A Sink For Every Style, Pt. 1

That includes sinks. Model after model is available in every conceivable shape, style and material, which creates a good news/ bad news scenario for us countertop guys. The good news is that our clients are now more-likely to find a sink that will work perfectly for their needs … and, in turn, they’ll be even happier with their finished kitchen or bath.
The bad news, of course, is that more choice for the consumer inevitably means a learning curve for the fabricator, the potential for error, and probably more legwork as well. Just in the September 2006 issue of Stone Business, you can see sinks made from ten different materials (glass, stainless, limestone, etc.) in an endless variety of styles.
Because some of these new sink styles vary slightly in size when they’re made (or someone in the food chain doesn’t particularly care about installers), they don’t even come with templates. And forget about a downloadable .DXF file of a sink cutout – a big deal for a guy like me from the “give me the model number and I’ll get the template online” generation.
What’s a countertop guy to do? Unfortunately, working with this new reality is our only choice. What this means is that we have to be well-organized when it comes to communicating with our clients and staff to make sure everyone has the same information on each sink.
This process begins by figuring out exactly what the client or designer expects the installed sink to look like. If it’s an undermount, you’ll have to figure out where they think the edge of the stone should end. If the client expects the stone to be flush with the wall of the sink and the cutout shows a 1/2” reveal, they might just be unhappy enough to reject the piece.
It’s also important to determine what your client expects the edge of the sink cutout to look like. Matching the sink-cutout edge detail to the rest of kitchen is popular enough in my area that I now ask my clients if they want it, just to be sure. Always check the inside radius dimension on the corners of the sink cutout before you promise this detail to a client; the size of your tooling may limit which edge details you can do on the inside of a sink cutout.
For farm or Belfast-style sinks, it’s vitally important the client or designer see the sink in place to determine how far forward or back they want the sink to sit. There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules for the placement on most of these sinks, so I find it’s best to let someone else make the call.
If the sink is self- rimming or a vessel, figuring out the front-to-back placement on the countertop is also crucial, especially if you’re working with a faucet mounted on the back wall. Avoid having water come out of the faucet directly on top of the drain stopper, as it tends to splash around. (Nobody wants to send a guest to their powder room and have them emerge with wet pants.) When working with a vessel sink, it’s also important to determine how high the client expects the sink to sit above the countertop, and then cut the hole appropriately.
Always make sure you know what the client expects the front of the sink to be as well. This may sound ridiculous to you until you install a powder-room sink carved out of half of a round boulder. Only the client or designer can tell what the front is on that, because there really isn’t one.
Polished-stone sinks with movement are the same way. It’s almost inevitable that the homeowner or designer will pick what they consider to be the ‘prettiest’ part of the sink and put it in front, regardless of the flow in the stone. As long as they’re happy with it, I’m happy.
If your client is trying to match a stone sink with stone countertops, I would highly recommend having the sink in hand (or a very close representative sample) before you pick out slabs. Twice, I’ve had people unhappy with the difference in color from their stone sink to their countertops. The only way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to compare the color before any stone is cut.
Bar sinks can face in different directions as well. While I figure the norm is to set the sink deeper than its wide, if this is not what the client had as a vision they will consider it wrong. Some of the more odd-shaped bar sinks (like triangles) can be set any way you want. Let the homeowner or designer make the call.
More sink styles brings up more issues with faucets and accessories as well. Having everything on-site to be inspected and placed correctly is vitally important.
Some styles of faucets are simply not going to work with certain types of sinks, but a homeowner or designer putting form over function may not know this. Comparing sink and faucet at templating can avoid many future issues.
Whatever sink is picked out, carefully inspect it for damage of any kind. If the sink contains welded seams, inspect them thoroughly, even running water on top of them to make sure they’re watertight. The same can be done with stone sinks to check for cracks that would otherwise go unseen.
If it’s a cast-iron model with an enamel coating, check carefully for any imperfections in the surface that could potentially flake off. If you think it’s hard work installing a cast-iron sink, try replacing one from underneath.
If the sink is molded from a composite material, check the bottom side to look for any irregularities or weak spots. A flaw that is unseen from the top may give you a real headache if the client happens to hit it with a pot or pan and blow it out.
If you find any damage at all to a sink, demand a replacement, even if this throws off the schedule. This is no time to play the nice guy and install the sink temporarily until the new one arrives. Sink manufacturers across the board will replace a defective sink, but they won’t pay for your time if you have to take a bad sink out and put in a replacement. Some sink companies won’t even pay to have the plumbing disconnected from the defect they shipped to you or your client. Inspect thoroughly to protect yourself. I’ve already wasted two entire days of my life replacing defective sinks with not so much as a “sorry about that” from the manufacturer.
If your company is considering taking on a line of sinks to sell directly to clients, talk with the manufacturer or his rep about their policy regarding the replacement of defective sinks. If you’re going to be eating the cost of your time for replacing a sink, be proactive and add in a little extra money to every sink you sell to cover yourself in the event you get a bad one.
Finally, encourage your clients to get an undermount sink in their kitchen, whatever the style or material. Putting a self-rimming kitchen sink with granite countertops is like ordering a certified Angus filet mignon and pairing it with a Coke. Sure, you can do it, but wouldn’t a nice California cabernet be more satisfying?
The ability to polish the inside edge of a cutout, and then mount a sink underneath, should be highlighted instead of hidden – especially in the kitchen. Encourage your clients in this direction and you’ve helped raise the style bar for everyone.
Now that we’ve got all these sinks, how do we effectively mount them to the stone? We’ll cover that next month.
Jason Nottestad, a 12-year stone industry veteran, is co-owner of Wisconsin-based Midwest Template Services (www.countertopsbymts.com).