Pedestal sink for half bath? (opinions) (ETA)

[simpsongal]

I want to change the old vanity in our main floor half bathroom. I need to do it soon b/c I'd also like to wallpaper the room and change the floor. I'm thinking a pedestal sink would look nice b/c it's a relatively small bathroom. It would also coordinate with the white toilet (the sink and toilet are next to one another). On the other hand, I was thinking of buying a more decorative vanity with storage. Honestly, I think I would prefer the sleek & space-saving look of a pedestal (the current vanity is chunking and just looks big to me).

Will I regret putting a pedestal sink in the main floor bathroom? The only thing I would probably store in there are hand towels, extra TP, and maybe a toilet brush. But I figured I could buy a decorative basket for extra towels and one of those toilet paper holders for when we have parties.

Opinions?

Does brand really matter with a sink? Like can I just go to Home Depot and buy one for $150 w/o worrying? Or should I get a good brand?

[happyhomemaker]

I have never had a pedestal sink, but I love the look of them. When we finally renovate our second bathroom, I plan to put one in there. IMO, if you are going purely for looks and don't need the storage I would go with the pedestal sink, especially since it's a half bath.

[aweilba]

I think it's fine. I love the way they look, and around my area, most half baths have a pedestal sink. You can always get creative storage another way.

[Susie]

I can't report yet on whether we love or hate it, but we recently decided to scrap the vanity and go for a pedestal sink in our main floor powder room. Everything's ordered, it's just not in yet.

This is our powder room layout (we were picking out tile):


and this is the post with the sink, etc. that we picked out: guinsyard.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/the-real-half-bathroom-redo/

The big reasons we went the pedestal route were a) it's a tiny room, more open space will probably look better, b) we don't store much in there anyway, and the big one, c) the only forced air heat vent in the entire room is currently under the vanity. Builder fail. It's freezing in there in the winter as a result.

[simpsongal]

That's a great post, Susie. Wow to the shoddy molding work - love the cut out for the vanity!

I need to take more before & after pics for the benefit of H&G.

[decoraholic]

We did a pedestal sink in our half bath. I have a TP basket on top of the toilet with extra rolls. The laundry room is right across from the bathroom, so that's where we keep additional TP and cleaning supplies.

We found our Kohler pedestal sink on Craigslist (DC Area) for $35 and put in a new faucet. When we were searching, quite a few came up on CL, so worth looking into if you're trying to save a little. The porcelain is easy to clean and the faucet/drain are what get all dirty, so replacing that made it like new. The people we bought it from kept it pretty clean, so buying a used sink wasn't as gross as it sounds

[simpsongal]

Thanks all! And Decoraholic, I took your advice and cehcked Craigslist yesterday. You're right, there were quite a few reasonably-priced contenders! Thanks for the tip.

[lys]

A pedistal sink definitely expands the space visually and look great. My main criticism is that many of the pedestals do not have a place to set anything down on them - so please allow susfficient space on the pedestal top to do so.