Dressers with Mirrors

What is a dresser with a mirror called?

It is usually sold as a dresser and mirror set, or a bureau with mirror in older usage. It is not a vanity: a vanity has a knee hole so you sit at it, while a dresser with mirror has full depth drawers across the whole width and you stand at it. A dressing table is the sit-down version too. If you want to sit, you want a vanity.

A mirror included, not a mirrored finish

These are two different products that sound alike. A dresser with mirror ships a separate mirror alongside the chest. A mirrored dresser is a chest whose own surfaces are faced in mirror glass, and it comes with no mirror at all. Everything in this collection is the first kind: the mirror is a separate included piece with its own dimensions.

How the mirror attaches

Two arrangements are used here. Most rest the mirror on the dresser top and secure it with a bracket or support posts screwed to the back of the carcass, so the two travel as one piece once assembled. Others are meant to hang on the wall above the dresser, which suits a room where you may later move the chest. Check which before deciding where it goes.

What size are they?

The dressers are 54 to 64 inches wide, 17 to 19 inches deep and 35 to 41 inches high. Add the mirror on top and the combined height reaches well past six feet on the larger sets, so measure the wall to the ceiling, not just the floor to the dresser. Mirrors in this collection run from about 34 to 46 inches wide.

Why buy them together?

Finish matching is the real reason. Wood stains vary between production runs, so a mirror bought separately months later rarely matches a dresser exactly, and the mismatch is obvious because the two pieces sit touching. Buying the set removes that risk, and the mirror is scaled to the chest rather than being slightly too wide or too small for it.

What are they made from?

Every dresser in this collection carries solid wood construction, with engineered wood and metal used on some components. Finishes run to oak, walnut and espresso. Solid wood matters on this pairing more than most, because the mirror bracket screws into the back of the carcass and carries the mirror's weight every time the piece is moved. Construction: engineered wood and MDF on select models.

How do you anchor and place one?

Fit the anti-tip bracket into a wall stud before loading the drawers. A dresser carrying a mirror is more top heavy than the same chest alone, which changes the tipping calculation, and the mirror adds glass to anything that falls. Keep the set out of direct sun where possible, since sustained light on one side will fade the finish unevenly and the mismatch will show at the join.