Bathroom vanities .... by far the biggest piece of junk you can buy

[johne]

I looked at a few dozen this week and I must say that under the best conditions (maybe in NA )they would last 4 years, but here in this humidity they would last one year. The "hardware" I'm sure is tin. Yep tin. The doors are fibre board and would de-laminate or chip after less than a year. ((The stuff they sell in Home Depot in the states is not much better btw.)

Unless I can find a store that has better quality (solid wood doors and real hardware) I am going to look into using my cabinet maker and a ceramic guy to build these . (There are 3 that I would need.)

Your thoughts?

 

[RDKNIGHT]

Try marmotech in santo domingo that;s where I got my vanitie still in excellent condition been 3 years now

 

[JD Jones]

I looked at a few dozen this week and I must say that under the best conditions (maybe in NA )they would last 4 years, but here in this humidity they would last one year. The "hardware" I'm sure is tin. Yep tin. The doors are fibre board and would de-laminate or chip after less than a year. ((The stuff they sell in Home Depot in the states is not much better btw.)

Unless I can find a store that has better quality (solid wood doors and real hardware) I am going to look into using my cabinet maker and a ceramic guy to build these . (There are 3 that I would need.)

Your thoughts?

I agree with you. Especially if you're considering Mahogany, but even treated pine can be stained to look pretty good.

 

[reilleyp]

I looked at a few dozen this week and I must say that under the best conditions (maybe in NA )they would last 4 years, but here in this humidity they would last one year. The "hardware" I'm sure is tin. Yep tin. The doors are fibre board and would de-laminate or chip after less than a year. ((The stuff they sell in Home Depot in the states is not much better btw.)

Unless I can find a store that has better quality (solid wood doors and real hardware) I am going to look into using my cabinet maker and a ceramic guy to build these . (There are 3 that I would need.)

Your thoughts?

We are having a hard time finding vanities. We finally settled on IKEA even though it is poor quality also.
I also like solid wood but unless you maintain a steady humidity level, you may have constant warping and splitting.

 

[PJT]

Good quality vanities on the market are costly. Metal vanities are never worth the investment. Constructed my own vanities from wood and brass screws.

Regards,

PJT

 

[AlterEgo]

Good quality vanities on the market are costly. Metal vanities are never worth the investment. Constructed my own vanities from wood and brass screws.

Regards,

PJT

We bought a metal one at Ferreteria Americana when we added a bathroom about 8-9 years ago. No regrets.

 

[JD Jones]

Americana had a lot of great stuff. Almost always my go-to store.

 

[windeguy]

I could never imagine purchasing a metal vanity. They would last a year or two before rusting away.

I would contract a cabinet maker and make them from a wood that does not attract termites.

 

[AlterEgo]

I could never imagine purchasing a metal vanity. They would last a year or two before rusting away.

I would contract a cabinet maker and make them from a wood that does not attract termites.

Not true. Ours is 8-9 years old and we live at the beach. No rust. Looks the same as the day we got it.

 

[AlterEgo]

Americana had a lot of great stuff. Almost always my go-to store.

I do miss that store. When we built that bathroom we bought everything there, beautiful faucets and shower fixtures from Europe, the vanity, toilet. Even the paint, with mold/mildew resistance in it. Only the ceramic tiles came from San Cristobal.

 

[XTraveller]

What I seen lately is construction of cabinets with waterproof HDF (High density fiber board). Here its call Hydro.....something.
The bugs to not eat it and I put a piece of it in a water bucket for over a year and it did not swell or anything like this. When properly painted it looks good.

 

[NALs]

One of the issue with you Johne is that you are based in Juan Dolio and most of the time you are in the DR, it's on or near the coast as I get the impression most of your DR time is mostly in the Juan Dolio - Santo Domingo area. The sea air does wonders.

One of the reasons Santiago tends to be less humid than Puerto Plata (often something you feel by simply going from one place to another) is because of the mountains blocking much of the sea air (the other factor is height as Santiago sits at a higher elevation than every building in Puerto Plata, but a mountain range plus higher elevation from sea level is a double blockage to sea air.) This is a testament of how much the effects of sea air manifest itself more on the coast then inland.

Juan Dolio is in a flat area, so sea air probably goes further inland than in the northern part. Certainly Santiago sits at a higher elevation than Juan Dolio, probably higher than its tallest buildings.) Still, it has to be less inland than right on the coast.

Sea air is a major reason why things breakdown/rust/etc at a faster rate in much of the DR.

 

[keepcoming]

We had an open vanity made. It has a shelf at the bottom but open. I like it because it is easy to maintain. Some do not like the plumbing pipes showing but I have no issue with that. The photo below is very similar to what we have, just a different color. Actually, out of the 3 bathrooms, 2 have open vanities. A family friend outside of Santiago made them both, that was a few years ago though.

 

[william webster]

Mine are very similar to that........ but in cement

 

[XTraveller]

Mine are very similar to that........ but in cement

In this temperature with the humidity , salt air and the bugs Cement and ceramics is the way to go. There is also PVC, I look around for cabinets but all I found was for labs.

 

[LindseyKaufman]

We had an open vanity made. It has a shelf at the bottom but open. I like it because it is easy to maintain. Some do not like the plumbing pipes showing but I have no issue with that. The photo below is very similar to what we have, just a different color. Actually, out of the 3 bathrooms, 2 have open vanities. A family friend outside of Santiago made them both, that was a few years ago though.

I have the identical style but just one sink! Love it!

 

[USA DOC]

I looked at a few dozen this week and I must say that under the best conditions (maybe in NA )they would last 4 years, but here in this humidity they would last one year. The "hardware" I'm sure is tin. Yep tin. The doors are fibre board and would de-laminate or chip after less than a year. ((The stuff they sell in Home Depot in the states is not much better btw.)

Unless I can find a store that has better quality (solid wood doors and real hardware) I am going to look into using my cabinet maker and a ceramic guy to build these . (There are 3 that I would need.)

Your thoughts?

Go to the best furniture stores and take a photo with your phone of the one you want... with the measurements... give these to your cabinet maker... thats how I got my best furniture...........

 

[malko]

I got one, maybe 10 years ago, at Ochoa in Santiago.

Double mirror, double sink, double cupboards underneath ( if you see what I mean ). The top board where the sinks fit in is some kind of white PVC ( I guess ).
The unit is some kind of dark red simili-wood, no idea what the material is, not wood I don't think.

It wasn't cheap --- nor that expensive, mind you--- and has held up unto now.

Now that I think about it, I think I changed the 2 faucets and the hinges of the cupboard doors.

 

[RDKNIGHT]

Mine are very similar to that........ but in cement

what prison cell are you at now?

 

[JD Jones]

what prison cell are you at now?

FWIW, the villa construction I supervised in Orchid Bay cost over 1mm, and the bathrooms all have tiled cement counters.