how to plumb new kitchen sink unit

In an earlier contribution to this discussion, stuart noble this. I guess flexible tap connectors and waste pipes allow you to

You can certainly make some of the connections with the base unit away from the wall - for example, extending the tap connections down to somewhere where you can get at them more easily once the base unit is in position.

Unless your sink is fairly rigid, I would caution against the use of flexible pipes. Rigid pipes going down from the taps, and strapped to something structural, help to give the whole thing a much more solid feel.

But where would that be exactly? With the backing board and the sink in position it looks to me as though you have no access to the pipework, which comes straight up from the floor. Also, with an inset sink and a long work surface, the whole assembly would have to be shifted away from the wall to make the tap connections. If the taps are attached to the sink and the flexible connectors to the hot and cold feeds so that the combined length of pipe is 3-4" longer than you need , maybe that gives you room to make the connections and you can then just lower the sink into the cut out without the flexible bits getting kinked. Dunno. Anyone done it?

In article , stuart noble

Oh, that's cheating! I did one that way once and put battens in so that the backing board could be screwed from the front, but feeding the waste pipe through was a bitch IIRC.

Providing the rigid part of the pipework is bracketed to the wall, I can't see that 300mm of flexi at the top is going to matter. All taps seem to come with this type of connection now, so presumably it's the norm. Looking at the existing solid copper setup I fail to see how anyone could get a spanner up behind the sink, so I must be missing something.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion, stuart noble seem to come with this type of connection now, so presumably it's the

I was thinking in particular of my utility room, where I have a stainless steel sink of rather light gauge, and separate pillar taps (not a mixer). For convenience I piped it all in plastic piping - with the result that the pipes contribute nothing to the rigidity of the whole thing - and the taps flap about more than somewhat! Had I used rigid pipes, and strapped them to the wall or casing, it would all have been much firmer.

In article , stuart noble

My taps had 10mm (?) rigid tails about 300mm long, so the connections were not up behind the sink.

"stuart noble"

Like this one?

same here (15mm though shrinking to about 10mm at the tap body) - and when screwed in to the tap body were touching which seemed an odd design as it makes connecting to them without bending a bit tricker (I used solder elbows, I dont think you could use compression joints without bending the pipes). I was quite surprised that these tails didnt have to be done up tight to be watertight - they have o-rings behind the thread which must be sealing against the tap body but I thought mains pressure water would have worked past without it being tight?

But they would have been behind the backing board if you'd used one. I'm sure flexi connectors have made this job easy, but the exact procedure would be handy. I guess the height of the rigid pipes would be crucial, and possibly they should be offset a little to allow the flexi bits to flex in an orderly fashion when the sink is lowered.

They're usually made of fairly soft (annealed?) copper so that, once you have screwed them in, you can bend them apart a bit to make it easier to get the fittings on.

It's probably fun if you ever need to unscrew them!

In an earlier contribution to this discussion, stuart noble >> spanner that is used vertically behind the bowl.

Sounds like a good application for push-fit, then!