| jump to |
STAINLESS STEEL SINK A BETTER ALTERNATIVE THAN PORCELAIN
Dear Mr. HandyPerson: My husband and I remodeled our kitchen in 2001. We put in granite countertops and a plastic, under-mounted sink. To our dismay, the sink has not only stained but has also melted in places.
My husband tried to sand out these imperfections, but unfortunately they remain quite visible and look awful. We would like to replace it with a porcelain sink. Is it possible to do this, and if so, how? -- Bernadette, South Windsor, Conn.
Dear Bernadette: It's always possible to replace a kitchen sink. The significant question is how much of the kitchen you have to deconstruct to do so. This could be quite an undertaking or, if you are lucky, it could be fairly simple. This is one of those situations where Mr. HandyPerson would feel a lot more confident advising you if he were standing with you examining the existing sink. He'll try, though.
First, he'd strongly suggest you change your mindset a little and think about a stainless steel sink as a replacement. He has nothing against porcelain sinks, but they are quite heavy and require much more support than a lighter stainless steel sink. The stainless steel would be lighter/easier to handle and mount. Porcelain would probably require you to lift the countertop and/or construct or modify the support system for the sink.
For background, kitchen sinks can be mounted in a number of different ways: resting on top of the counter ("drop in"), supported on a plywood sub-counter beneath the countertop, or attached to (hung from) the underside of the countertop. You and your husband will need to take a look at the underside of the sink to determine exactly how it is mounted and what you'll have to do to remove and replace it.
If your lightweight, under-mount sink was mounted with sink brackets attached firmly to the underside of the counter, you may be able to simply loosen the brackets, remove the sink, and replace it with a properly sized stainless steel sink.
If the old sink is resting on a plywood under-counter (beneath the granite counters), getting it out and replacing it will be a real challenge. Offhand, Mr. HP can't think of a way of doing this without raising the section of granite countertop surrounding the sink. If it is a very large, continuous piece of granite, this could be a task you'd want to hire professional kitchen remodeling contractors to handle, as the risk of damage (to the countertops and/or you and your respective backs) is high. Not knowing your skills and experience around this kind of task, Mr. HP is inclined to advise you to get some professional opinions and estimates on the job.
One thought that occurs to Mr. HP is that if you can figure out a way of removing the old sink, possibly even cutting it out with a reciprocating saw if it doesn't have under-counter mounting brackets you can easily loosen to remove it, you could replace it with a drop-in sink. Since this kind of sink would have a rim around it resting on the granite countertop, it is not as easy to keep clean as an under-mount sink. But it is so much simpler to install than an under-mount sink in an existing kitchen that the small, raised rim is an adjustment that could be made painlessly in light of the complications, complexity and potential expense of putting in another under-mount sink.
Keeping the counters around the sink clean amounts to learning to wipe the counter around the sink rim as opposed to wiping the counter into the sinks. Mr. HP lived with a drop-in stainless steel kitchen sink with a raised rim for more than 32 years and never had a problem keeping the counters around the sink clean.
It's easiest to get some estimates from and hire a kitchen remodeling contractor to do this job (the business would no doubt be appreciated in this economy, and you may discover some surprisingly reasonable estimates). But if you are determined to do this yourself, Mr. HP suggests you check out some kitchen remodeling books from your local library, make careful observations of the current sink and how it is installed, and take very careful measurements of the opening in the granite countertop before buying a new sink. Good luck in any event.
