Design help. Return on built-in

[atgcpaul]

I'm remodeling our master bath  To the left of the vanity I'm building will be a makeup counter for my wife.  It will sit a few inches lower than the vanity top.  The wall in that area is recessed 12" where our shower used to be.  I plan on making a desk with a drawer that will fit between the vanity and the wall--no legs.  The counter top will be scribed around the corner since the vanity doesn't extend all the way to the end of that short wall.  I'm planning to make a countertop-to-ceiling built-in that will fit in that 12" recess.

On the right hand side of the built-in, I'm thinking the edge of the built-in will be trimmed out with wood that will wrap around the corner towards the vanity and extend down to fill the 2-3" gap between the short wall and the vanity.

I'm not quite sure what to do on the left hand side since that is just one flat wall.  Maybe make the built-in 2" short of that wall and do a similar return to give it a similar thickness to the right hand side.

I'm also looking for ideas on how to secure the built-in to the wall and not have exposed fasteners.  For a previous built-in, I screwed through the shelf pin holes, but the bottom section of this built-in won't have any of that.  I'm going for a sleek/modern look so the sides will be flat and there won't be molding to hide screws under.  The back (36"x60") will be a sheet of plywood maybe of my own making.  The whole thing will be walnut.  Maybe it's dark enough for me to the wall and hide with colored filler?  I can screw through the back to the studs because a framed mirror will cover the lower section.

Thanks,
Paul

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[Steve N]

It will sit a few inches lower than the vanity top.  

The wall in that area is recessed 12" where our shower used to be.  

I plan on making a desk with a drawer that will fit between the vanity and the wall--no legs.  

The counter top will be scribed around the corner since the vanity doesn't extend all the way to the end of that short wall.  

I'm planning to make a countertop-to-ceiling built-in that will fit in that 12" recess.

On the right hand side of the built-in, I'm thinking the edge of the built-in will be trimmed out with wood that will wrap around the corner towards the vanity and extend down to fill the 2-3" gap between the short wall and the vanity.

I'm not quite sure what to do on the left hand side since that is just one flat wall.  

Maybe make the built-in 2" short of that wall and do a similar return to give it a similar thickness to the right hand side.

I'm also looking for ideas on how to secure the built-in to the wall and not have exposed fasteners.  For a previous built-in, I screwed through the shelf pin holes, but the bottom section of this built-in won't have any of that.  I'm going for a sleek/modern look so the sides will be flat and there won't be molding to hide screws under.  The back (36"x60") will be a sheet of plywood maybe of my own making.  The whole thing will be walnut.  Maybe it's dark enough for me to the wall and hide with colored filler?  I can screw through the back to the studs because a framed mirror will cover the lower section.

Thanks,
Paul

What I am reading here looks like a counter top with a drawer, A small face frame to house the door, can also be used to hide the supports of the top. For mounting it I would screw a ledger board to the walls horizontally, and catch as many studs as I could, and just build up on top of that. Beyond that you are really just describing cabinets which you could place on both sides, and use shelves between them, mount a mirror centered in that space, or fill in however you like.

It seems you are thinking if you do something on one side you must mirror that look for balance, and are concerned about the return. If you feel that balance is important enough, design it in with the drawer bumped out, and trim it back in evenly on both sides. Keep in mind in small spaces like this it isn't uncommon for the return to be where it's needed, and the flat wall just gets the top terminating dead into it. I think if you are looking for sleek, and modern, or causal, country, anything, really the only time I can see the balanced sides being an important design concept is if you want it to be very formal.

[Cooler]

I think I would not make the built in from counter top to ceiling.  I would, instead place a mirror on the counter top and make the built in above the mirror.

This type of mirror:



Another option is to eliminate the drawers and make the mirror as a lift up like this:



I like this because it leaves all the bottles and tubes out in the open when the mirror is up and it is tidy when the mirror is down.  It also discourages anything left on the table top (for a neater looking vanity).

My fear is that the vanity will end up looking like this: