A twelve-inch kitchen box and a twelve-inch bathroom box, priced against each other
Reviewed September 2026 · Captivating Cabinets
Twelve inches is the first width the catalog builds for both rooms, which makes it the first width where a shopper has to choose a department before they can choose a cabinet. The two families look interchangeable on a list. They are not the same box, they are not the same size, and the pricing between them is stranger than anyone expects.
The same width in two departments
A kitchen base is 24″ deep and 34½″ tall. A vanity base is 21″ deep and 34″ tall — shallower and a touch lower, because a bathroom counter sits differently and a 24″-deep box eats a small room. Less timber, less veneer, less shelf. You would expect a lower price. Mostly you get an identical one.
| Configuration | Kitchen code | Bathroom code | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-height single door | GN B12FD — $328.25 | GN VB12FD — $328.25 | None |
| Drawer over door | GN B12 — $364.00 | GN VB12-34 — $364.00 | None |
| Drawer bank | GN DB12 — $617.50 | GN VDB12-34 — $601.25 | $16.25 to the bathroom |
| Shallow build | GN B12FD-12D — $321.75 | Not offered | — |
| Run turn | GN BTL12 / BTR12 — $419.25 | Not offered | — |
| Waste pull-out | Not offered at 12″ | GN VGO12FD BLUM — $1,556.75 | — |
The reason the prices match is that the face is doing most of the work. A door and its hinges are roughly a third of any base cabinet ticket, and the face on a 12″ vanity is the same size as the face on a 12″ base. Trimming three inches off the depth removes far less cost than the shallower box looks like it should.
Which one you actually want
Buy from the vanity list when the box will sit next to a sink cabinet on a bathroom wall, because 21″ deep keeps a small room walkable and the 34″ height lines up with the neighbouring vanity. Buy from the base list when the top has to come out flush with a kitchen counter, in a laundry, a mudroom or a bar.
The two kitchen-only codes are the ones people forget. GN BTL12 and GN BTR12, both $419.25, turn a base run through an angle instead of ending it square — and they are hand-specific, so the wrong letter puts the finished side against the wall. There is no equivalent in the bathroom list.
Fourteen wall boxes, and none of them for a bathroom
The upper list is the busiest department at this width. Six single-door boxes from $172.25 at 15″ high to $302.25 at 42″; four angled wall ends, GN WAE1230 through WAE1242, $279.50 to $364.00; and four open-end units, GN OE1230 through OE1242, $364.00 to $455.00. All of them 12″ deep.
The two end families are what stop an upper run dying into a doorway with a raw side showing. The angled version tapers; the open version turns the last bay into shelves. Either reads as a deliberate finish. A bare panel does not. Nothing in the bathroom list goes on a wall at this width, so a mirror cabinet or a bathroom upper has to come from somewhere else.
What 12 inches does not have
No tall cabinet — pantries start at 15″. No glass front; the GNK GDW fronts begin at 15″ too. No hood, no lazy susan, no sink base in either room. If your plan has a 12″ sink cabinet in it, the plan needs redrawing: the narrowest sink base is 21″ in the kitchen and 21″ in the bathroom.
The three Blum organizers sized to this box run $919.75 to $1,205.75, which is two to three times the cabinet. Same argument as every narrow width — worth it within arm’s reach of the work zone, hard to defend anywhere else.
Common questions
- Is a bathroom vanity cabinet cheaper than a kitchen cabinet of the same width?
- Usually not. At 12 inches the full-height-door and drawer-over-door versions display at exactly the same price in both departments — $328.25 and $364.00 — and only the drawer bank is cheaper on the bathroom side, by $16.25.
- How deep is a vanity base compared with a kitchen base?
- Twenty-one inches deep and 34 inches tall, against 24 inches deep and 34½ inches tall for the kitchen box. The three inches matter in a small bathroom and the half inch matters where the two rooms meet.
- What is a return angle base cabinet?
- A base built to turn a run through an angle rather than stop it square. GN BTL12 and GN BTR12 both display at $419.25 and are hand-specific — decide which way the run turns before the order goes in.
- Can I get a 12 inch pantry cabinet?
- No. Tall cabinets in this collection start at 15 inches wide. What you can get is a 12-inch-DEEP pantry, which is a different thing and often the more useful one on a tight wall.
- What are the 12 inch wall cabinet prices?
- Six single-door heights from $172.25 to $302.25, four angled ends from $279.50 to $364.00, and four open ends from $364.00 to $455.00. Every one is 12 inches deep.
Keep reading
The guides behind the numbers on this page.
- Fabuwood bathroom vanities: sizes, styles and buying guide
How the vanity grid is laid out, and where a narrow drawer tower belongs beside a sink cabinet.
- Kitchen cabinet terminology glossary
Look up “return angle”, “wall end” and “full-height door” before signing off a drawing that uses them.
- Wall and tall cabinet sizes and buying guide
The depth question answered properly, including why every upper in the line is 12 inches deep.
- Dovetail drawers and cabinet quality
What sits behind the drawer premium, and how to spot a drawer box that is not what it claims.
- Important kitchen dimensions before buying cabinets
Counter heights, clearances and the half-inch that separates a kitchen base from a vanity.
- Gray kitchen cabinets: finding the right shade
Useful if the same finish is running through both rooms, which is where this width usually turns up twice.