The Beauty of a Vessel Sink: Why You Need this in Your Bathroom

Do you ever look through Pinterest or home improvement sites and see sinks that make you long to wash your hands in them? There are some stunning sinks out there, and among the most beautiful are vessel sinks. These unique sinks sit on top of the bathroom counter, looking like a washbasin set there on the vanity.

Vessel sinks are an amazing option for bathroom sinks. They can fit with any style and any budget, no matter what your bathroom aesthetic is. Read on to learn why you need a vessel sink in your life.

Variety

If you’re looking for the biggest variety of options for your sink, it’s hard to beat vessel sinks. There are choices for every bathroom style. From glass to hammered copper to antique washbowls, you can find a vessel sink that fits all your wildest bathroom fantasies.

And if you have trouble deciding on one specific sink material, vessel sinks give you an option to switch things up every few years. Traditional sinks require replacing the entire vanity top, but vessel sinks only require swapping out a few fittings. Make sure you have everything hooked up properly when you swap sinks, but the world is your oyster with these.

Style

Because they’re so easily swapped out, vessel sinks can help you keep up with the latest in home décor style. It can be hard to keep up with the times in home decor; by the time you finish with one remodel, it’s already out of style. But you can swap out your sink every year if you like to stay on the leading edge of home style.

There are also few sink options more stylish than a vessel sink. These sinks exude an air of glamor, even if they’re DIYed. If you’re looking for ways to make your home look more expensive and elegant, these are an excellent choice.

DIY 

If you’re the kind of person who loves a good DIY project or upcycling, you’re going to adore vessel sinks. These are relatively easy to install yourself, provided you have fixtures already in place for a sink. You’ll need to replace the vanity countertop, but that’s mostly a matter of dealing with caulk and large, unwieldy pieces of material.

You can make a vessel sink from just about any large enough basin. If you love a vintage look, find a nice big washbowl, drill a hole in the bottom, and add it into your vanity. If farmhouse is more your style, you can get a steel tub, drill a hole in the bottom of that, and have it as your sink.

Focal Point

One of the biggest principles in interior design is creating a focal point in the room. This is the point where people’s eyes will automatically be drawn when they walk into the room, and from there, you create the flow of the rest of the space. In living rooms, the focal point may be a large piece of art, a window, or a mantle, but in your bathroom, it can be your vessel sink. 

Vessel sinks automatically have a bolder visual profile than most sinks, and their unique nature draws the eye to them. You can use your sink as a focal point in the room, finding a material you really like and then building the rest of the room around that. The simple act of adding a specific focal point to your bathroom will make your home feel much more luxurious.

Lots of Material Options

Because vessel sinks can be made from any large enough basin, your options for material are endless. With traditional sinks, you have pretty much three options: stone, porcelain, or metal. And using stone or metal can add a lot to your renovation costs depending on what your vanity counter is made from. 

Vessel sinks can be absolutely anything you want them to be. Yes, they can be porcelain, stone, or metal, but they can also be plastic, clear glass, or molded resin. They can be made from large pieces of hollowed-out live-edge wood or from strips of bamboo.

More Storage Space

If you’re the kind of person who’s constantly trying to cram more things into your bathroom drawers, you are going to love having a vessel sink. With traditional sinks, a large portion of your vanity cabinet space is taken up by the sink and its requisite plumbing. With vessel sinks, you’ll still have to contend with the plumbing, but you won’t have the sink taking up space. 

You may be able to add a shallow drawer in the middle of your bathroom vanity to provide more storage space. If there isn’t room for a drawer, you will have much more vertical storage space in the cabinet. Set up racks, hang things from the bottom of the vanity counter, and luxuriate in all the extra room you have for your toiletries.

Large Price Range

Oftentimes, getting the beautiful specialty fixtures for your bathrooms can mean paying an arm and a leg. Nifty taps run upwards of $100, and the higher-end sinks and toilets can reach into the thousands. But with vessel sinks, it is a “pay what you want” situation.

If you’re DIYing your vessel sink, you may pay less than $10 if you can find a good basin at a rummage sale. Or if you want something very high-quality and ritzy, you can find all manner of stunning vessel sinks reaching into the hundreds of dollars. Vessel sinks truly allow you to pay what you want for the bathroom of your dreams. 

Add a Vessel Sink to Your Bathroom 

Vessel sinks are an amazing bathroom trend that gives you total freedom in design. You can have a vessel sink made of whatever material you want for whatever price you want to pay. How will you take advantage of your decorating freedom with this amazing sink option? 

If you’d like to get ideas for a one-of-a-kind bathroom vanity, check out the rest of our site at Unique Vanities. We can help you find the perfect vanity to set your beautiful vessel sink on, and we guarantee it’ll be eye-catching. Check out our buying guides for bathroom sinks today.


My name is Julia Ritzenthaler, Founder and President of Unique Vanities, started in 2005. I started this business as an extension of our residential remodeling business, which focused on the design and build of custom cabinetry and architectural trim. I also worked as a financial advisor for 10 years at Ameriprise Financial, helping clients make sound money decisions, including budgeting for home improvement expenses. This expertise led me to start Unique Vanities, which offers a handpicked selection of high quality bathroom vanities, sinks, mirrors and more. You can find me most days sitting in Starbucks, my second office, or in my car driving my daughter across Dallas to gymnastics training.