Illuminated Mirror Cabinet with a Shaver Socket in Matt White

An illuminated mirror cabinet: a dual voltage shaver socket to BS EN 61558-2-5 inside the cabinet, which is where it should be rather than on the wall beside it.

Bathroom lighting is the one part of a house where getting it wrong is a safety matter rather than a taste matter, and it is sold almost entirely on photographs. Every listing here states the zone the fitting may be installed in, the IP rating with both digits explained, the colour rendering index, the lumen output and the efficacy in lumens per circuit watt. If a fitting is not suitable above a bath we say so on the page you are buying it from. If a mirror is backlit and will not light your face, we say that too.

Specification

• Zone: zone 2 and outside the zones. Zone 2 is the 600mm band beyond zone 1 and the 600mm radius around a washbasin tap. It is not rated for zone 1, which means not directly over the bath
• IP rating: IP44. The first digit, 4, means protected against solid objects over 1mm. The second digit, 4, means protected against splashing water from any direction. It is the minimum for zone 2 and it is not enough for zone 1
• Dimensions: chosen above. Depth 145mm, and the recessed version needs a 105mm cavity
• Light output: 1450 lumens from the front lighting at 82 lumens per circuit watt, which is 320 lux at the face from 400mm and is the figure that matters
• Colour temperature: 4000K neutral white on the front lighting as standard, which is the right temperature for a face, with a tunable option on some models
• Colour rendering: CRI 95, measured, with R9 above 60. R9 is the deep red value and it is the one that decides whether skin looks like skin. Most bathroom fittings quote a CRI in the eighties and do not quote R9 at all, which is how you end up shaving by a light that makes you look ill
• Dimming: not dimmable as standard. A mirror light that dims is a mirror light somebody has left on 20 per cent and then complained about
• Electrical: Class 2, double insulated, hard wired to a fused spur. Not supplied with a plug, because a plug in a bathroom is not lawful
• Fire rating: not applicable to a wall or surface mounted fitting
• Standards: BS EN 60598-2-1, BS EN 1036 for the silvered glass, and BS EN 12150 for the toughened substrate. Every mirror is safety backed so it holds together if it is broken, plus BS EN 61558-2-5 for the isolating transformer, which is the standard that makes a shaver socket safe in a bathroom
• Weight: approximately 27.6 kilograms
• Guarantee: five years on the fitting and the LED module, two years on the driver
• Finish: a powder coated matt white that disappears into a ceiling, and the cheapest honest finish we stock
• Demister pad: not fitted on this model
• Carcass: aluminium, not MDF. An MDF bathroom cabinet swells at the bottom edge within five years and there is no repairing it
• Mirror: 4mm silvered float glass, safety backed to BS EN 1036
• Mounting: surface mounted on a French cleat, which is a great deal easier to get level than four screws

What arrives

• the cabinet, assembled
• the French cleat or the recessing frame
• fixings for masonry and for stud
• a paper drilling template
• the electrical connection block and gland
• installation instructions

Installation

A registered electrician for the connection, and two people for the lift. Electrical work in a room containing a bath or a shower is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations in England and Wales. That means it has to be done by a registered electrician or signed off by building control. Replacing a like for like fitting on an existing circuit is not notifiable. Adding a new circuit, a new socket or a new spur is. The cabinet hangs on a French cleat, which means you level one batten rather than four screws, and the recessed version needs its frame in before the plasterboard, so it is a decision made early or not at all.

Choosing between this and the alternatives

The question that decides this purchase is where the light is. Front lit means a lit panel each side of the mirror at face height, and it is the only arrangement that lights a face evenly with no shadow under the eyes and the chin. A backlit mirror throws its light at the wall behind it and returns a halo. It is beautiful and it does not light your face. If this mirror is the only light source at your basin, choose a front lit one instead, or add a light above. Everything on this page is front lit, and where a model also has a backlight it is on a separate switch and described as ambient rather than as task light.