The Trend I'm Over... This Week

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Let's talk about vessel sinks

Vessel sinks - those bowl-shaped basins perched on top of the counter like a decorative fruit bowl that occasionally has water in it.

I get the appeal on paper. They look sculptural. They read as "I have a design point of view." Every renovation show and Pinterest board acts like plopping a glass or stone bowl on a vanity instantly makes your bathroom feel like a boutique hotel. And sure, for about five minutes after installation, it does. Then you actually use the thing.

The rim height is never right. Vessel sinks sit several inches above the counter, which means the faucet has to be taller, which means you're now shopping a completely different (and pricier) category of faucet just to make the water land inside the bowl instead of two inches short of it. Get the proportions even slightly wrong and you're basically playing bathroom horseshoes every morning.

Then there's the splashing. Water hits a shallow, sloped bowl instead of a deep basin, and it goes everywhere — down the sides, onto the counter, onto the floor, onto whatever's foolish enough to be sitting on the vanity. I've stayed in enough Airbnbs with vessel sinks to know this isn't a me problem. It's a physics problem.

Cleaning is its own special punishment. That ring where the sink meets the counter collects grime, toothpaste flecks, and hard water stains, and no amount of wiping ever makes it look fully clean. It's a crevice that exists purely to mock you.

And can we talk about how impractical they are for actual humans? Kids can't reach them without a step stool. Anyone leaning in to wash their face is basically doing a limbo move to avoid smacking their forehead on the wall-mounted mirror that's now positioned for someone six inches taller. Function took a back seat to a look, and the look wasn't even worth it.

I think what really gets me is the resale reality: vessel sinks are one of those trends that ages a bathroom fast. In five years they'll read the way those vessel-sink-plus-vessel-faucet combos from 2012 read now — dated, fussy, a little try-hard. Meanwhile a simple undermount sink just quietly works, forever, for everyone.

So that's it. That's my case. Vessel sinks are pretty in photos and annoying in real life, and this week, I am thoroughly over them.

What's on your "over it" list? Comment and let me know — I might feature it next week!