I'm used to Belfast sinks having had them in my last three houses. My experience of stainless steel sinks is limited. The more I investigate the less I seem to know.
Polished or satin finish? One bowl or one and a half? How do I determine quality?
What criteria should I apply in choosing and recommendations of a supplier, please.
mark
satin, then the scratches wont show.
definitely :-(
Take a course in philosophy. You wont find out the answer, but you will at least learn not to ask the question in such broad terms..
Juts got to a good quality builders merchant, and pick something tat feels strong and not as soft as a coke can.
What sort you get depnends entirely on what you intend to use it for..
Finish and shape are entirely up to you.
By price. The £50 ones are crap. The £150 upwards are far better. Franke is the best make IMO. Far better quality than others I have fitted.
Find what you want, then search for the best deal on what you want. Plumbers Merchants do some good deals at times, so no need to go to B+Q etc. Alan.
Its hard to go too wrong with ss. Lower cost sinks may have thin ss and only little damping pads applied to them, the result is is feels and sounds tinny if you tap it. But they still work just as well, other than being noisy in use.
If you cant decide, better to go for 1.5 bowl. When one bowl's in use you can still then use the other.
NT
Satin. It's going to end up something like that after a few paintbrush cleanings and subsequent scrubbings anyway...
Almost. I like heavy pans and have a thin sink... I have a dented thin sink.
Probably use it for washing up.
mark
A polished one won't stay polished for long.
Depends on use. If you do washing up you need a largish one. Two can be nice for vegetable preparation but not essential. If the choice was between one large or two small I'd have the large.
Basically how rigid it is - ie the thickness of the metal. Thick costs more in materials - but may not be reflected in the price. So shop around.
One and a half. Then you can pour the dregs of mugs etc down the half while you're washing up in the one.
Pete
We've been very satisfied with our last 2 IKEA ones. First was a twin bowl with single drainer; second has a bowl and a half with two drainers. Don't know really why we changed over - the second one was in the bargain corner and gave us more drainage space, but having 2 standard size sinks is nice too.
Good thickness steel on both and the undersink gubbins were easy to fit. A cheapo Screwfix ceramic disc mixer tap on the replacement was also easy to fit.
Agreed. Never fitted a Franke, but the cheaper sinks are very thin metal & a heavy 'designer' tap will cause them to buckle and/or it will woble about.
Satin
One and a half or two
Price / rigidity. Cheap ones are bendy and thin. Better ones are more solid. Remember that adding taps on ridgid pipework will firm up the more weedy ones a bit.
Frankie is ok. Screwfix will do.
Also be aware of the nasty tricks pulled by some suppliers of cheap stainless sinks. Extremely thin sinks are sometimes braced with wood as plywood plates under the bowl and a softwood bar beneath the tap hole.
These sinks can feel rigid, but they don't last well.
Most taps come with flexibles these days. Heavy taps +long spouts + flexibles = much wobble about on weedy sinks
Most 1.5 bowl sinks need a 600MM base cabinet or larger so that is one thing to watch - stainless steel is durable and not too expensive and has massive variations in design, hence its popularity.
I would insist on a sink that has at least 0.8mm steel - most are 0.6 and this gives them an alarmingly flexible feel. They don't make em like they used to.Tthe 0.8mm sinks are a great asset if you have a particularly tall or heavy tap as they don't flex nearly so much under such pressues.
LINEN (or pre-dulled for your convenience) is not popular but is the most durable. BRUSHED is an attractive version of stainless steel but it limits the amount of sink types and matching taps that are available. STAINLESS STEEL are still the best INHO and have a very wide choice of both design and quality - also, just about evry tap available looks good on it.
Christ on a bike. The Medway Handyspam has a lot to answer for. Thin end of the wedge.
Coming soon uk.d-i-y.spammers.united.
You can strengthen a naff sink with (wait for it) car body filler and some ply offcuts (you could also use resin and mat).
Tale sheets of MDF and use car body filler to attach to the steel. That stiffens them up. In extreme cases cases cover the whole thing in a layer of glass fibre. This may end up more expensive though.
Damn. You beat me to it.
I did this when on a very tight budget and B&Q were knocking out recycled bean can steel as a kitchen sink..for about 20 quid.
Wouldn't it be simpler to just buy a decent one in the first place?
And two tap holes instead of making proper left or right hand sinks. I detest the look of the blanking cap, it's a dirt trap and gets in the way of the routine quick wipe down and how to you reliably seal the thing anyway?
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