Here’s our medicine cabinet sizes guide including standard medicine cabinet dimensions, measurements for a bathroom vanity, and how to measure for medicine cabinets.
Medicine cabinets are a modern invention. People from the past will be amazed at this wonder as they would think that modern households essentially have apothecaries right at their homes.
Today, medicine cabinets are not just there to house medicine; some can be big enough that even towels or any other larger bathroom necessities can be stored in them. Some even have safety features like child locks to ensure that children will not reach them for safety.
Many medicine cabinets are fixed-in with mirrors, which make them essential to be installed at eye level. There are many medicine cabinets to choose from, and homeowners only need to decide what features to select the perfect one.
Are Medicine Cabinets Standard Size?
Medicine cabinets come in different shapes and sizes, whether recessed or surface-mounted. They are also made in a variety of materials, from molded plastic to stainless steel to wood, making the standard size vary from one brand to the other.
For recessed and dual mount medicine cabinets, their sizes will vary from 16 by 30 inches or 41 by 76 centimeters to bigger ones at 24 by 30 inches or around 61 by 76 centimeters.
Standard dimensions for surface-mounted cabinets are a bit harder to pinpoint since they have a frame, and depending on what brand or manufacturer, there are a lot of options to consider.
Although these sizes are the standards or what homeowners often find in most furniture and utility stores, there are other medicine cabinet sizes available.
Standard Medicine Cabinet Size
Since there is no universal standard for medicine cabinet dimensions, to make it easier for the homeowners to consider, looking at size range is the easiest way to determine what is available as options for choosing.
Standard widths for medicine cabinets usually start at 16 inches or 41 centimeters. This size will be the base to add increments of 4 inches or 10 centimeters, making width sizes go up to 24 inches or 61 centimeters. For medicine cabinets with double doors, widths can vary from 20 to 40 inches or 51 to 102 centimeters.
A medicine cabinet’s height is not standardized. Still, the consensus among many manufacturers is that heights are available from smaller 20 and 26 inches, or 51 to 66 centimeters, to medicine cabinets as tall as 30 to 40 inches, or about 76 to 102 centimeters.
The medicine cabinet’s depth is usually around 4 inches or 10 centimeters, give or take about half an inch or so. Depth will determine how much usable space will be there to place the items. Ideally, the deeper the medicine cabinet is the better.
What Size Medicine Cabinet For 24 inch Vanity?
Some of the smallest vanities or sinks are around 18 to 24 inches or 46 to 61 centimeters in width from side to side. One way to make this vanity or sink more efficient is by adding a matching medicine cabinet for extra storage space.
A perfect medicine cabinet for this vanity or sink size is a medicine cabinet that is 15 by 24 inches or approximately 38 by 61 centimeters.
Anything broader than 24 inches or 61 centimeters in width will crowd the sink and make it look even smaller. While going for something smaller is also great, but not too tiny as it would be less functional.
What Size Medicine Cabinet For 30 inch Vanity?
Aside from the smaller 18 to 24 inches or about 46 to 61 centimeters sink or vanity, there is another compact size sink and vanity that will be good for a medium-sized bathroom or powder room, which is vanities and sinks around 30 to 36 inches or 76 to 91 centimeters.
To choose a medicine cabinet for this sink and vanity size, the soundest thing to do is to go for something similar in width or go for something a little bit smaller but not too small so as not to be functional.
The perfect medicine cabinet for this space that will be a good fit is a medicine cabinet around 20 by 24 inches or 51 to 61 centimeters.
What Size Medicine Cabinet For 36 inch Vanity?
Thirty-six inches or 31 centimeters for a sink and vanity is on the medium compact size. It is already established that the perfect medicine cabinet for this sink and vanity size are medicine cabinets around 20 by 24 inches or 51 to 61 centimeters.
Double-door medicine cabinets are also a good fit for this sink and vanity size. Double-door medicine cabinets tend to have more storage options than the average medicine cabinet with only one door.
There are also some medicine cabinets with adjustable shelving that easily fit anything from medicine cabinets to electric toothbrushes to blow dryers.
What Size Medicine Cabinet For 48 inch Vanity?
Mid-sized sinks and vanities are around 42 to 48 inches or approximately 107 to 122 centimeters in width from side to side. The perfect medicine cabinet to hang on top of this bathroom vanity or sink size is a medicine cabinet 30 by 24 inches or 76 to 61 centimeters.
Choosing the best medicine cabinet will entail selecting the best material the homeowners want and looking at the number of shelves inside the medicine cabinet itself.
What Size Medicine Cabinet For 60 inch Vanity?
Some bathrooms will have more oversized vanities with double sinks that are sized around 60 inches or 152 centimeters.
For this bathroom sink or vanity size, the best option is to opt for two smaller medicine cabinets. Since this size usually has two sinks, it is best to ensure that there are two medicine cabinets above each faucet.
A medicine cabinet of 20 by 24 inches or about 51 to 61 centimeters from side to side will be a good fit for this purpose.
Recessed Medicine Cabinet Sizes
See this medicine cabinet at Amazon [sponsored link]
A recessed medicine cabinet is called one because it is designed to fit inside a hole cut on the get-go on drywall or plaster. It keeps the cabinet snug into the wall framing leaving the depth invisible and only the front trim and door embossed and visible.
This allows homeowners to save space in their bathroom layouts which is efficient for smaller spaces; however, the catch is that recessed medicine cabinets are only available in the standard depth of 4 inches or 10 centimeters, nothing deeper.
The width and length can vary from one to the other, but the range is generally the same: 16 to 24 inches or 41 to 61 centimeters in width, while the length can stand from 20 to 40 inches or 51 to 102 centimeters.
How To Measure Medicine Cabinet Size
In order to ensure that the chosen cabinet will be perfect for the space, busting out the measuring tape is needed to specify how a medicine cabinet will fit into the room. This calls for measuring the width, height, and depth of the vanity or the bathroom sink.
The first is the width, and this calls for measuring the homeowner’s vanity space. Once this is measured, the medicine cabinet will be the same width or something narrower than the dimension.
The second is the height measured by taking the tape measure and calculating the distance between the lights on the wall down to the faucet. There should be considerable space between both fixtures, and the cabinet should be a few feet higher than the top of the toilet.
The last is the depth which is solely decided by the homeowner and will depend on how much usable space they want. This will extend from the wall.
Visit our guide to shower niche sizes for more related content.