Wash Basin Types Explained: Counter Top, Wall Hung, Pedestal and Bowl

Quick answer: There are five main types: counter top, wall hung, pedestal, half pedestal and bowl. Pick a counter top or bowl basin if you need storage underneath, a wall hung basin for a small bathroom or powder room, a pedestal to hide the plumbing without building anything, and a half pedestal for hidden pipework with a clear floor. Decide the tap and the basin together, because the tap holes are drilled at the factory.

Basins look like the simple part of a bathroom. They are not. The type you choose decides where the plumbing has to go, how much storage you get, and how the bathroom cleans. And unlike a tap, you cannot swap it later without breaking tiles.

We stock around 78 Parryware basins at any time, from roughly ₹936 to ₹23,300 at dealer prices. Here is how the types differ and who each one is for.

Counter top basin

The basin sits on a slab or vanity, like a bowl on a table. The waste drops through the counter and the tap is usually mounted on the counter behind it, or on the wall.

Works when you have or want a vanity unit. You get storage underneath, the counter gives you somewhere to put things down, and the basin itself becomes the visual feature.

Watch for: the counter height. A counter top basin adds its full height on top of the slab. If the slab is at a standard 800mm and the basin is 140mm tall, you are washing at 940mm, which is high for children and uncomfortable for many adults. Drop the slab height when you use one.

Wall hung basin

Bolted directly to the wall, nothing underneath. The plumbing is visible unless you box it in or use a bottle trap that is meant to be seen.

Works when the bathroom is small or a powder room. Clear floor makes a tight space read as larger, and cleaning underneath is trivial.

Watch for: wall strength, same as a wall hung WC. A basin plus a person leaning on it is a real load on a thin partition. And accept that you are giving up storage entirely.

Pedestal basin

The classic. A basin with a matching ceramic column underneath that runs to the floor. The pedestal hides the trap and the supply lines, and helps carry the load.

Works when you want the plumbing hidden without building anything. It is the most forgiving choice in a renovation because the pedestal covers a multitude of sins in the existing pipework.

Watch for: the pedestal is sized to a specific basin. They are sold as a pair for a reason: the height of the column sets the height of the basin, and you cannot mix them freely across series.

Half pedestal basin

A shorter shroud that covers the trap but stops partway down, leaving the floor clear.

Works when you want a wall hung look with the pipework hidden, and you want to keep the floor moppable. It is a sensible middle path and increasingly the default in new flats.

Watch for: it still needs the wall to carry the basin. The half pedestal is cosmetic, not structural.

Bowl basin

A vessel that sits proudly on the counter, often round or rectangular, frequently in a colour or matte finish. Visually it is the strongest statement a basin can make.

Works when the bathroom is a design piece: a guest bathroom, a hotel-style master. Paired with a wall mounted tap it looks deliberate rather than merely functional.

Watch for: height again, more acutely than with a standard counter top basin, because bowls are taller. And splashing: a shallow bowl with a high tap throws water onto the counter. Match the tap spout height to the bowl depth.

The decision nobody makes deliberately: where the tap goes

Every basin is drilled for a particular tap arrangement, and this is set at the factory:

• One tap hole: a single lever mixer or a single pillar cock sits in it.
• Three tap holes: separate hot and cold pillar cocks with a spout between them.
• No tap hole: the tap must come off the wall.

A basin with no hole cannot take a counter tap, and a basin with one hole cannot take a three-piece set. Decide the tap and the basin together, not in that order and not separately. We list the drilling on each product page, and it is worth checking before ordering.

Matching the trap

Basins drain through either a bottle trap (a compact cylinder, common where the trap is visible) or a P-trap into the wall. If you are replacing like for like, note what is there now. If the waste currently disappears into the floor and you are moving to a wall hung basin, that waste has to be rerouted into the wall: a tiling job, not a plumbing job.

A practical order of decisions

1. Find where the existing waste and water lines are. That narrows the field before anything else.
2. Decide whether you need storage underneath. If yes, you are in counter top or bowl territory.
3. Set the finished basin height for the people actually using it, then work backwards to the slab height.
4. Pick the tap, then pick a basin drilled for it.
5. Only now choose on looks.

Done in that order, the basin you end up with will fit the bathroom. Done in reverse (which is how it usually happens), you find out at installation that the waste is in the wrong place.

Related: Bathroom Fittings Price in Bengaluru 2026, S-Trap vs P-Trap Toilet: How to Measure Before Buying.

AR Trading Company is an authorised Parryware dealer in Bengaluru. You can browse the full Parryware range with dealer prices and GST billing, or talk to us about a whole-bathroom list.