LED Bathroom Mirror Guide: Sizes, Demisters, Shaver Sockets and Wiring

Start with the basin. A mirror about as wide as the basin or vanity unit below it, or a little narrower, looks right; one wider than the unit looks top-heavy. Leave a gap above the tap or splashback, and hang it so the middle of the glass is roughly at eye height for whoever uses it most.

ICON's rectangular mirrors hang portrait or landscape, and come frameless or framed in matt black or brushed brass to match your taps and shower. Our vanity unit guide covers the unit underneath.

A demister is a thin heating pad on the back of the glass. It warms the mirror slightly so steam doesn't condense on it, and you can see yourself straight after a shower. Depending on the model it runs with the light or has its own switch. Every SCN and ICON LED mirror we stock has one.

It clears the mirror, not the room. Steam still needs an extractor fan to take it out before it settles on the walls and ceiling.

A shaver socket is the one kind of socket you'll normally see in a bathroom, because it's built differently. A bathroom shaver supply unit is made to BS EN 61558-2-5, with an isolating transformer, and supplies only a small current — enough for an electric shaver or toothbrush and nothing more. Hairdryers and straighteners need an ordinary socket outside the bathroom.

SCN's LED mirrors come in 500 x 700mm and 600 x 800mm, with or without a built-in shaver socket. The 600 x 800mm is £150.34 without one and £175.56 with one; both dim and change from warm to cool white. A mirror with its own socket saves fitting a separate shaver point.

The wiring regulations divide a bathroom into zones by how wet each part gets, measured from the bath or shower:

A mirror over a basin is usually in zone 2 if the basin is within 0.6m of the bath or shower, or outside the zones if it's further away. The IP number measures protection: the first digit against solid objects, the second against water, so IP44 keeps out objects over 1mm and water splashed from any direction. Check the IP rating in the mirror's instructions against where it's going, and ask us if you can't find it.

Yes. An LED mirror is wired into the mains, not plugged in, in the one room where water and electricity meet, so have a qualified electrician fit it.

In England, electrical work in a bathroom falls under Part P of the Building Regulations. Much of it — a new circuit, or work on a circuit in the zones round a bath or shower — has to be notified to building control, which a registered electrician does for you. The wiring regulations also require 30mA RCD protection on every circuit in a bathroom; your electrician will check the existing installation has it.

Plan the cable before the walls are finished: it needs to come out of the wall behind the mirror, usually fed from the lighting circuit or a fused spur with a way to isolate it. If you'd like us to arrange fitting in Greater London, electrics are booked by phone through our supply & fit service.

• The mirror's own switch. ICON's rectangular, oval and Arc mirrors have a hand sensor you wave past — handy with wet hands — and the round ICON mirrors have a touch button.
• A ceiling pull-cord switch inside the bathroom, the traditional bathroom switch.
• A switch outside the bathroom door, or wired with the main light so the mirror comes on with it.

Which works best depends on the mirror and the wiring, so agree it with your electrician before the cable goes in.

We stock 17 LED mirrors from £132.88, all with a demister and a 10-year warranty.