Ask any interior designer what their white whales are when renovating a home, and you will likely hear them grumble about the lack of design-friendly cabinetry options in the bathroom—though things are changing. The humble medicine cabinet is experiencing a bit of a glow-up these days, according to experts, and is serving as the centerpiece for contemporary bathrooms.
DuVäl Reynolds, founder of DuVäl Design in Fairfax, Virginia, says the problem with traditional medicine cabinets is that the “builder-basic” models, which are commonplace among landlord renovations and new builds, haven’t progressed style-wise at the same pace as their surroundings. “Once bathrooms started to shift toward cleaner lines, floating vanities, and oversized modern mirrors, those old-school cabinets just didn’t fit the look,” he says. “Some started gravitating toward minimal spa-like spaces, and anything that felt clunky—or reminded us of a ’90s rental—got phased out.”
The experts I spoke with mention that the transition to more aesthetic ready-to-order options started happening within the last five years, ushering in more ’70s-influenced silhouettes, colorful trims, and streamlined designs. Jill Siegel, chief inspiration officer at Lavish Kitchen + Bath in Austin, says this “new generation of medicine cabinets—particularly recessed versions—brings order to all the small essentials without disrupting the design.”
New York City–based designer Josh Greene knows the struggle of finding a beautiful medicine cabinet all too well, which is why he decided to create a line of his own in 2021. He noticed that his best options in this genre were either really high-end pieces with uninspiring finishes, like polished nickel, or custom-making his own cabinets for clients that felt better suited to the spaces he was designing. Even when retailers started offering more ready-made alternatives, he felt that many of the more affordable metal builds fell flat.
After finding a pipe in the wall above the sink in his old bathroom and a lack of handsome wood finishes on the market, he decided to design his own geometric iterations with different mount options, all in a host of solid wood materials. “When I launched, I came out with 12 different frame profiles because I wanted to give the design trade ultimate flexibility [and] I didn’t want them to look the same in each bathroom,” he says. His timber-and-oak Sento medicine cabinet, which mirrors the look of an antique picture frame, is one of his most popular, though the full line includes intricately carved designs like the Sutro and Redondo, which Greene describes as having “presence without being too loud” against soft goods or tile.
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