shelves, and this takes up room. A small, slimline vanity unit, on the other hand, provides you with storage space directly below your basin, where the space would otherwise have been unused. The smallest vanity units can be a mere 40cm across and less than 30cm deep. They will fit into an alcove or corner, or sit neatly next to your toilet.

The toilet itself should be chosen for space saving, as well, in a small bathroom environment. Short projection toilets save you space to walk around the front of the pan: with only a 60cm depth, they're as neat as can be. Or choose a corner WC to squeeze every last millimetre of space out of your smallest room.

In bathrooms where capacity is less of a problem, there's plenty of choice too. Larger vanity units or washstands can be paired with longer projection toilets; basin and WC combination units combine a streamlined vanity unit and WC unit with a back to wall or wall hung toilet for all-in-one style - this can save space for other bathroom fittings, but you do need a sufficiently wide section of wall on which to position the unit. They start at less than a metre wide and go up and up in scale.

Bathroom furniture suites are adaptable and, as they are available in freestanding and fitted designs, they can equally suit a traditional or contemporary bathroom.