Sink in a drawer

This small-bathroom sink hides in a drawer (presumably it uses a length of flexi-hose for its drains connection). It's a smart space-saving design and it has the additional advantage of making it easy to pour water directly on the floor for cleanup (provided that you've got a floor-drain, of course) -- something common in many countries. Make a Small Bath Look Larger (via Cribcandy)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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gornzilla

I love visiting countries where there’s drains on the floor. It really opens up a bathroom when there’s no shower walls. This is a great idea, as I ignore the naysayers with their “well, what if this were to happen”.
dewexdewex

That layout, with the toilet pan behind the sink, is not practical; the thing would be in and out too much and would fail.

Going for a pee in the middle of the night wouldn’t be much fun if you waltzed into it in the dark.

An arrangement with a small hand basin on the top of the toilet cistern is much more practical: these have been available in Japan for years.

This is just too complicated for its own good.
Lea Hernandez

I like the headline of the next suggestion in the series:

“Better From Behind”

http://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/storage/bathroom/bathroom-storage-ideas/
MT_Head

We visited friends in Russia recently, and I was happy to see some nifty space-saving ideas in apartments there.
Nothing ground-breaking, but I found it pretty cool: the toilet itself is in one small room, and just next to it is the lavatory/tub/shower/laundry room.
One faucet serves both the tub and the sink – it has a long arm and swivels back and forth – and the same faucet has a push-button shower diverter.

Having the tub and toilet in separate chambers solves one problem and creates another: sure, you can use the toilet while your roommate showers, but then there’s no place to wash your hands (except the kitchen sink… ewww.)

I was intrigued enough to take pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mt_head/sets/72157607045663517/
eggman

I would like to see that in solid surface (corian), I imagine a fold back faucet, like a pot filler would complement this type of sink much better, and keep you from wacky your body parts on –
just a thought
jackie31337

The one thing I would like to see in addition to that would be a shower connected to the same pipes and a drain in the floor. Drawer pulled out: sink. Drawer pushed in: shower.

My Finnish ex-in-laws had a similar arrangement in one of their bathrooms. The sink didn’t stow, but it had a pull-out button to turn on the shower and a drain in the floor. The first time I used that bathroom, I wondered what that button did and pulled it while I was washing my hands… The unplanned, clothed shower I got made enough of an impression that I didn’t make that mistake again.
AirPillo

Eww I can just imagine the horrors that might arise from having flexible tubing as a drain.

Just imagine all of the things which could, and would, collect inside those corrugated folds and decay.
bolamig

The big mistake was putting this prototype in a dainty wood floored bathroom. As Cory says, this really only makes sense in a bathroom/shower combo as is quite popular in many countries close to the equator.
jimbuck

That’s cool. But you should see some of the shit I have my drawers.
brynnablue

@ #3 and others:
That is exactly what I was thinking! I saw Mal at his sink, washing his hands like a good boy after taking a leak.
…and then I saw Mal wearing tight, tight pants…
…and then the shots from “Trash” where he was nekkid…
Takuan

arrr! ye be mucking yer trews??
Paul Long

Yucko. That drawer handle is going to be rife with E. coli, but I suppose no more than the faucet handle.
crimeshark

I don’t know a lot of people with 2′ foot thick bathroom walls or that amount of dead space adjoining the bath area. And the arrangement violates just about every plumbing code in my jurisdiction. But somehow, it’s just one of the neatest ideas I’ve ever seen.

I’ll bet that if the sink was shallow aluminum or stainless, you could do something similar by hinging it at the back along the wall. Since drains are not pressurized, you could then rig the sink to flip down and snap into the top of a wall-hugging rigid drain pipe elbow and get around the plumbing codes by using no flexible piping, hosing or retractable fixtures. You’d save almost as much space and cover the wall faucet when the sink was flipped up, solving the whole avoiding turning the faucet on when the sink was pushed in thing.
Takuan

the sink could stow in a two foot hick wall that had storage cabinets on the other side – so no wasted space. Think nested bunk beds (alternating high and low) in separate children’s rooms; a brilliant attic reno I saw in a four-boy family. Shed dormered out gable roof with centered shared bath and four small bedrooms with bunks.
Lots of ways to maximize space, Japan and Scandinavia are exemplars.
mcarrick

How many times, half awake, does one turn on a tap
with the sink still closed, and fill their shorts with cold water?
Wigwam Jones

One of the advantages of being older is I remember when our family’s pop-up camper had this – in 1964 or so. Same for stove and other, uh, necessary items.

Of course, those were tilt-down like a Murphy Bed, because nothing behind the walls but the outside world. I’d suggest some small apartments might have the same issue.

Concept good – and recycled. Nothing new here, but good to see it again.

Another location – look up. Bring the items down on chains, hydraulics, whatever, store up near the ceiling afterwards. Most apartments have some space near the top of rooms, not often in the walls.
Bodhipaksa

Kinda reminds me of the sinks they had in Firefly, although they were more industrial and pivoted out.
RedShirt77

This is great right until someone creates a toilet in a drawer.

Other then coolness what advantage does this have to simply expanding the bath into the pocket in the wall that the Drawer comes out of.
SSKomik

This is also good for Firefly-class transports’ captains’ cabins. It’s pretty cramped in there.
taj

And on the other side of that wall???

Hopefully, another set of taps, so that the one sink can be used in either room. A sink next to the bed might be nice.
iamcantaloupe

Hmmm… looks like a wooden floor there. Floor drain me thinks not.
Takuan

sink-in-a-drawer… Justin Timberlake jingle?
altgrave

@4 i’d hate to see the bathroom fight that would inspire.
Nylund

It would serve as a damn good motivator to fix a leaky faucet, but its definitely a bad idea for houses with small children or smart dogs.
jimh

Well, there is space required in the wall that’s just as deep as the sink, which could be made into an alcove with storage and a vanity mirror. But because I just like things that hide themselves when not in use, so I think it’s super cool and wonderful.
Antinous

Eww I can just imagine the horrors that might arise from having flexible tubing as a drain.

I know someone who has a rotating house. It’s not that big a deal.
celia

The idea that things like this save space make me crazy. They only save space when you’re in a place which has a) limited floor space and b) unlimited wall space. If you’re sliding something into the wall, there has to be enough wall to keep it in, and half the time when I see this used to be ‘futuristic’ it’s clearly not the case at all. Yes, it makes sense in things like Firefly or in canal boats, or other places with limited space, and things to build around in the walls. It makes NO SENSE in the Fifth Element, which is good because otherwise I’d probably want to marry that movie.
Johnny Cat

Yeah, sskomik…this is very Firefly-like design.
LeavingHalfway

@#1 Mcarrick

How many times, half awake, does one turn on a tap
with the sink still closed, and fill their shorts with cold water?

I think about once would do it for me :)
Keneke

Knowing the ease of which a faucet can drip (either by accident or over time with weakening washers) I think this is a bad idea unless there’s also some sort of water re-route directly to the drain upon drawer closing.
michael thorne

What’s on the other side of the wall?

The dead space under a flight of stairs.
Anonymous

evelikesgreen sez: if they had all that space behind the wall for a sink then a nice alcove with deck mount faucet would have solved the problem without all the complicated gadgetry and risk of floor damage. sometimes the most obvious solution is elusive.
bcsizemo

You know it really only solves half the problem. Sure the sink doesn’t take up any space closed, but the faucet still does. I bet it’s great at night to stumble through the dark and jab that faucet right into your side. Or stand up to fast and lean forward, right in the head…

That’d be great to explain to the guys at work on Monday morning. “So how did you get that shiner?” “Oh, I hit my head on the bathroom faucet….” You might as well lie at this point.

perhaps if the faucet was mounted on the sink?
or perhaps if I wasn’t of the mind set, “Well obviously there is something behind that wall. Why not just move the wall?”

Houses are really just lincoln logs and erector sets for adults, much like cars, just bigger and more expensive.