Full-height Medicine Cabinet

A classic medicine chest is a great storage solution for several reasons. First, it keeps your stuff right where you need it, near the sink. Second, its multiple shallow shelves store small items in plain view, so there’s no digging around for everyday necessities. Built-in medicine cabinets are recessed into the wall, minimizing the use of precious room space. And finally, most medicine chests serve a dual purpose in the bathroom by having mirrored doors.

Indeed, the basic medicine chest design leaves little room for improvement. That’s why the bathroom cabinet in this project takes the same great features and simply makes more of them. This built-in cabinet has a 3-1/2"-deep storage space yet projects only 3/4" from the wall (not counting the overhead crown molding). Inside, it’s loaded with adjustable shelves, so it can hold not only prescription bottles and toiletries, but also taller things like shampoo bottles and cleaning supplies. And the cabinet’s door is tall enough to accommodate a full-length mirror—a great convenience feature for any bathroom.

The box of this medicine cabinet is sized to fit into a standard 14-1/2"-wide space between wall studs. With the drywall cut away, the box slips into place and mounts directly to the studs. Then you trim out the cabinet to fit the style of your bathroom. The traditional molding treatment shown here is only one way to do it; you can add any type of molding and extras you like using the same techniques. Another option is to build a similar cabinet that mounts to the surface of the wall, as shown in the Variation on page 71. With this design, you’re not limited by the width and depth of a stud cavity, but the cabinet does occupy a small amount of floor space.