One sure way to embue a guest bath with style is to install one of the new furniture-like console lavatories. What is a console? A cross between a pedestal lav and a bath vanity. Picture a large pedestal lav basin with table-type legs instead of a pedestal.
Porcher's Bajade is a large, white ceramic lavatory set on chrome legs; two cross bars double as towel racks. It runs from $1700 to $1800. The high-end Spoleto Vanity by Hastings ($4775 to $5330 list price) has a white Carrara marble top, china undermount basin and chrome or gold leg stand--a corner version is available, too. Though most consoles provide little or no hidden storage, Kohler's Revival console table, starting at $860 (not including fixtures), offers an optional fabric skirting attachment.
Consoles are in keeping with the hottest trend today: lavatories that look
like furniture. Watercolors offers wonderfully avante-garde European imports
that, as owner Joyce Blum puts it, "are more like furniture than a
sink." She adds, "We try to do things that nobody else does."
Among both quirky and striking offerings, they have intricately curved wrought
iron frames, finished in a variety of tones. These support china--or even
terra cotta--surfaces and bowls that have been given beautifully-glazed
finishes. How pricey? According to Blum, "We are upper middle to high
end, about $1200 and up."
--Don Vandervort
