OK, if you are a connoisseur of kitchen sinks, you will LOVE this post. If not, well…ummmmm…you won’t need your sleeping pill tonight. Just read ahead. :)
I have to say…the installation of the kitchen sink has convinced me that this will be the last sink we ever own – at least in this house. It was a doozy.
Remember when I asked your advice on the double or single sink on this post? I had already bought a double bowl sink in the lovely black granite I had been coveting for years.
I read your comments and totally succumbed to the peer pressure suggestions and decided to return my double bowl and go back to get the single bowl sink:
Ding! Ding! Ding! I’ll take it, yes sir, right now, hurry up, put my name on it, place a guard in front of it, please and thank you.
Whoo hoo!
Well, I should have known better. That’s where the good luck ended.
My awesome, fantastic Dad had offered to help install the sink, so Wednesday he came bright and early (7:30 a.m. – which is very bright and very early for me) and we checked over the new sink, then started the removal of the old one.
Yessssss!! I was so happy to see it gone! Giddy!
There was one itty bitty issue with the new sink. There were no instructions in the box (it had been the display). So when we realized there was only one hole in the sink (for the faucet), we had to figure out how get a hole in there for the lovely soap dispenser that came with the new faucet I had purchased.
On the underside of the sink, there were what are called “knock-out” holes:
They are slightly scored and there are a few, so you can pick where you want the dispenser. Since we had no directions, I looked online and found numerous sites saying you can just tap the knock-out with a hammer and the hole “just pops right out!”
Hmm. Sounds fishy. Dad wasn’t keen on the idea, but I read the directions to him and we tried it. Didn’t work. And it was stressful.
So Dad insisted on using a drill bit to create the hole instead.
But we didn’t have a drill bit just that size. I had bigger ones. Smaller. A lot smaller. A little bit smaller. Not that one.
So off to Home Depot went Dad. Came back, started drilling. And the drill started dying. It pooped out before we even got half way through the sink. We called it a day, and Dad planned on being here early and bright again on Thursday.
That evening, I went back to Home Depot (trip #614), and opened a sink to see if I could find directions. They said to use a ball peen hammer to knock out the hole. OK! We can do this!
The next morning, Dad tried said ball peen hammer. With a slight little tap, it broke off a (huge) corner of the sink.
Awesome.
I called Home Depot –- the single bowl sink is now only sold online. But I have a hole in my counter and I need a sink TODAY. No go. Nothing. Nada. I called another Home Depot and asked if I could buy their display.
Yes, yes I could, but I need to return the bad sink to the store I bought it at. So we drove to one HD, returned sink. Drove to another HD to buy a new (display) one.
But the display sink had the cutting board glued to it to show peeps what you get if you buy said sink. Glued with cement, as much as I could figure. It wasn’t budging.
The single bowl sink was not happening.
Then, I saw a lovely double bowl version with a very large and DEEP left side, and a small, shallow right side. Many of you had commented on that type of sink and loved it, so I was starting to realize I could fall in love with a different sink! Yes!
We asked HD Guy if the ball peen hammer was a good option – and there was a look of horror on his face. I think his words were, “Oh dear God, NO.”
He suggested the drill bit we were already using. NOT a hammer. NEVER a hammer.
Umkay.
One hundred extra bucks later (no clearance sink here!), we got it home, and started drilling the hole for the soap dispenser with a freshly charged drill. Two minutes into drilling, the bit was completely stripped.
We were almost there. And we had been home for approximately four minutes.
So I left, again, headed to Home Depot. Halfway to the store I realized I didn’t have my purse.
Oh. Dear. Lord.
I turn around, and we all go back to the hardware store.
We get home, start drilling again. And the drill dies. Again.
I was looking around for hidden cameras. Am I on TV?
Nope. :)
So I called a friend, went to his house and picked up two drills – one was corded. (Powerful.)
It worked!!
Houston, we had a hole!!!!
I could have cried, really. It was such a beautiful hole and it only took ten hours!
So we start installing the lovely faucet and Dad asked which direction I want the knob for hot and cold – it can go on the right or the left. We’re right handed so of course, I want right, RIGHT?
But the hole for the soap dispenser that had taken ten hours to drill was in the way. It was too close to the faucet.
Are. you. kidding. me?
We tried it on the left, and I hated it. We flipped it to the front – and what the ?? I loved it! But wait, is it allowed on the front? Heck yeah Dad says!:
And I love it!! I’ve never seen in placed like that before but I LOVE IT! Hot to the left and cold to the right. LOVE.
We dry fitted it to the counter again, checking everything one more time before we siliconed around it. But when we went to pull out the sink, the brackets kept catching. Finally, we got them free, and when we pulled the sink out, there was an awful noise.
We checked the brackets and all were fine, but then looked that the sink and saw that one of them had caught the counter and pulled chunks of laminate off.
Really? REALLY?
Dad glues them down and it looks good as new (glorious laminate!) But then when we would try to adjust the sink with the silicon under it, the chipped pieces would move every. single. time. we even slightly moved the sink.
We spent ten minutes trying to fix silicone-covered, sticky laminate chips. If you would like to know what crazy feels like, this very well might be it. :)
We gave up on perfectly placed chips, and just left it alone. After tightening the brackets under the sink, which took about 30 minutes because the screws would not turn, we had an installed sink!!
Almost!
Dad came back this morning (third day in a row – I love you Dad!!) and got the plumbing reconnected.
And now we have a gorgeous, beautiful, deep (TEN inches!) sink and faucet:
Sorry, I didn’t wipe it down and make it all perfect – I am just so unbelievably giddy to have a brand new sink and faucet with no cracks, leaks or additional holes. A working sink is highly underrated!!
I got a stainless faucet to go with our appliances (I was afraid an ORB finish may disappear into the sink). The pull out sprayer is SO FREAKIN’ COOL!!!!:
We had a sprayer on our old sink, but once I get used to this I have a feeling I’m never going back to a separate sprayer!
Ignore the unfinished, dirty beadboard in the background peeps. I was just concentrating on running water. ;)
I had to say goodbye to my lovely tip out trays, because they don’t fit with the new sink:
But I do. not. care. one teeny. tiny. bit. I have a sink! And a faucet!
Amen!!
I have a plan to attach the tip out trays on the insides of the cabinet doors under the sink, and I think that will work out great anyway.
So, are you asleep yet? Helloooooo?
My grand plan was to take pictures along the way and show you exactly how to install a new sink and faucet. But 90 percent of the pictures would have been us drilling a hole and at the check out line at Home Depot.
And that would have made this post even less exciting. :)
So what say you…isn’t it GORG?! I have to send out one more shout out to my DAD – love you so much!!
Our IKEA trip today was not without a bit of drama as well, but we had a BLAST!! I will tell you more about it next week! (That place is SO COOL!!)
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