Best RTA Bathroom Vanities: What to Look For

The best RTA bathroom vanities are built for a wet room: a plywood box rather than particle board, a real paint or stain finish rather than a wrap, soft-close doors and drawers, and a box that goes together without cam locks. We sell three kinds of ready to assemble vanity: the Portico furniture vanity, the Veranda floating vanity, and vanity base cabinets that match our kitchen finishes.

Here is what to check on any vanity, the sizes that matter, and how to choose between the three.

What to check on any RTA vanity

The box

A bathroom is the wettest room in the house. Steam, splashes and the occasional slow drip under the sink all find the cabinet. Plywood resists swelling and holds a screw; particle board swells once water reaches the core, and it does not recover. Ask what the sides, the bottom and the back are made of, not only the front. Our guide to plywood vs particle board shows how to tell them apart.

The finish

Real paint or stain can be cleaned and touched up. Paper, thermofoil and melamine wraps can lift at the edges, and humidity is hard on them. Every vanity we sell has a real paint or stain finish.

The drawers and hinges

Drawers are where a vanity earns its keep. Look for a solid wood drawer box on full-extension glides, so the back of the drawer is reachable, and soft-close hinges and glides, so nothing slams.

How it goes together

Traditional RTA vanities are built with cam locks, dowels and glue. Ours go together on SnapCore, a licensed click system: anything wood-to-wood clicks together by hand, about 10x faster than traditional RTA cabinets built with cam locks, dowels and glue. The only parts that need screws are the metal ones: hinges, drawer glides and pulls. Fixing the vanity to the wall takes a drill.

The sizes that matter

• Depth. Vanity cabinets are 21 inches deep, shallower than a 24 inch kitchen base, so they leave room to move in a small bathroom.
• Height. Our framed vanity sink bases are 34 1/2 inches tall, the same as a kitchen base. The Portico stands about 33 inches. A floating vanity is set at whatever height you mount it.
• Width. Measure the wall, then leave room for the door swing, the toilet and any trim. The cabinet sizes guide lists standard widths.
• The plumbing. Check the sink and drain position against the vanity before you order, especially on a drawer sink base, where the drawers have to clear the trap.

On all of our vanities the countertop, sink and faucet are not included, so you can pick the top that suits the room.

Three kinds of vanity, and who each suits

Portico: a furniture vanity

The Portico is a furniture-style vanity on our Mantel shaker door, made to read as a piece of furniture rather than a built-in run. It comes in 30, 36, 42 and 48 inch widths, and in two 60 inch layouts: 4 doors with 6 drawers, or 2 doors with 9 drawers. Finishes: Snow, Quarry, Wood Ridge, Coastal and Malachite. It has a plywood box, a solid wood face frame, a 3/4 inch plywood shelf, and a 5/8 inch solid wood dovetail drawer box on soft-close, full-extension glides.

Choose it if you want one finished piece with doors and drawers in a single unit.

Veranda: a floating vanity

The Veranda is a wall-hung, frameless vanity line. It leaves the floor open below, which makes a small bathroom feel bigger and makes the floor easy to clean. Because it is modular, you build the run you need from pieces 12 to 36 inches wide: sink bases with doors or with two drawers, drawer bases, door bases and knee drawers. Finishes: Snow, Quarry, Wood Ridge and Coastal, on the Mantel door.

Choose it if you want a modern look, an open floor, or a run sized exactly to an odd wall.

Vanity bases that match the kitchen

We also sell vanity sink bases, drawer bases and vanity drawers on our Sterling and Studio kitchen doors, in several of our kitchen finishes. They suit a bathroom off the kitchen, or a house where every room should share one door style.

Choose them if you want the bathroom to match the kitchen exactly.

Questions

Are RTA bathroom vanities good quality?
They can be. Ready to assemble describes how a vanity ships, not how it is built, so check the box material, the finish, the drawers and the hinges on any brand.

Does the vanity include a countertop and sink?
No. The countertop, sink and faucet are bought separately, so check the sink and drain position against the vanity before ordering.

How deep is a bathroom vanity?
Ours are 21 inches deep.

Can I see a finish first?
Snow, Quarry, Wood Ridge and Coastal are also kitchen finishes, so you can hold one on a sample door: a full door is $19.99 and a quarter door is $4.99, shipping included, and the sample price is refundable. Browse the floating line from the Veranda sink base.