Pedestal Sinks

What comes around, goes around--that pretty much describes pedestal sinks. After occupying a familiar place in bathrooms for many years, pedestal sinks gradually fell out of fashion. Now, pedestal sinks are surging back and can be found in many homes.

What are Pedestal Sinks?

Pedestal sinks are composed of two pieces: the pedestal (i.e., the "leg") and the sink basin. The wall behind the intended location for the pedestal sink must be strong enough to support significant weight.

Many homeowners are surprised to learn that pedestal sinks are largely supported by the wall, not the pedestal. Not only that, the supply and drain pipes enter the sink from the wall rather than the floor.

Common Applications for Pedestal Sinks

Don't feel limited by the following list; you're welcome to put your pedestal sink wherever you want. But you do tend to find pedestal sinks most commonly in these applications:

• In bathrooms.
• More specifically, in half-baths and powder rooms.
• Any bathroom where space is limited.
• When you need to control remodeling costs.
• Houses that aim for a period style. Jacuzzi sums it up well in their product literature for the Era line: "Escape to another time..."
• When you prefer do-it-yourself installation.
• When you have a small vehicle or any kind of difficulty transporting large bathroom cabinets. Pedestal sinks come in two pieces and are easily transported even in small vehicles.

Cost of Pedestal Sinks

Inexpensive pedestal sinks are available. After all, there isn't much to it: a basin, a pedestal, and that's it.

Sink Only

You can easily find pedestal sinks ranging from about $60 up to $500 and more.

Sink Plus Installation

The site Do It Yourself or Not accurately reports that professional installation of pedestal sinks will, on a national average, cost $637, with DIY installation about 22 percent less, at $450.

When Shopping for Pedestal Sinks...

Read the product description carefully, or you might end up with the pedestal only. Products described as sink pedestal are not the same as pedestal sink. Just switching those two words around makes all the difference in the world. By the same token, watch out for the term basin only. It's safe to say that anything under $50 is not a complete pedestal + basin combination.

If the typical white vitreous china pedestal sink is what comes to your mind, you might be interested to hear that there are a number of varieties out there. Square pedestal sinks can provide more apron around the basin to make up for the loss of counter space. It's even possible to find glass pedestal sinks that have translucent pedestals to hide the supply and drain lines.

Advantages of Pedestal Sinks

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but most homeowners say that they like the looks of pedestal sinks. So, it's appropriate that this is the first advantage of a pedestal sink:

1. Attractive and streamlined.
2. Lets you show off your entire bathroom (wall, baseboard, floor, etc.) instead of hiding these features with a boxy base cabinet.
3. Instant period decor if you have--or are trying to achieve--a classic or traditional style.

Disadvantages of Pedestal Sinks

While lovely, pedestal sinks tend to get low marks for practicality:

1. No counter space available; just the sink apron.
2. Any bathroom where space is limited.
3. Not appropriate for master bathrooms because the size swallows up the sink.
4. Requires bracing on the wall behind the sink. With sinks dropped into base cabinets, you can get by with no bracing at all.
5. If replacing a base cabinet with a pedestal sink, most likely you will have significant work to do to improve your bathroom flooring, baseboard, and wall. In most cases, these areas will be downright ugly. In the worst-case scenario, flooring and baseboards may not even exist.

Suppliers

All of the big-name bathroom products manufacturers produce pedestal sinks. Kohler, American Standard, Jacuzzi, Toto, Barclay, and St. Thomas are just a few of the many suppliers of pedestal sinks.