Standard mirror cabinets look like the simplest line on a bathroom schedule. It is a mirrored box above a basin, so it tends to get specified late, in passing, with a note that reads "mirror cabinet to vanity width." Then the drawings reach production and the questions start: which side does the door hang on, where does the supply cable land, what happens at the tile line, and who is responsible for the solid backing behind the wall finish. Our version is made to measure for each project, with finish and layout chosen per job — which means nearly every one of those details is a decision rather than a default you can leave open. That is precisely why the designer and the buyer need to agree on them before an order is raised.

Where the two roles start talking past each other

Designers work in elevations. They read the cabinet as part of a composition: how it sits against a wall finish, how its edge lines up with a vanity or niche, how much clear glass is left for a reflection. Buyers and procurement teams work in schedules: item code, quantity, unit rate, delivery date, who installs it. Neither view is wrong. The trouble appears in the gap between them, because a cabinet that reads correctly on an elevation can still be unbuildable, unsafe or awkward to use once somebody has to wire it, hang it and open its door every morning.

The fix is not more email later. It is one short alignment session at specification stage, before the schedule is frozen, covering six points: size and clearances, construction and finish, storage layout, lighting and electrical, fixing and substrate, and handover documentation. Here is what each of them actually demands from both sides.

1. Size, and the clearances nobody drew

Width gets agreed almost automatically: match the vanity, or centre on it. Depth, height and door swing are where projects get caught out.

• Projection versus head height. A cabinet that sits proud of the front edge of the basin will be struck by a standing person. Check the projection against vanity depth and counter-to-floor level, not just the drawing.
• Door swing versus neighbours. Hinged doors need clearance from an adjacent wall, mirror, shower screen or towel rail. Where space is tight, the layout has to change. Our mirrored wardrobe range is built in both hinged and sliding mirrored door formats, and the same test — how much clear space does the opening mechanism need — applies to a bathroom cabinet.
• Internal shelf heights. Tall bottles, hair tools and a first-aid box occupy different heights. Adjustable shelving gives you tolerance; fixed shelving assumes somebody measured the actual items.
• Clear mirror zone. A unit hung too low, or with a frame that eats into the reflective area, fails at its main job. Agree the height of the clear glass band and who checks it against user heights.

Because this cabinet is made to measure, sizing does not have to be rounded to a stock increment. That freedom only helps if the dimensions handed over are finished dimensions — taken from coordinated drawings or from site, with tile build-up and board thickness already accounted for.

2. Construction and finish, recorded in writing

Bathrooms are humid rooms used several times a day, and mirror cabinets sit closer to showers and basins than almost any other joinery item on the schedule. Two things need explicit agreement:

• Board, edge and finish selection. Our product listing offers material and finish options rather than one fixed build, so the choice has to appear on the order. A finish that photographs well in a showroom is not automatically correct beside a shower enclosure — ask which finishes are offered for bathroom service and confirm them against a physical sample.
• Mirror quality and edge treatment. Silvering quality, edge polishing and how the glass is fixed to the carcass decide whether the reflective surface stays clear in a room that steams several times a day. Ask what is used, and inspect a sample before signing off volume.

A useful discipline: buyers should not accept "as per elevation" as a specification, and designers should not accept a material code that arrives without a signed sample attached. Both parties sign the same finish sheet.

3. Storage layout, driven by who uses the room

In residential work the users are known. A family bathroom needs everyday items out of sight; an ensuite usually wants fewer shelves and more clear mirror; a guest powder room may need very little storage at all. Specify from use, not from symmetry on the drawing.

Where a bathroom is genuinely short of storage, going wider is not always the answer. The Mirror Cabinets collection also includes a tall mirror cabinet, for jobs where vertical storage in a wall cavity does more work than a wide unit over the basin, and a round mirror cabinet where a softer shape suits a narrow washbasin. Raising those options at specification stage avoids the moment when a wide rectangular box turns out to be the wrong object for that wall.

4. Lighting and electrical, before first fix

This is the item most often decided too late. If an illuminated cabinet is wanted, the outlet has to exist inside the wall at the right position before tiles go on, and it has to sit clear of the carcass footprint so the cabinet does not land on a back box.

• Outlet position and access. Fix the exact location relative to the finished centre line of the cabinet, and confirm it stays reachable after installation for isolation and maintenance.
• Switching method. Rock switch on the carcass, a wall plate, or a sensor — each has a different coordination requirement with the electrician.
• Driver location. Any transformer or driver needs an accessible home. Sealing it behind a fixed cabinet is a maintenance problem waiting to happen.
• Voltages and installation rules. Electrical work follows the regulations of the country of installation, which are set by the project's electrical engineer and the local authority — not by the cabinet supplier. Assign that responsibility in writing and design the outlet accordingly.

If integrated lighting is preferred to a separate fitting, our LED mirror cabinet covers that configuration. The coordination point is identical: decide before first fix, and confirm lighting and electrical specifications for the individual project.

5. Fixing, substrate and the interface with wall finishes

A mirror cabinet is a heavy, wall-hung object carrying glass. The wall behind it matters more than the cabinet itself.

• Substrate. Solid backing or timber blocking behind plasterboard should appear on the drawings at the fixing line, with level and thickness set before the wall finish is closed up.
• Fixing method and anchors. Tile, stone and waterproofed walls each need a different approach. Agree who selects the fixings — supplier, installer or main contractor — and record it.
• Waterproofing integrity. In wet areas, penetrations through a membrane are a liability. Either route fixings outside the wet zone or have the waterproofing contractor approve each one.
• Interface detail. Decide how the cabinet meets tile, mirror or paint: shadow gap, direct abutment, or trim. An interface nobody agreed becomes an improvisation on site.

6. Documentation, responsibility and handover

The last alignment point is procedural, and it prevents most arguments afterwards: one document set, one revision number, one owner per decision.

• A dimensioned elevation for design intent, plus a shop drawing carrying finished dimensions, door handing, shelf positions and outlet location for production.
• A finish sheet with signed samples for carcass, edges, hardware and mirror.
• A named responsibility line for each of: substrate blocking, electrical first fix, final hanging, and connection to supply.
• A confirmation step before manufacture — dimensions and selected specifications confirmed for the project, because made-to-measure work cannot be corrected once cutting starts.

With those four lines in place, the buyer has something to price and order against and the designer has something that arrives as drawn. Without them, every ambiguity gets resolved on site by whoever happens to be standing there.

A short pre-order checklist

• Finished width, height and projection, with tile build-up included
• Door type, handing, and confirmed clearance to neighbours
• Shelf layout — adjustable or fixed — and what sits on each shelf
• Material and finish selected by signed sample, suitable for bathroom humidity
• Lighting choice, outlet position, switching method, driver access
• Substrate blocking shown on drawings; fixing method agreed with the installer
• Interface detail to wall finishes stated
• Electrical scope assigned to the project engineer, not assumed by the supplier
• Final shop drawing signed before manufacture begins

Why this is easier when one supplier holds the package

Mirror cabinets rarely travel alone. They arrive in the same package as vanities, basins, tapware, storage units and bathroom lighting, and every one of those has a dimensional interface with the cabinet. Coordinating them through a single production and delivery route removes a whole category of disagreement — the kind where two suppliers each worked to their own drawing and the site is left to reconcile them. That is how our bathroom sanitary fixtures work is organised, together with custom and OEM manufacturing where a project needs a non-standard size or finish, and logistics and door-to-door delivery so the schedule and the container say the same thing. Send us the bathroom elevations and we will return shop drawings of the mirror cabinets for sign-off before anything goes into production.