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October 11, 2015

The Pros and Cons of Different Sinks

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT UNDERMOUNT SINKS

Visit our Understanding Undermount Sinks blog.

Video Transcription:

Thanks for joining us everybody. This session’s blog is about sinks – everything you need to know to pick the right sink for you.

Let’s start with the first option. The first option is a stainless steel. By far, this accounts for 90% of all the sinks installed in our jobs. They go with almost any single color. They definitely go with all your appliances, even if you don’t use stainless steel appliances. They go with any faucet. And they’re the least expensive. On average, a stainless steel under-mount sink goes from $175 to $400. 99% of all the stainless steel sinks that we install are under-mounts, so the over-mount stainless steel is almost not even in play.

The next available sink for you guys, which is a cool product that’s been out for four, five, six, seven years as far as being popular, are granite sinks – granite composite sinks. This is a composite material, made partly in granite, which is supposed to be more scratchresistant and stain-resistant than stainless steel. The benefits are this thing is heavy, it’s solid, and it comes in colors. The pricing are more expensive, almost double. They start at $350. They can easily go to $7-800 for some really cool custom sinks. Again 95% of all the granite composite sinks will be installed are under-mount, under the counter. A couple of people every now and then do over-mount. The people who do over-mount sinks do it mainly because they want to be able to pull it out if something happens. Really easy. You just disconnect the plumbing, pull it right out. When it’s a under-mount sink it’s a little bit trickier to pull out if anything happens to it. The only couple of drawbacks to granite composite sinks besides it’s more expensive is that if you do get a scratch in it I have no idea how to fix it, and this is a composite material made in a factory. It’s not like a stainless steel where if you get a scratch in it, you could take barkeepers, you can take steel wool, you can polish out that scratch really, really easily. So just keep that in mind when you guys are choosing.

The pretty much last option is just porcelain or also known as cast iron. Those are by far the most expensive. They’re the heaviest and sometimes need extra bracing. Sometimes they are so big they don’t even fit in your actual sink cabinet, they’re too deep to fit your faucet holes. I’d be very careful with the porcelain. They start at $500, $600 and they go up to $1,500. They scratch really easily. Once they scratch, water collects and then you start seeing that mold line. Now, you can get that repaired but the last time I checked it cost $300 to $400 to actually get someone to come out and refinish your sink.

I personally have porcelain sinks and although I like the look of them, in many cases the white is probably the classic look. They also come in off-white and black. Mine scratched in two weeks, and the mold just kept on building and building and building to the point where I got frustrated with it.

So ultimately it’s your decision, and I just wanted to share the information with you guys so you guys can make the best decision possible. I’m always here to help you guys in the sales meetings to make the best decision for your sink. So thanks for joining us, have a great day, and keep emailing us for topics for our monthly blog session. Thanks.

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