Under-sink cabinet

I asked carpenters in Berlin about 5 years ago what a 2x2m room divider shelf (so mechanically simple, no drawers or doors), painted white, would cost. Of five, only two responded and the range was from 3,000 to 8,000 EUR. Then I went to a well-known online furniture retailer: 600 EUR on sale. Yes, not painted, but even if you double that cost, I’m still at just under a third. I don’t understand who is supposed to afford this here. Berlin has caught up a lot, but salary-wise it’s not exactly the land of milk and honey in the republic. On the cost side, however, it’s catching up really hard.

It was just confusing to hear many, many opinions

I don’t think there are that many different opinions at all, maybe you should just sort them according to what you can/want to afford. Should it be rather practical/affordable but still stylish, then you need a bit more imagination and maybe also more flexibility or your wife. Because if you want it - exactly LIKE THAT - then it might just cost more money and you ask the kitchen builder/carpenter. Or… you put in a bit more effort yourself, then you don’t take this sink and buy any at the hardware store/Ikea/shop with a flat bottom that you can just place wherever you want; there were a few nice ideas about this here as well. In my opinion, it would be nonsense if you take this rather cheap sink with these curves at the bottom edge and then spend crazy amounts of money to exactly match these curves with the cabinet and spend money on that. You can go to as many furniture stores as you want or, even worse, memorize Pinterest, that will only make you more confused. The easiest thing is to find a nice sink somewhere that you can place on a board and share it here and then you’ll find nice and affordable ways to implement it.

I don't think there are that many different opinions, maybe you should just sort out what you can/want to afford. If it should be practical/affordable but still stylish, then you need a bit more imagination and maybe more flexibility or your wife. Because if you want it exactly LIKE THAT, then it might cost more money and you ask the kitchen builder/carpenter. Or... you get more involved yourself, then you don’t take this sink and buy any with a flat bottom at a hardware store/Ikea/shop that you can just place wherever you want; there were some nice ideas here about that as well. In my opinion, it would be nonsense if you take this rather cheap sink with those rounded edges at the bottom and then spend a lot of money to exactly tailor these curves to match the cabinet and spend money on that. You can go to as many furniture stores as you want or, worse, memorize Pinterest, it will only make you more confused. Just find a nice sink somewhere that you can put on a board and share it here, and then you will find nice and affordable ways to implement it.

yeah, I already understand what you mean. No, I’m not taking a washbasin that is rounded at the bottom but square washbasins.. yeah, I have to think about it again, thanks for your efforts!

Ikea has vanity units that fit pretty much universally. And even cheap.

Vanity units were also one of our biggest problems. We didn’t like anything from BU. Furniture through BU would have been super expensive as well. In the end, we went with Godmorgon from IKEA, I find them top quality and especially great value for money. So far, we are very impressed with them.

I’ve attached 2 pictures for you (they are still from the construction phase, don’t be surprised)

Base cabinets are actually as common as sand on the beach. We have the standard from the ICON series and in the guest bathroom, matching in almost the same color tone, one from Badicum. They send free wood samples and everything was great. The mirror cabinet is from Designbaeder, who also have base cabinets. There are quite a few more on the market that manufacture custom base cabinets. However, you have to expect prices between 300-600€.

I don’t understand the problem either. There is the Gormogan, as already mentioned, I really like the basins, the cabinet is just the usual cheap IKEA stuff, I have one too, looks okay. When you have more money again, you can buy something else. So I have cheap and expensive (carpenter solution). You find it all great at the beginning, after a while you get used to the look and in the end it’s just a bathroom and not the wellness centre of an Italian villa with a view of the olive and lemon trees.

Otherwise a board or some kind of base cabinet, a shallow countertop basin (just one hole in the board for the drain and one for a tap), done. There are x options upwards.