Buying a new kitchen sink

sweaty_betty

Hi - we're having a new kitchen and are planning on having granite worktops.
We're quite keen on getting an undermounted sink and wondered if anyone had opinions, good/bad experiences with them?

We like the look of ceramic sinks rather than stainless steel, but opinions wanted on that too - we will have a dishwasher so don't anticipate doing much/any pot washing in the sink.

TIA

victor2

We have a ceramic belfast sink under a granite worktop. It was fitted in a new kitchen about 6 years ago.
Very pleased with it. It does now have a few little chips in it, but nothing major. The only problem I can see is if we want to replace it one day, it will be quite difficult as first the unit was put in, then the sink on top of it and finally the granite on top of that.
However, no regrets and we'll deal with that when it happens.

We did have drainage grooves cut into the granite and it works a treat. We are careful not to get any oil onto the granite though, as that will be absorbed into the granite and is almost impossible to remove.

ryder72

Ceramic isnt the most durable material and you need to ensure careful while using it. They are know to chip and crack. Any sinks mounted under granite aren't easy to replace.

cddc

Undermount white ceramic sinks look great with black or dark granite, but as others have said, you do have to be a lot more careful with them than you would with stainless steel ones.

As Ryder says, replacing an undermount once it is in is nigh on impossible... and Ceramic sinks are prone to chip if you accidently drop something heavy in them. Stainless steel may not be as visually pleasing, but it is probably the more sensible option.

namecheck

I like undermounted sinks and think they look better than surface-mounted. However they do have a couple of other potential drawbacks.

If the edges are sealed where they meet the worktop, they can be difficult to keep clean - especially if the sealant is not absolutely smooth.

In my last kitchen I had top of the range white ceramic sinks which looked fantastic, so long as they were kept absolutely pristine. As we were in a very hard water area that was particularly time consuming.

Only had one small chip in a few years of use.

I now have stainless steel which is much easier to look after.

ryder72

Stainless steel may scratch to !!!!!!y but a buffing compound will bring it up nearly new in no time. You can also pour as much bleach into the sink as you like to get rid of stains.

On most counts stainless steel is very hard to beat.

sweaty_betty

That's great, thanks all.
On a related note, I know nothing about the "good" makes of sink, taps etc - any pointers?

ryder72

Stick with Blanco and Franke and you wont go wrong.

victor2

We used sinks-taps.com. Ended up with a Franke sink and Caple mixer tap. One thing to be aware of with taps is that a lot of modern ones have ceramic valves instead of the old rubber washer. If you have hard water, they can eventually (after a few years or more) start dripping. Look at the warranty period. Some have 5 years, so should include replacement valves if they fail within that time. You can't just go to B&Q and buy a replacement valve like you can a washer.
We've had various ceramic valves leak, including the ones we bought for the kitchen, but it was just outside the warranty!