Vanity Tops

Vanity Tops and Countertops

A vanity top has a harder life than any other surface in the house except the kitchen counter. It gets hot water, toothpaste, makeup remover, hairspray and the occasional dropped bottle, several times a day, for years. That is why the tops here are 3cm quartz and composite stone rather than laminate or cultured marble, and why they come with the sink already cut and set.

Widths run from 15 inches for a narrow powder room cabinet through the common 24, 30, 36 and 48 inch sizes to 60 and 72 inch tops with two sinks. Depths match the cabinets they belong to, and the eased edge profile keeps the front corner soft enough to lean against. If you are replacing a top on an existing cabinet, measure the cabinet body rather than the old top, because most tops overhang the box by around half an inch on each side.

Quartz, and what the colours actually are

Engineered quartz is ground stone bound in resin, pressed into a slab. It does not need sealing, it does not etch the way marble does when acid touches it, and the pattern is consistent from one end of the slab to the other, which matters when a top is only 30 inches wide and a wild vein would look like a mistake. The Eternal and Ethereal ranges give you marble looking veining, Charcoal Soapstone reads dark and matte, and the plain whites and greys sit quietly under a busy tile wall.

• 3cm thickness with an eased front edge
• White porcelain rectangular sinks included on most sizes
• Single sink cutouts up to 48 inches, double sink layouts from 60 inches
• Faucet holes drilled for a standard single hole or three hole spread
• No sealing required, unlike natural marble or limestone

Pairing a top with a cabinet

Every James Martin vanity on this site is sold as a cabinet with a countertop choice, so if you are buying both together you do not need a separate top at all: you pick the surface on the product page. The tops sold here on their own are for people replacing a damaged surface, upgrading a builder grade top on a cabinet they already own, or finishing a vanity cabinet that was bought bare.

Backsplashes and side splashes

A backsplash cut from the same slab protects the drywall behind the faucet and hides the joint between the top and an uneven wall. We carry vanity backsplashes in the same colours and widths, so the two arrive matching. If you would rather run tile up the wall instead, the marble and mosaic ranges give you a way to make that wall the feature of the room.

Tops are heavy, and they ship on a freight pallet with the sink already installed. Delivery is curbside, so plan on two people to carry the piece inside.