Advice on kitchen sink needed.

[tokugawa]

My wife wants a new sink- we have a 15 year old porcelain over cast iron Kohler that has had the glaze rubbed off on the bottom on the high spots  and is hard to clean.  Other than that it has been fine.
 
 SWMBO would like stainless steel sink, but i have no way to evaluate them- and am concerned about quality- need something resistant to scratching, durable and easy to clean- some of the reviews on line are dismaying. Stuff like a dead flat bottom, so the water never drains from the corners, soft metal that mars easily, bowed surface where it fits the countertop, etc--

 Any recommendations?  around or under $500. 

[Harold Tuttle]

our corian sink is quite nice

a 500 dollar SS sink should be nice
http://www.efaucets.com/detail.asp?Product_ID=KHU103-33&ca=gpsl&CAWELAID=458565213&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CM39jYLy9rwCFaVxOgodLEcABw

[roo_ster]

For $500 a stainless steel sink should do the dishes for you.

FTR, we almost always had SS kitchen sinks.  Clean up any number of stains/sins with one brillo pad.

[AmbulanceDriver]

It's official.   

APS now covers everything, even the kitchen sink.



:D

[Marnoot]

We bought a cheapo no-name stainless steel undermount sink online 6 years ago when we remodeled our kitchen. If I ever buy one again I wouldn't buy such an unknown, but only because if it had turned out to be a lemon I'd then have a custom cutout in the not-cheap countertop that I couldn't find a replacment sink to fit.

The sink has been fine, no trouble to scrub out the occasional stain with a brillo pad as roo_ster mentions. No trouble draining, no problems with warping, and that's a cheapo one. Buy a reputable brand and I think you'll be fine.

Do make sure it has a rubberized/whatever bottom (on the underside of the sink, not in it). This greatly reduces the metallic clang and clatter from putting dishes in.

[lupinus]

Always have stainless when possible, love it.

[Brad Johnson]

Word of advice... if you have hard water, be prepared to wipe the sink down after every use.  Left to its own devices, a hard water stain will etch/discolor a stainless sink in no time.

Brad

[tokugawa]

Hard water? Yes, in spades. Calcium and magnesium.   It will not be acceptable to have to wipe down the sink after use- ain't gonna happen. Hmmm...

[Bigjake]

We spent good money on a fancy Moen stone thing.   It's a complete biatch to keep looking decent,  shows every stain unless maintained with Softsoap.   Get SWMBO the stainless one of her choice 

[bedlamite]

Elkay.

[roo_ster]

Lived on the florida coast for years with a ss sink. Hard water...more like adamantine water.  No need to wpie dry after every use unless you are ocd.  Brillo pad to clean once in a while and vinegar every once in a while.  Lower maint than cast iron and porcelain.

[Marnoot]

What Roo_ster said. As long as you clean off any hard water spots once/week or so with some vinegar, you shouldn't have any issues. We have a water softener, but my parents have quite hard water and had a stainless steel sink for years, never had any etching issues, and keeping it clean wasn't a big deal at all.

Perhaps other water issues than just plain classic "hardness" (calcium) cause the etching Brad seems to have experienced?

[RoadKingLarry]

I found out at an early age that the kitchen sink is not a good place to rebuild a motorcycle carburetor.

[K Frame]

Anotehr excellent way to keep hard water from being a problem with your stainless steel sink?

A good carnuba car wax.

Apply about once a month and your sink will be a LOT easier to keep clean overall. Car wax is also good on faucets, the stove, the refrigerator... Just about anything metal or porcelain in the kitchen and bathroom.

Do NOT use it on stone, tile, marble, cultured marble, or corian, though.


Here's a "how to" on using car wax on your sink.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-wax-stainless-steel-sink-20754.html

More importantly for you, though, are the links on the right side of the page -- How to Choose a Stainless Steel Sink, What to Look for...

Good stuff.

[Brad Johnson]

Lived on the florida coast for years with a ss sink. Hard water...more like adamantine water.  No need to wpie dry after every use unless you are ocd.  Brillo pad to clean once in a while and vinegar every once in a while.  Lower maint than cast iron and porcelain.

Brillo works, as does Scotchbrite, though you have to be careful and go with the "grain" of the brushed finish or you'll end up with odd off-grain patterns here and there (it can also happen if you get too aggressive with abrasive cleansers).  Do NOT use plain steel wool as it can embed into the finish and you'll have little rusty specks all over.  Use stainless steel or bronze wool/scrubber pads.  Bar Keeper's Friend seems to do a good job on stainless.

+1 on Mike's suggestion of giving it a wax every month or so.

Brad

[Sawdust]

Put in an Elkay sink during my recent kitchen remodel, which replaced a cast iron sink.

Thoroughly looked at all of the options (cat iron, stone, etc.), and went SS.

Happy with the choice, although I wish it had more sound-deadening material on the bowls to make it quieter.

Sawdust

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Put in an Elkay sink during my recent kitchen remodel, which replaced a cast iron sink.

Thoroughly looked at all of the options (cat iron, stone, etc.), and went SS.

Happy with the choice, although I wish it had more sound-deadening material on the bowls to make it quieter.

Sawdust

never done an add on but on uninsulated sinks i have used automotive undercoat to deaden sound   also works if you can build a "shelf" under sink and shoot some LOW EXPANSION  foam in the gap.  did i mention it must be LOW EXPANSION?

[Brad Johnson]

Put in an Elkay sink during my recent kitchen remodel, which replaced a cast iron sink.

Thoroughly looked at all of the options (cat iron, stone, etc.), and went SS.

Happy with the choice, although I wish it had more sound-deadening material on the bowls to make it quieter.

Sawdust

I wonder if you could shoot the underside with some rattle can spray on bedliner/sound deadener and help it a bit?

ETA - CS&D beat me to it by a couple seconds.

Brad

[tokugawa]

Thanks for the replies- any thoughts on the Chinese-India made vs US  SS sinks?  I have heard the Chinese metals are suspect in general, but mostly in the machining industry-  I have a lot of iron in my water also and would hate to have a rust problem in a sink, or crevice corrosion, that sort of thing. 

 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

only know of one person with a chinese sink.  they have awful water and no troubles so far and it is 5 years. hes a member here but doesn't play much but pm me if you want to see what he got.  hes got a lifestyles of rich and famous kitchen and hes rightly proud of it. and should be he did a lot of the work. his sink is huge has flat bottom almost like one section of a small 3 compartment sink. he got it online and it was a steal

[roo_ster]

Brillo works, as does Scotchbrite, though you have to be careful and go with the "grain" of the brushed finish or you'll end up with odd off-grain patterns here and there (it can also happen if you get too aggressive with abrasive cleansers).  Do NOT use plain steel wool as it can embed into the finish and you'll have little rusty specks all over.  Use stainless steel or bronze wool/scrubber pads.  Bar Keeper's Friend seems to do a good job on stainless.

+1 on Mike's suggestion of giving it a wax every month or so.

Brad

BKF is some good shinola.

never done an add on but on uninsulated sinks i have used automotive undercoat to deaden sound   also works if you can build a "shelf" under sink and shoot some LOW EXPANSION  foam in the gap.  did i mention it must be LOW EXPANSION?

I would appreciate pictures taken of the learning process that lead you to that conclusion.

[Tallpine]

You can't see the hard water spots if the sink is full of dirty dishes 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I would appreciate pictures taken of the learning process that lead you to that conclusion.

no pictures but some nimrod , much younger than me, was REAL  smart. he built a sturdy shelf under the sink making sure to get all the measurements right. he mounted the sink to the laminate countertop before setting countertop in place. when he foamed it he was typical young man  more is better. the sink rose up ripping the sink up and pulling 4 of the clips through the edge of the sink cut out. it splintered the top just enough to ruin it. didn'y hurt the mdf but the clips caught the edge of the laminate. was a 1000 dollar top. he ended up building it himself so he could finish kitchen. was one of those only one time mistakes. same guy once bent a metal door frame with that foam so he shoulda known better.  and was sober    for the sink anyway

[Scout26]

The only different between Chinese and US steel that I know of is that when we bought Chinese steel (for paint cans) it would rust much, much faster both sitting on pallets waiting to be cut, and after we had made it into cans.  Like badly rusting within a month or so after arrival in the US.  The US made steel would go 6-8 months before we even begin to see spots.

I'd go with an American brand like Elkay or Kohler.

[brimic]

I'd go with an American brand like Elkay or Kohler.

What he said.