Delaney 16" x 20" Stainless Steel Framed Medicine Cabinet

Recessed only. The 500001 sets into the wall cavity through a 13-1/2 x 17-1/2 inch framed opening, and there is no surface-mount configuration of it. On a wall you cannot open up, tile over concrete, masonry, a fire-rated shaft wall, or a bath where plumbing or a duct runs behind the mirror location, this is the wrong cabinet and you want a surface-mount unit instead.

It fits a standard bay without cutting a stud, as long as you run the 13-1/2 inch opening dimension horizontally. Framing at 16 inches on center with nominal 2x studs leaves about 14-1/2 inches clear between them, and the cabinet only needs 13-1/2 inches of that. The 17-1/2 inch dimension runs vertically, so you are adding a header and a sill block between the studs rather than headering off a cut stud.

Residential. The 500001 is built for apartment, condo, and single family baths, which is what you want for unit turns and multi-family standardization where every bath gets the same 13-1/2 x 17-1/2 inch opening. For a public restroom in a school, hospital, or hotel common area, where you need vandal resistance and heavier duty construction, specify a commercial washroom cabinet instead.

The frame on this 16 x 20 cabinet is stainless steel, which does not rust through or blister and peel the way a painted steel frame does once steam gets behind the coating. That matters most on the exposed trim around the opening, since a recessed cabinet sits tight to the wall surface and that edge is where moisture collects first. For a landlord running a lot of units, it is the part of the cabinet that usually shows its age first.