The Brickan Mirror Cabinet, White is one of those bathroom products that makes you wonder why more cabinets do not behave this way. Instead of swinging a mirrored door outward and attempting to introduce it to your forehead at 7:12 in the morning, BRICKAN uses a sliding design that lets you move the mirror sideways and reach the storage behind it.
Designed by Ola Wihlborg for IKEA, the BRICKAN mirror cabinet combined a clean white finish, galvanized steel construction, rounded corners, concealed bathroom storage, and a large mirrored surface in a particularly slim package. The original cabinet measured approximately 15 3/4 inches wide, 4 3/8 inches deep, and 28 3/4 inches high, making it especially interesting for compact bathrooms, powder rooms, apartments, and narrow vanity areas.
BRICKAN is an older IKEA design rather than a prominent product in the company’s current U.S. bathroom lineup, but its combination of mirror and vertical storage remains surprisingly relevant. Modern bathrooms are not getting any less cluttered. Toothpaste, moisturizer, razors, contact-lens supplies, combs, skin-care bottles, and mysterious samples acquired three vacations ago still need somewhere to live.
What Is the Brickan Mirror Cabinet?
The Brickan Mirror Cabinet is a wall-mounted white bathroom cabinet with a mirrored sliding front. The original design used galvanized steel with a powder-coated finish, while the mirror itself was glass backed with a protective safety film.
Its defining feature is the side-sliding mirror. Rather than opening like a conventional hinged medicine cabinet, the mirrored panel moves sideways to expose the storage area. That means you can look into part of the mirror while simultaneously reaching for something inside the cabinet.
It is a small detail, but good bathroom design is often built from small details. A toothbrush does not need an architectural masterpiece. It simply needs to be somewhere you can find it before coffee.
Key BRICKAN Design Features
- Approximately 15 3/4 inches wide
- Approximately 4 3/8 inches deep
- Approximately 28 3/4 inches high
- White powder-coated finish
- Galvanized steel main construction
- Glass mirrored front
- Side-sliding cabinet access
- Shelves with raised edges
- Rounded exterior corners
- Safety film on the back of the mirror
- Designed by Ola Wihlborg
At the time it was featured in U.S. design publications, the cabinet was listed at approximately $99. That historical price should not be confused with today’s resale value, since discontinued IKEA pieces can wander into a strange economic universe where a $99 cabinet is either $25 at a local garage sale or priced like a minor Scandinavian antique.
Why the Sliding Mirror Matters
The biggest functional difference between BRICKAN and a conventional white bathroom mirror cabinet is door clearance.
A traditional mirrored medicine cabinet usually has a hinged door that swings outward. That is perfectly reasonable when there is plenty of room around the vanity. In a narrow bathroom, however, an outward-swinging door can interfere with lighting, side walls, nearby shelves, tall faucets, or simply the person standing in front of it.
BRICKAN’s sliding arrangement avoids most of that problem. The front stays close to the cabinet instead of projecting into the room.
A Smart Choice for Narrow Bathrooms
At roughly 4 3/8 inches deep, BRICKAN provides shallow storage rather than pretending to be a linen closet disguised as a mirror. That makes sense above a sink, where overly deep cabinets can feel visually heavy and physically intrusive.
Shallow cabinets are particularly useful for:
- Toothbrushes and toothpaste
- Contact-lens cases and solution
- Razors and shaving products
- Small skin-care bottles
- Makeup and grooming tools
- Combs and brushes
- First-aid accessories
- Daily toiletries
The trick is to store items that suit the cabinet instead of attempting bathroom Tetris with a two-liter bottle of mouthwash.
Raised-Edge Shelves Are More Useful Than They Sound
One of BRICKAN’s less glamorous but highly practical details is its shelving with raised edges. Those edges help prevent smaller containers from easily slipping forward.
In a wall-mounted cabinet, that is useful because bottles tend to migrate. Open a cabinet enthusiastically enough and an unsecured tube of face cream can make an ambitious bid for freedom.
A shallow shelf with a retaining edge works especially well for compact personal-care products. It also encourages users to arrange products in a single visible row instead of creating a deep archaeological dig of half-used bottles.
The White Finish: Simple, Bright, and Easy to Coordinate
A white mirror cabinet is not exactly an outrageous interior-design rebellion, and that is partly why it works.
White coordinates easily with common bathroom materials such as ceramic tile, marble-look surfaces, chrome fixtures, brushed nickel, black hardware, pale woods, concrete-look finishes, and colorful painted walls.
It can disappear quietly into an all-white bathroom or provide a crisp contrast against darker tile.
Why White Works Especially Well in Small Bathrooms
Compact bathrooms usually benefit from reducing visual clutter. A large dark cabinet can become a dominant block on the wall, while a slim white cabinet often feels lighter, particularly when surrounded by pale tile or paint.
The mirrored front adds another visual advantage. Mirrors reflect light and surrounding surfaces, which can help a small room feel brighter and more open. The cabinet therefore performs three jobs at once: reflection, storage, and visual expansion.
Not bad for something whose daily responsibilities mostly involve toothpaste.
Rounded Corners Make Sense in Tight Spaces
BRICKAN’s rounded corners were more than a styling exercise. Bathrooms frequently squeeze cabinets into locations where users stand, bend, turn, shave, wash, and reach for towels within a fairly small footprint.
Removing aggressive sharp corners from a projecting wall cabinet can make the space more comfortable to move through. The softer profile also complements the minimal Scandinavian appearance of the cabinet.
How BRICKAN Compares With Modern Medicine Cabinets
Today’s best bathroom mirror cabinets have become considerably more elaborate. Current models may offer LED lighting, defoggers, electrical outlets, USB charging, mirrored interiors, adjustable glass shelves, soft-close hinges, and integrated lighting controls.
BRICKAN belongs to a simpler design philosophy.
There is no need to locate an app before brushing your teeth. Its attraction is essentially mechanical: slim steel body, mirror, shelves, sliding access, done.
Where BRICKAN Still Has an Advantage
The sliding front remains unusual and useful. Many current cabinets rely on swinging doors, which require clearance in front and to the side. BRICKAN’s sliding design makes more sense in certain constrained layouts.
Its galvanized steel construction is also appropriate for the concept of a bathroom cabinet. Bathrooms regularly experience elevated humidity, so materials, coatings, ventilation, and maintenance matter.
Where Modern Cabinets Win
A newer premium medicine cabinet may be better if you want:
- Built-in LED task lighting
- Adjustable shelves
- Interior electrical outlets
- USB charging
- Defogging technology
- Soft-close hardware
- A much wider cabinet for a double vanity
- Recessed installation for a nearly flush appearance
BRICKAN is best viewed as an elegant compact-storage solution rather than a high-tech bathroom command center.
Installation Considerations
Any wall-mounted mirror cabinet needs more planning than simply holding it against the wall and announcing, “That looks about right.”
First, consider the relationship between the cabinet, vanity, faucet, lighting, and users. A medicine cabinet normally looks most balanced when its width does not overpower the vanity beneath it. You also need enough vertical clearance above the faucet and enough room for the cabinet’s moving components.
Check the Wall Before Drilling
Wall construction matters. Drywall, wood studs, masonry, concrete, and tile may require different anchors and drilling methods. The appropriate fasteners depend on both the wall material and the loaded weight of the cabinet.
Whenever possible, secure a wall cabinet into suitable structural support rather than trusting a random piece of drywall with your mirror, toiletries, and optimism.
Before drilling, also consider the possible location of electrical wiring and plumbing. This is particularly important above a vanity because bathrooms contain both water lines and electrical fixtures. If the wall structure or hidden services are uncertain, professional installation is the safer choice.
Test the Height Before Committing
A cardboard template matching the cabinet’s dimensions can be extremely useful. Tape it to the wall, stand at the sink, and make sure the mirror position works for the people who will actually use it.
A mirror mounted according to an arbitrary rule can still be annoying if one household member sees only their eyebrows while another gets an excellent reflection of the ceiling.
How to Organize a Brickan Mirror Cabinet
A narrow cabinet works best when it holds frequently used products rather than serving as the final resting place for everything vaguely associated with a bathroom.
Keep Daily Items at the Most Convenient Height
Place toothpaste, moisturizer, shaving supplies, and similar everyday products where they can be reached without searching. Less frequently used items can occupy the upper or lower areas.
Group Similar Products
Create simple zones such as:
- Dental care
- Shaving
- Skin care
- Eye and contact care
- Hair accessories
- Small grooming tools
Small washable containers can keep tiny objects from wandering around inside the cabinet, provided the organizers are narrow enough for BRICKAN’s shallow depth.
Do Not Automatically Store Medication in the Bathroom
Despite the familiar term “medicine cabinet,” bathrooms are often warm and humid. Many medications should instead be stored according to the temperature and moisture instructions on their packaging, frequently in a cooler and drier location.
Use bathroom cabinet space primarily for products that are actually suitable for that environment.
Cleaning and Maintenance
Archived BRICKAN care guidance is refreshingly straightforward: wipe the surfaces with a damp cloth and mild cleaner, then dry them with a clean cloth.
That basic routine makes sense for both the painted metal body and regular bathroom upkeep.
Keep the Mirror Dry and Clean
Mirrors accumulate toothpaste specks with impressive efficiency. Use a mirror-appropriate cleaner or lightly damp microfiber cloth and avoid flooding the edges with liquid.
Dry the Metal Cabinet
Even with coated and galvanized components, routinely leaving surfaces wet is not a great long-term maintenance strategy. Improve bathroom ventilation, wipe away standing moisture, and investigate persistent condensation.
Clean the Sliding Mechanism
If dust, hair, cosmetic powder, or dried product gets into the sliding area, movement may become less satisfying. Periodically remove loose debris and wipe accessible surfaces without forcing or dismantling hardware unnecessarily.
Who Is the Brickan Mirror Cabinet Best For?
BRICKAN makes the most sense for someone who values compact dimensions, understated styling, and clever mechanical design.
It is particularly appealing for:
- Small apartment bathrooms
- Powder rooms
- Narrow sink areas
- Minimalist interiors
- Scandinavian-inspired bathrooms
- Rooms where a swinging mirror door would be inconvenient
- People who want hidden storage without a deep cabinet
It is less suitable for households expecting one cabinet to swallow bulk toiletries, towels, hair dryers, backup shampoo, and the complete inventory of a small pharmacy.
Buying BRICKAN Today
Because BRICKAN is an older IKEA design and is not part of IKEA’s prominent current U.S. mirror-cabinet selection, shoppers may encounter it primarily through secondhand marketplaces, architectural salvage listings, resale sites, or leftover inventory.
When evaluating a used unit, inspect more than the front mirror.
Secondhand Inspection Checklist
- Check the mirror for chips, cracks, scratches, or backing deterioration.
- Move the sliding panel through its full travel.
- Inspect the track for bending or heavy wear.
- Look for corrosion around seams, edges, and mounting areas.
- Confirm that shelves are present and undamaged.
- Examine the powder-coated finish for peeling or deep scratches.
- Check the cabinet body for distortion.
- Determine whether suitable mounting hardware is available.
- Confirm the dimensions before buying.
A bargain cabinet becomes significantly less charming if you arrive home and discover that the wall opening is 15 inches wide and your new treasure is 15 3/4 inches.
What Daily Life With a BRICKAN-Style Cabinet Feels Like
The most noticeable part of the BRICKAN experience would probably not be the mirror, the white finish, or even the steel construction. It would be the sliding motion. Traditional medicine cabinets train us to step back slightly, open a door, grab something, and close the door again. BRICKAN changes that routine because the mirrored surface moves across the face of the cabinet rather than into the room.
In a small bathroom, that difference can feel surprisingly significant. Imagine a narrow vanity squeezed between a wall and a shower enclosure. With a hinged cabinet, the open mirror can occupy precious space exactly where your face would like to be. With a sliding cabinet, your elbows have one less diplomatic dispute to resolve before breakfast.
The shallow depth also changes how you organize things. You cannot casually throw fourteen layers of products behind one another. That sounds like a limitation, but it can become an advantage. Frequently used toiletries stay visible. A tube of toothpaste cannot hide behind three bottles of sunscreen and begin a new life under an assumed identity.
For one person, a cabinet of this size can work extremely well as a daily grooming station. Put dental supplies in one area, face wash and moisturizer in another, and a razor or small grooming tools nearby. For two people, organization becomes more important. Dividing the cabinet by shelf or category prevents the familiar morning conversation that begins with, “Where did you put my…?” and rarely improves from there.
The white finish contributes to the experience in a quieter way. It does not demand that other fixtures match it precisely. Chrome faucet? Fine. Matte black hardware? Also fine. Blue tile, gray wall, pale oak vanity, traditional white sink? BRICKAN is unlikely to start an argument. That neutrality is especially useful in rentals and older bathrooms where the fixtures may represent several different decades of decorating enthusiasm.
There are compromises. A narrow cabinet will not replace under-sink storage. Larger bottles may be awkward. The mirror may require frequent wiping, particularly because sliding or touching mirrored surfaces naturally creates fingerprints. A secondhand BRICKAN may also require extra attention to the sliding hardware and mounting points because age and previous installation can affect condition.
Still, the fundamental experience is appealing: walk into the bathroom, use a generously sized vertical mirror, slide it aside, grab what you need, and slide it back. There is very little ceremony. The clutter disappears again, the room looks orderly, and the counter remains available for the important things in life, such as putting down your coffee somewhere dangerously close to the sink.
That simplicity explains why BRICKAN remains interesting even though newer cabinets offer considerably more technology. A good product does not always need Bluetooth, adjustable color temperatures, a digital clock, and three charging ports. Sometimes a mirror that slides sideways and hides your toothbrush is already doing enough.
Final Verdict
The Brickan Mirror Cabinet, White is a clever example of compact Scandinavian bathroom design. Its narrow galvanized-steel body, white powder-coated finish, rounded corners, safety-backed mirror, raised-edge shelving, and unusual sliding front solve practical problems without adding unnecessary visual complexity.
Its approximately 15 3/4-by-4 3/8-by-28 3/4-inch footprint is particularly well suited to small bathrooms where wall space is valuable and conventional swinging doors can become inconvenient.
Modern mirror cabinets offer more advanced features, but BRICKAN’s strongest idea has aged well: make one object perform multiple jobs while occupying as little useful space as possible. It provides a mirror when closed, toiletries when opened, and a cleaner-looking bathroom all day long.
For anyone considering a secondhand BRICKAN, condition and installation hardware deserve careful inspection. For everyone else, its design remains a useful blueprint for choosing a modern alternative: look for shallow wall-mounted storage, sensible proportions, durable bathroom-friendly materials, safe mirror construction, and a door system that works with the room rather than fighting it.
Note: BRICKAN is an older IKEA product, so present-day U.S. availability, price, included hardware, and secondhand condition can vary. Historical product specifications should be checked against the label or measurements of the individual cabinet before purchase or installation.
