LED Mirrors

An LED mirror puts the light where you actually need it — on your face, from the front — instead of relying on a ceiling batten that throws shadows down from above. That is the whole argument for them, and it is why they have largely replaced the mirror-plus-downlight arrangement in new bathrooms.

Sizes here start around 45cm for a powder room or a narrow ensuite wall and run to 180cm for a double vanity. The most-used range is 70cm to 100cm wide, which suits a single 900mm vanity. Shapes cover rectangular, round, oval, square, arched, and the cut moon and crescent shapes with one flat edge, in left and right-hand versions so the flat side can face the wall or the shower.

What to look for in an LED bathroom mirror

• Backlit or frosted front-lit. Backlit throws a halo behind the glass and lights the room. Front-lit through a frosted band puts light directly onto your face, which is what you want for shaving or makeup. Several models here do both.
• Dimmable. Lets you drop it right down at night rather than being woken up by it.
• Demister. A heated pad behind the glass that keeps a patch clear while the shower is running.
• Touch sensor. No switch to wire in beside the mirror, though the mirror itself still needs a power point behind it.
• Frame or frameless. Frameless suits a modern bathroom; the gold and black aluminium framed models sit better in a room with strong colour or older detailing.

Nearly all of these need a power supply behind the mirror, so it is worth deciding on one before the electrician does the rough-in. Measure the wall first — the mirror wants to be no wider than the vanity below it, and centred on the basin rather than the cabinet if the two do not line up.

The rest of the range, including the plain framed and frameless mirrors, is in Bathroom Mirrors, and the vanities to sit them above are in Bathroom Vanities. Builders Warehouse Online delivers Australia-wide.