Bathroom Mirror and Cabinet Decision Checklist

List what actually happens at the mirror each morning, from shaving and contact lenses through to hair and teeth, and note who does each of them.

Different routines want different things from a mirror, and a written list stops one person preference quietly deciding for the whole household.

Note whether two people ever need the mirror at the same time, and what currently happens in the room when they do.

Shared use decides whether one wide mirror or two separate positions makes sense, and it is easily forgotten when the planning is done alone.

Write down the height of the tallest and the shortest regular user, and consider what each of them would see at the position you have in mind.

A mirror hung for one person can cut off the head of one user and the chin of another, and that is fixed the moment the fixings go in.

Consider whether anyone sits rather than stands at the mirror, and what that would change about the useful centre of it.

Seated use moves the useful part of a mirror a long way down, and it is rarely mentioned unless somebody asks the question directly.

Note what you currently hold or balance while using the mirror, and where each of those things gets put down.

Anything with nowhere to rest ends up on the basin surround, which is where most bathroom clutter actually begins.

Decide whether a magnifying position is wanted by anyone in the household, and where it would be reached from.

A close-up mirror is either used every day or never touched, and deciding now avoids one being clamped onto something afterwards.

Stand at the basin as you normally would and note how far a cabinet would project towards your face while you lean in to wash.

Projection is felt rather than seen, and standing in the real position tells you far more than looking at an elevation ever will.

Decide whether anything above or beside the basin would collide with a projecting cabinet, including a window reveal or a sloping ceiling.

Reveals and slopes are the usual reason a cabinet is abandoned after it has been chosen, and both of them are visible to you right now.

Ask a qualified professional to confirm what a cabinet can be fixed into where a window reveal or a sloping ceiling is involved.

Write down what you would put inside a cabinet that is currently on show, and be honest about whether it would actually be put away.

A cabinet only reduces clutter if the household uses it, and the honest list decides how much enclosed storage is genuinely needed.

Consider whether a plain mirror with storage elsewhere in the room would suit better than a cabinet sitting over the basin.

Separating the two often gives a larger reflection and puts the bulk somewhere it is less in the way of a person leaning forward.

Note whether a cabinet would darken the basin area by blocking light from a window or from a ceiling fitting above.

Depth above the basin casts a shadow onto exactly the part of the room where people need to see, and correcting that afterwards is awkward.

Decide how wide the mirrored surface should be relative to the basin below it, then mark that outline on the wall with tape.

Tape settles arguments about scale that no image ever settles, and living with the outline for a while asks nothing of anyone.

Note whether the wall behind the mirror position sounds hollow or solid, and mark on your sketch where that changes along its length.

A change in sound along the wall tells you something behind it is different, which is the beginning of a question rather than an answer.

What a wall is built from, and whether anything may be cut into it, must be established by a qualified professional.

Write down what is on the other side of that wall, including any room, built-in cupboard or external face of the building.

A recess takes depth from somewhere, and knowing what is behind changes the conversation from a wish into a practical question.

Ask what services might run inside that wall before a recess is treated as possible by anyone in the discussion.

Pipes and cables are routinely found exactly where a cabinet was going to sit, and asking early is far easier than finding out midway.

What runs inside a wall must be established by a qualified professional before any cutting into it is planned.

Ask whether a partially recessed arrangement is possible if a full recess is not, and what that would look like from the doorway.

A shallow recess still reduces projection noticeably, and it is often available in walls where a full recess is not.

Note whether the wall behind is shared with a bedroom, and raise the question of sound passing through it once a recess is formed.

Cutting into a shared wall raises questions about noise that nobody thinks about until doors start closing late at night.

Ask a qualified professional what cutting into a shared wall would involve and what applies locally in your area.

Decide which side a single door should hinge on, then stand at the basin and check it would not open straight into your face.

Hinge side is chosen by a supplier by default when nobody states a preference, and it is awkward to change once the unit has arrived.

Note what you would be looking at while a door is open, since the mirror in front of you leaves the wall with it.

Anyone reaching in while looking at themselves discovers this immediately, and a pair of doors behaves quite differently from a single one.

Consider whether the inside faces of the doors should be mirrored as well, and what anybody would actually use that for.

Mirrored interiors help with hair at the back of the head, and they also show every fingerprint left on a damp surface.

Ask whether the doors are held by a catch or a soft closing mechanism, and how that part would be replaced when it stops working.

Hinges and catches are the parts that fail on a bathroom cabinet, and whether they can be replaced changes which unit makes sense.

Ask the supplier what replacement hinges, catches and shelves are available for the unit before anything is ordered.

Note whether a door would foul a tap, a light fitting or the wall beside it when it is opened fully rather than halfway.

Full opening is where collisions happen, and it is easy to check against the taped outline before a single item is ordered.

Decide whether a sliding door arrangement would suit this position better than doors that swing out over the basin.

Sliding doors remove the swing problem and give up part of the opening, which matters when reaching for something at the back.

Take the tallest bottle and the tallest packet you keep in the bathroom and hold them at the height a shelf would sit.

Fixed shelves defeat tall items constantly, and this simple physical test is the one owners skip more often than any other.

Ask whether the shelves are adjustable, removable and replaceable, and what material each of them is made from.

Glass, plastic and coated shelves behave very differently in a damp room, and adjustability decides how long the unit stays useful.

Decide what needs to be kept out of easy reach in this household, and discuss that arrangement rather than assuming a cabinet handles it.

Storing anything with care is a household decision, and the right answer depends on the people in the house rather than on the unit.

Where medicines and household products are kept should be discussed with a suitably qualified professional or a pharmacist.

Note anything that needs charging in the bathroom, and raise the question of a point inside the cabinet as a separate subject.

Charging arrangements inside a cabinet are an electrical matter, and recording the need lets the right person answer the question properly.

Ask a qualified electrician what applies to a charging point in this position, and confirm the local requirements before assuming one is possible.

Write down what currently lives on the windowsill and on top of the cistern, since those are the items looking for a home.

The overflow that has already happened is the most accurate description available of how much storage this room actually needs.

Consider whether the bottom of the cabinet should be open for a toothbrush or a cup that gets used several times a day.

Items used constantly rarely go back behind a door, and an open shelf accepts that habit rather than quietly fighting it.

Stand at the mirror position at different points in the day and note where the light falling on your face actually comes from.

Observation across several visits describes the position far better than any lighting layout can at this stage of the planning.

Decide whether lighting integrated into the mirror is wanted, or whether separate fittings beside it would suit the room better.

Integrated light is tidy and ties the light to the unit, while separate fittings can be changed or replaced independently of it.

Ask whether the light source in an integrated unit can be replaced when it fails, and what happens if it turns out it cannot.

Some units are replaced entirely once the light stops working, which is worth knowing before choosing rather than afterwards.

Ask the supplier in writing whether the light source is replaceable and what the manufacturer information states about it.

Note whether the light would appear warm or cool, and consider who applies makeup or judges colour at this particular mirror.

The appearance of the light changes how skin and colour read, and the people who care about that care a great deal.

Ask what a demisting arrangement involves and whether it draws power whenever the mirror light is switched on.

Demisting is popular and is entirely an electrical subject, so it belongs in the conversation early rather than as an afterthought.

Demisting draws power, so bring a qualified electrician into the discussion early and ask them what applies in your area.

Write down where the switch for any mirror light would sit and whether it can be reached without leaning across the basin.

Switch position gets decided quickly by somebody else when the owner states no preference, and it is then lived with every day.

Ask what the cabinet would be fixed into, and what that wall is capable of carrying once the unit is loaded with everything you keep.

A loaded cabinet is far heavier than an empty one, and the fixing question is not answered by the weight printed on a specification.

How a cabinet is fixed, and what a particular wall can carry, must be established by a qualified professional rather than assumed.

Note whether the wall will be tiled, and ask how drilling into the finished surface would be handled and by whom.

Fixing into tile is a different conversation from fixing into plaster, and the sequence matters to whoever ends up doing the work.

Decide whether the cabinet should be centred on the basin, on the wall or on a window, since those three rarely coincide.

Owners assume the three line up, and choosing which one governs avoids an argument once the marks are already on the wall.

Ask how the unit could be taken off the wall for redecorating, and what would be left behind on the wall when it comes down.

Removal is almost never discussed and eventually always happens, particularly where a recess or a fixed light is involved.

Write down what you want handed over about the mirror and cabinet at the end, including references for shelves, hinges and any light source.

These parts are almost impossible to identify later, and asking at handover is far easier than trying to trace them afterwards.