Bathroom Medicine Cabinet

[rhood]

We want to install a wider medicine cabinet. Our current one is recessed between the studs. I am guessing that the studs are metal and I would have to cut one to make a wider hole for the new cabinet. Has anyone done that? Thanks

[LuvtheVillages]

Why risk the integrity of the wall. Install a second medicine cabinet.

[retiredguy123]

I don't think it would be a problem. It's not load bearing.

[davem4616]

I've replaced medicine cabinets...but only with the same dimensions

if you want a larger cabinet, give consideration to purchasing a medicine cabinet that isn't recessed...with luck it may completely cover over the hole where the original cabinet was and you won't have to sheet rock

the recessed cabinets are usually secured to the studs on either side...you remove one and you'll have to figure out how to secure that side

you'll be able to secure the new cabinet to the studs that are behind the sheet rock

[coffeebean]

We had a contractor remove the medicine cabinet which was to the left of the sink in our hall bathroom with no compromise to the integrity of the wall.

We also had the contractor install a wider medicine cabinet in the wall behind the sink so now when standing at the sink you can look directly into the mirror. We wanted the medicine cabinet to be recessed in the wall. That posed a bit of a problem because a vent pipe was behind the wall where the medicine had to be. No problem though. Our plumber re-routed the vent pipe around the medicine cabinet. That wall does not have the integrity compromised either.

[villagetinker]

Drywall is not structural so eliminating the stud by cutting through it will affect the integrity of the wall. As noted above you will not have the normal points to mount the medicine cabinet, and attempts to use the drywall for mounting will probably fail over time. To do this correctly (IMHO) you would need to cutout the stud, add new horizontal pieces that would be connected to the existing vertical studs and to the cut stud both above and below the location of the new medicine cabinet. then you would need to add 1 or 2 new vertical studs the the horizontal ones to support the cabinet, at least this is what I would do.
good luck with your project.

[MSchad]

To add to the above. If yours has an outlet or switches below it like ours, you may have to reroute electrical wires.

[retiredguy123]

I would remove the existing medicine cabinet to see what is behind it. Mine is only secured by two small screws on each side. Easy to remove. There are lots of ways to secure the new cabinet to the wall, and it doesn't take much strength to make it secure. You may even be able to use drywall anchors through the back of the cabinet, depending on what is on the wall behind the cabinet. My medicine cabinets have a sheet of drywall behind the cabinet with a dead space behind the drywall. But, you won't know what is possible until you remove the cabinet. Hopefully, you won't be storing gold bars in the medicine cabinet.

[thelegges]

I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded that meds should not be kept in a damp environment. Especially bathroom even in a Medicine cabinet. Ours are stored in our closet in a drawer built just for meds. Only thing I keep in the Medicine cabinets is toothpaste, and 2x2s

[crash]

We want to install a wider medicine cabinet. Our current one is recessed between the studs. I am guessing that the studs are metal and I would have to cut one to make a wider hole for the new cabinet. Has anyone done that? Thanks

It is not a problem, think a window they just use headers.

[MandoMan]

We want to install a wider medicine cabinet. Our current one is recessed between the studs. I am guessing that the studs are metal and I would have to cut one to make a wider hole for the new cabinet. Has anyone done that? Thanks

I faced this when rebuilding the bathroom of my home in Pennsylvania. The medicine cabinet was on a non-load-bearing wall about ten feet high, leaving about 18” above the proposed changes. Furthermore, the wall behind this was not drywall, but 3/4” planks, tongue and groove, nailed to the studs and the top plate and bottom plate. There were no wires to deal with that weren’t easy to change.

I wanted to install a six foot length of cherry kitchen cabinets, three feet high and a foot deep! (One 48” x 36” unit with 24” doors and one 24” x 36” unit with 12” doors.) Imagine all that space! In this special case, I was able to cut out the studs because the wall behind was strong enough to handle the minor weight (it wasn’t cut). I installed a horizontal 2x4 above where the cabinets would go and screwed the horizontal tongue-and-groove boards to it. I put in another horizontal 2x4 below and attached it the same way. Then I slid the cabinets into the opening 4” and leveled them, screwed them together, and screwed them into the studs and header. This is much sturdier than the way we install cabinets in kitchens. The result sticks out from the wall eight inches, making it much easier to see myself in the mirror without having to bend over the countertop. I’ve attached a photo, taken from my extra-long bathtub while taking a bath.

As for your case, we need more information. My house at The Villages has one bathroom where the mirror above the sink is on a load-bearing exterior wall. While it may be possible to replace some studs with a horizontal header and a plate below the new cabinet, that means your new cabinet is pressing against an outside wall (Is it Styrofoam? Plywood? Oriented strand board?) If your load-bearing wall is concrete block, then the studs inside it to which the drywall is screwed are not load-bearing, and they can be cut and held with a small horizontal header. However, that means no insulation on that outside wall.

If you have an inside wall, the insulation is not a factor. I don’t know if any of the interior walls in The Villages are load-bearing. The roof trusses may just bear on the outside walls. Even if they are load-bearing, studs can be cut, so long as you install properly-sized horizontal headers. This is just like putting in a window or a doorway. Your cabinet would then press against the drywall on the back side of the wall. This is not all that hard for a carpenter to do. You could then install flush-mounted cabinets or some that stick out, like mine. They would need studs or something similar on each side to which to screw the cabinets. Another possibility would be to screw 3/4” plywood to the wall on the other side, whether on top of the drywall or after removing it (then replacing it with more drywall). Studs screwed to plywood are much sturdier than studs screwed to drywall.

My belief is that all bathrooms should have very large medicine cabinets and extra-quiet Panasonic exhaust fans that suck 100 cubic feet per minute. I don’t ever want humid bathrooms.

[oneclickplus]

We want to install a wider medicine cabinet. Our current one is recessed between the studs. I am guessing that the studs are metal and I would have to cut one to make a wider hole for the new cabinet. Has anyone done that? Thanks

Maybe cut back on medicines ??

[Pdesensi]

Replace the large mirror in the bathroom with two smaller mirrors and build a cabinet in between however big you would like it. I absolutely hate that extremely large mirror in bathrooms I have replaced it in my other home and it looks so much warmer and stylish.

[Marshaw]

Put a small cabinet over the toilet.

[Hape2Bhr]

Anyone else remember the used razor blade slot in medicine cabinets?

[retiredguy123]

Anyone else remember the used razor blade slot in medicine cabinets?
I remember them. Does that make me old?

[Hape2Bhr]

I remember them. Does that make me old?

Not in my book.

[Carla B]

Another idea: If your commode is in a little room by itself, you could build a recessed cabinet in the wall opposite. That's what my husband did, built it from plywood and ordered door/trim to match the rest of the cabinets. It is 4" deep, about 32" high and has six shelves. Stores meds and a few rolls of TP.