A Bowl, A Basin, A Vessel

Here's another tale from the Florida home I just purchased. A 1973 ranch that's been nicely updated over time, there's one update I'm not particularly fond of. It's in the primary bathroom which still has its original tile and a strange step-down shower, but that's not the part that bugs me — at least not nearly as much as the vessel sink somebody plopped on top of a not-great vanity cabinet. Vessel sinks — so artistic, so opulent looking, so noticeable. This one is a large, faceted green glass bowl. It actually is a beautiful bowl. Like something you'd have in the center of a table or on a pedestal in front of a window to really illuminate it. I think it must have been handcrafted by an artisan. It just has that look. Well, somebody thought it was a good idea to drill a hole in the bottom of it and turn it into a sink. Let's count the ways it irritates me. First it sits higher than your typical recessed lavatory. I'm constantly knocking my knuckles into it since it occupies the space your hands typically would pass through to turn on the faucet. When I want to wash my face, I have to see-saw my arms across its rim to cup the water and then splash on my face. It kind of digs into my forearms. Then, there's the sound it makes. Think about how much tapping of implements you do in your bathroom sink. To wet my comb, I run it under the water and then tap excess out. I tap my razor under the stream to clean the shaving cream off. After I brush my teeth, I tap my rinsed toothbrush to get rid of the water in the bristles. Well, imagine it sounding like a cross between a gong and a church bell peeling every time you tap! Bong, bong, bong!! I looked up when vessel sinks became a thing. If I'd given it a bit more thought I might have figured it out on my own. Hollowed out rocks and crude stone basins that the earliest civilizations implemented were actually the first vessel sinks. Vessel sinks are much older than those lovely undermount models we use every day. In the 18th and 19th centuries, dry sinks were essentially a (non-plumbed) cabinet that a basin was placed on for washing our bodies, a direct predecessor to today's vessels. Contemporary vessel sinks started to appear in the 1980s as high design elements — intentional statement making in the décor world. They grew in popularity up into the early '90s and then waned. In the past 10 years, they've made a comeback, particularly in boutique hotels and artistic bathrooms. The styles have evolved as well. There's still the art glass bowls but there's flat-bottomed shallow styles and concrete or copper free-form shapes amongst many other configurations. I think I might appreciate a vessel sink more in a spa or some type of yoga serenity retreat. In my own bathroom, I prefer simple, clean lines and lots of bright light. A recessed sink is also so much easier to keep clean. What might be lurking behind that big bowl? One last thing. To go along with the vessel sink, the faucet is one of those open-spout wide things that when you turn the handle, a veritable river comes rushing out and splashing into the bowl. It's like a miniature Niagara Falls in the bathroom. It's also noisy. I'm guessing it's the velocity of the water that makes a sound come up through the pipes, something akin to opening a lock on the Panama Canal. Who knows? Maybe the vessel sink and its trough-like faucet will grow on me. I've got a bit of time before a bathroom remodel will be on the calendar.