Bathroom remodel supplies: a shopping checklist
Bathrooms are small rooms with long shopping lists. This one is grouped the way the work happens, so you can see what's needed before the first tile comes off — then turn it into a cart you can share and total.
Before you buy anything
Not every item below applies to every bathroom, and who buys what depends on your contractor. Many contractors supply the rough materials — pipe, backer board, thinset — and expect you to choose and buy the finishes. Agree that split in writing first; it decides which half of this list is yours.
- Measure the room, the vanity wall, the shower or tub opening, and the ceiling height — and write the numbers down somewhere you'll have them in the store.
- Note what's staying put. Moving a toilet or a drain is a plumbing job with its own cost; fixtures that fit the existing locations keep the budget honest.
- Find out which items take longest to arrive. Vanities, special-order tile and custom shower glass can take weeks, so the order you buy in is not the order they're installed in.
Demolition and protection
- Heavy-duty contractor bags
- Floor protection for the path out of the house
- Plastic sheeting or a dust barrier for the doorway
- Painter's tape
- Safety glasses, work gloves, and a dust mask or respirator
- Shop vacuum bags or filters
Plumbing fixtures
- Vanity, countertop and sink (or a vanity sold with its top)
- Sink faucet and drain
- Toilet, plus a wax ring or seal and a supply line
- Tub, or a shower base or pan
- Shower valve and matching trim kit — they usually have to be the same brand and system, so buy them together
- Showerhead, and a hand shower if you want one
- Tub or shower drain
- Shut-off valves and supply lines, if the old ones are being replaced
Tile and waterproofing
- Floor tile and wall tile — buy extra for cuts and breakage; around 10% is a common rule, more for diagonal or intricate layouts, and from the same batch so the color matches
- Cement board or another tile backer
- A waterproofing membrane for the shower walls and floor
- Thinset mortar suited to your tile
- Grout, and grout sealer if your grout needs it
- Tile edge trim for exposed edges
- Spacers and leveling clips
- Silicone caulk for corners and changes of plane, in a color that matches the grout
Walls, ceiling and ventilation
- Moisture-resistant drywall where the walls aren't tiled
- Primer and a bathroom-rated paint
- An exhaust fan sized for the room, with ducting to the outside
Electrical and lighting
- Vanity light
- Ceiling or shower light rated for damp or wet locations
- GFCI-protected outlets — bathrooms require them; your electrician will know the local code
- Switches, including a timer or humidity switch for the fan if you want one
- Heated floor mat and thermostat, if you're adding one — it goes down before the tile
Storage, glass and mirrors
- Mirror or medicine cabinet — a recessed cabinet needs planning before the drywall goes up
- Shower door or glass panel — custom glass is usually measured after the tile is done
- Shelving, or a shower niche framed into the wall
Finishing touches
- Towel bars, rings and hooks
- Toilet paper holder
- Grab bars — plan the blocking inside the wall before it's closed up
- Shower curtain rod, if there's no glass
- Bath mat, towels, and a wastebasket
Make it a Tote cart
A checklist tells you what to buy. A cart tells you what you've chosen, where it's from, and what it all comes to. Here is how to turn one into the other.
Make a cart for the bathroom
One cart for this project, so its total isn't tangled up with anything else you're buying.
Add each item as you choose it
Paste the product link, save it from the page with the Chrome extension, or ask ChatGPT or Claude to put it in your bathroom cart. Set quantities for tile and anything you need more than one of.
Keep the maybes out of the total
Save the second-choice faucet for later rather than leaving it in the cart. The total then means “what we've decided on”.
Share it
Invite your partner to edit, or your contractor to view or add. Everyone works from one list rather than their own copy.
Fill in missing prices
Some stores don't show their price to Tote — Lowe's blocks it and Amazon leaves it out of the page. Save from those with the extension, or type the price in, so the total is complete.
Mark things bought as they arrive
The cart shrinks to what's left, and bought items move to your history instead of vanishing.
Before you order the expensive pieces, open each one in Tote: it checks other sellers for the same product and shows only prices it actually found. And if you're waiting on a vanity or a tub to come down in price, Tote+ can watch it for you at stores whose pages show Tote the price.
Keep reading
Try it
One cart for every shop you buy from. Free, and it works on the web, your phone and in Chrome.
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