So much style, so much function: Our kitchen sink and faucet! Plus why we didn't choose a farm sink
Thank you so much to Elkay for providing our beautiful chrome faucet and quartz sink!
Remember you can also check out other posts on this DIY kitchen reno:
- Read about our design/plans here
- See all the house before photos here
- See how we built our cabinets here.
- Read about our kitchen demo day here.
- See how we installed our cabinets here.
- Learn about our budget-friendly marble-look quartz countertops here.
- See our handmade-look tile backsplash/mosaic tile pros/cons here.
- Read how to lay sheet vinyl flooring in a complex, larger space here.
- Read about our kitchen sink and faucet (and why we didn't choose a farm sink and bridge faucet)
- Learn how to choose cabinet hardware and see the beautiful, affordable modern traditional options I considered
- See our chunky wood floating-look easy, budget-friendly DIY open shelf tutorial
- Read how we saved $4k on higher-end looking appliances
- Get the DIY built-in range hood tutorial here
- See my comparison of budget-friendly cabinet options (beyond IKEA!) here
- See my video about our cabinets, start to finish.
- See the full BUDGET breakdown here
- See the full reveal HERE!
Kitchen sink function and options
A sink may not seem like an exciting purchase, but when you were upgrading from a smaller or less functional model and consider all the options, it is actually fun to choose a new one! The sink at our previous kitchen was I think only 24" wide, which is fine in a very small space, but this is a full-service kitchen and I do a lot more cooking and dishes than that one allowed. I think the previous remodelers did that to give more counter space, because there’s not a lot of that either, but honestly a lot of the counter space around the sink was just taken up by dirty dishes that didn’t fit in it! So I knew I wanted a larger, full size sink, 36".
At our last house we did an acrylic farmhouse-style sink, single bowl. I knew I wanted a farm sink there and looked at the IKEA options, but for several reasons (read this blog post) chose to go a different route.
I really loved love that the sink we chose there was single bowl! We fell in love with having a big space where you can put a full baking sheet or pan without needing to tip it. I think the divided sink is great if you do a lot of dishes by hand and need to fill up one side but not the other, but we don’t really do that.
But I wanted another upgrade… I had seen in somebody’s Instagram stories about features she loved in her new build home that she chose an off-center drain which made the sink so much easier to clean, because you can just spray everything over to one side. I went looking for one of these and found the perfect thing by Elkay.
This sink is quartz, which is beautiful and more durable than acrylic or ceramic coated steel, and looks so much nicer than stainless steel. So much nicer. It's dreamy. It's almost buttery. It has a matte texture, so sleek. (I love that it comes in different colors, too; one of my friends recently used Elkay’s black quartz sink in her modern kitchen renovation and it looks so cool! Imagine if you had black honed granite countertops or something...!)
The white was perfect for us and is actually not pure white; it is really close to the color of our gently off-white Calacatta marble-look quartz countertops! So perfect!
We also really wanted an undermount sink, just so much easier to clean and a great look, smooth countertops and no bumps up from sink edges (inevitably with dirt around them, let's be honest). Our countertop installers attached this sink for us, no extra charge, when they installed the counters. It’s mounted with brackets and I think may even be secured by the plywood under the 2cm slab at some locations.
Classic kitchen faucet style
So… You probably have also noticed the faucet!! I debated seriously about what type of faucet to choose! I was all over the place. We have a historic home and a few more traditional elements, so I was really close to going with a bridge faucet (3 or 4 holes, hot, cold, and main spout attached with an H bridge).
Instead, this one was perfect--I love the extra detail that makes it feel a little more traditional, but not overly frilly or Victorian. The single hole/handle style is more modern, but not as modern as the most common style you see in new kitchens: a straight-sided or angular faucet with standard pull-down sprayer and handle on one side.
Having just one handle really is easier and more functional! I was a little worried about having to turn on the hot with my left hand if we had gone with the bridge faucet style. Also, some bridge faucets don’t have a pull-down sprayer and so you actually have a fourth hole which is a matching sprayer… The countertop people would have cut or holes for me, but I am so glad I didn’t go that way for another reason: cleaning! So much easier to clean around just this one hole! And counter space! Because we don’t have a huge kitchen or counter space, it’s really nice to have all this extra space around the sink where we can put our soap bottles. Less clutter is a good thing!
If you do really want a bridge faucet, this Explorer model by Elkay also comes in a bridge style, and it has a pull-down sprayer in the neck as well, so you only need 3 holes! I really considered that one, too. I think it would be better in a bigger kitchen than ours. It is tall and has exra width, so has great presence (which we didn’t really need).
But more on the looks--this goes beyond function! This faucet is a beauty. I ordered polished chrome, which does not match the light fixtures or cabinet hardware we'll be using, but I am all about mixing metals. Plus, we have the original door hardware in most of our house and it is antique brass on the dining room/hallway/other room side and chrome on the bathroom or kitchen side. Polished chrome was used traditionally in bathrooms and kitchens where it could be exposed to more water, as it was more durable. (I do see brass faucets nowadays in more traditional-looking spaces, but honestly they’re probably false history, as chrome was a better metal for plumbing for most of modern history. Sometimes those kinds of things matter to me and I didn’t want to throw in a fake old-looking thing. But I know I overly worry about that sometimes. :P)
Now that it is here I just think it is so perfect! Look at it shining in front of the window, stately and functional and just what this white space needed!
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