Gold CoastAstor Street ensuiteA dark, quiet suite carved out of two small rooms and a hall closet, with a book-matched onyx wall behind a freestanding tub.Read the case study
Bathroom service
Vanities, millwork and storage
Shop-built vanities, linen towers and mirror cabinetry sized to your room rather than to a catalogue.
- Typical investment
- $14,000 - $46,000
- Time on site
- 6 to 10 weeks including shop time
- Warranty
- 10 yr waterproofing
The overview
Storage is the difference between a beautiful bathroom and a bathroom you enjoy using. It is also the first thing cut from a budget and the first thing clients regret cutting.
Stock vanities come in fixed widths and fixed depths, which means a Chicago bathroom almost always ends up with a dead gap, a door that fouls a wall, or drawers interrupted by plumbing. We build in our shop, so the cabinet fits the wall you have and the drawers are notched around the trap rather than blocked by it.
We plan storage by what actually gets stored. Tall bottles and a hair dryer need a deep drawer with a cutout for a cord. Daily grooming wants a shallow upper drawer with a divided insert. Towels want a linen tower with open shelves at the bottom so they are easy to grab wet.
Mirror cabinetry is where most of the value hides. A recessed cabinet in a furred wall gives you six inches of depth for free, keeps the counter clear and puts a light source at face height instead of above your head.
Finishes are sprayed in the shop, not brushed on site. That gives a harder, more even film and keeps solvent smells out of your home.
What is included
Everything in the scope, written down
Allowances are named in the contract so you know exactly what is covered and what is not.
Shop drawings
Dimensioned elevations of every cabinet before a board is cut.
Plumbing notches
Drawer boxes built around the trap so you keep usable depth.
Soft-close hardware
Full-extension undermount runners and concealed hinges, adjusted on handover.
Recessed mirror cabinets
Built into a furred wall with interior outlets and integrated lighting.
Sprayed finish
Catalysed lacquer or a stained hardwood finish applied in the shop.
Stone tops
Templated after the cabinet is set, with the sink cutout polished and sealed.
How it runs
From first visit to handover
Storage interview
We inventory what goes in the room. It is not a glamorous meeting but it sets the design.
Shop drawings
You approve dimensioned elevations, hardware and finish samples.
Build in the shop
Four to six weeks of cabinet work while site work continues in parallel.
Set and template
Cabinets scribed to the wall, then stone templated on the finished boxes.
Finish and adjust
Tops set, hardware adjusted and drawer alignment tuned at handover.
Why clients choose it
- Every inch of the wall used, no filler panels
- Drawers that open fully because the plumbing was planned around
- Recessed mirror storage that keeps the counter clear
- Sprayed shop finishes that outlast a site-brushed cabinet
- Hardware adjusted at handover and again at the thirty-day visit
What moves the number
Four things that change the price
None of these are surprises if they are checked at the first visit, which is why we open an inspection panel before we quote.
| Factor | What it means for your budget |
|---|---|
| Wood species | Rift white oak and walnut carry a premium over paint-grade poplar or maple. |
| Wall condition | Out-of-plumb pre-war walls need more scribing and filler work at the shop stage. |
| Stone top | Book-matched or thick-edge tops add fabrication time and material cost. |
| Integrated lighting | Lit mirror cabinets and under-cabinet washes need electrical planned at rough-in. |
Built in Chicago
Projects with this scope
- Gold CoastAstor Street ensuiteA dark, quiet suite carved out of two small rooms and a hall closet, with a book-matched onyx wall behind a freestanding tub.Read the case study
EvanstonEvanston accessible suiteA zero-threshold suite designed around a wheelchair turning circle, with walnut grab bars and nothing that looks like a hospital.Read the case study
Questions
About vanities and storage
Four things clients ask us about this scope every month.
In a square room with a standard width, a good stock vanity is fine and we will say so. In anything irregular, which is most of Chicago, custom pays for itself in usable storage.
Shop drawings need sign-off about six weeks before the cabinet is set. Changes after that push the schedule.
We can match a finish closely, but we are candid that an exact match across two different woods and two different shops is rarely achievable.
Any cabinet holding a hair dryer or a heated tool gets a vented back and a proper outlet. It is a small detail that prevents a real hazard.
Let us look at the room
Forty-five minutes, two people, one inspection panel and an honest range. There is no charge and no follow-up sales call.
Request an estimate(312) 555-0214
Serving Chicago and the North Shore. Showroom visits by appointment.