Kitchen / Selecting — 2 comments

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

I recently had an unfortunate incident in my kitchen involving some hot water, basin sinks, and my house flooding. Well, it's not quite that bad but I did need to replace my sink, which had oddly cracked and was leaking into the cabinet underneath. I'm not sure how that happened but it's really, really old  so I guess these things just happen sometimes. The really frustrating part is finding a replacement. I had never really thought about it but not all kitchen sinks are the same size and mine was apparently a particularly rare size, on account of being so old I imagine.

So I was looking online, because I figured that would be the best way to see the most sinks in the least amount of time, and it's still not making my life any easier. I'd seen basin sinks with soap dispensers built in before, but there are ones with multiple faucets, double-sink, deep sinks, shallow sinks, one sink, two sink, red sink, blue sink. I just wanted to beat my head against the wall.  Wouldn't it be nice to just be able to say to somebody: Fix that. For that reason I wish I was still renting. Then it would be the landlord's problem.

Eventually I was able to find something that fit and had the correct number of faucets (one) as well as not costing me an arm and a leg (just an arm) and doesn't look too terrible. Unfortunately I discovered that "doesn't look too terrible" isn't a visual standard my wife finds acceptable, but my thinking was: it's a kitchen sink, who cares? As long as you can pile dishes really high in it and the water drains out into the sewer instead of the basement then that should be scored as a win in my book.

On ebay I actually saw someone had custom made a spider man sink that I'm pretty sure would have fit. I guess I'm lucky I didn't get that or the wife would be even more upset than she is now. For the time being at least, she'll just have to live with the Flintstones. Just kidding, there are no cartoon characters on the kitchen sink I purchased. It is, however, a particularly ugly shade of gray. I'm wondering if some rust-oleum paint would do the job or if I'm just stuck with it. In any case don't underestimate the difficulty involved in picking out basin sinks, it's not as easy as it should be.

Selecting / Uncategorized — 1 comment

The Basics of Basin Sinks

Before I moved into a new home, basin sinks were about the most boring thing I could imagine. It was a non-thing that I never thought about until a year ago. A sink is a sink, it does what its got to do and that's it. Right? Well, my wife told me I was wrong. As usual, she was rrr-- sorry, I can't say it. Still, considering all of us use one every day, probably multiple times a day, sinks are something worth thinking about. Especially if you are ever planning to buy one for home you own in the future, or replace one in your existing home.

Most basin sinks are made out of ceramic but you will find quite a few modern looking ones in various shades of metal as well. There are a number of things to consider, the first of which is size. How much space do you have to fit the sink into? Not just left to right but also front to back. If you are putting a sink into a small bathroom then how far it sticks out might be of major concern.

Next you've got to consider storage. Do you need it to have a cabinet underneath? Some come with a built in cabinet, some just stand alone. This is partly where style comes in, because it's not just the basin itself now but also the hardware and now the material of the cabinets as well. It can be impossible to find something perfect, and some people who will remain nameless can't seem to settle for anything less than perfect. A nice basin with a great cabinet and an ugly faucet just won't cut it, oh no!

Finally, the hardware itself is important. Some sinks will come with hardware and some will not. Typically, buying everything together tends to be cheaper than buying a basin separately from the plumbing but you might not find a perfect unit so arguments can be made to go either way. What you can't do easily is make more holes in your basin. Why would you want to? Well some sinks have a handy soft soap dispenser built in. It's a very nice feature and is far and away superior to buying those little plastic bottle soaps and leaving them on the counter.

For one thing, the little soap bottles with the push-top cost more than just buying the big soft soap refill container. For another thing, the can get knocked over or misplaced (if the wife, for instance, ran out of soap in the kitchen and decided to hijack a bottle from the bathroom without replacing it). Not to mention that having a plastic bottle on the counter holds your bathroom back from looking classy. See? There is a lot more to basin sinks than you'd think, just using them day-to-day.

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