Choosing The Right Fittings For Your Bathroom

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Renobuilds Guide To Bathroom Sinks Basins and Bowls

What kind of sink should you have in your new bathroom?

A single topmount sink, perhaps. Or maybe you’d prefer a ceramic square sink set into the benchtop or cabinetry.

Like all other aspects of the renovation process, the choices are wide and the quality is better than ever before.

Remember, the sink is a true bathroom workhorse. Think about how much time you spend washing hands, cleaning teeth and the time you spend leaning over it doing your make up.
The sink needs to be built well and if you have little ones, something that wont scratch easily.

As you shop, its important to look for a good balance of style mixed with affordability and functionality.

Things to think about:

Before choosing the sink, keep in mind how it fits into your particular circumstances.

During our design process and meetings we like to ask our customers questions like:

  • How will the sink fit with the overall design of your kitchen?

  • Where is the best place for the sink functionally and also aesthetically?

  • Is there enough room for the bowl you want?

  • Is the bowl deep enough for your needs?

  • You’ll spend a fair amount of time there, so is it durable and hardwearing?

OK, let’s take a closer look at the popular types, styles and makes of kitchen sink you can choose.

Options

All of sinks basins and bowls usually fall into 3 categories:

  • Topmount

  • Undermount

  • Flushmount

Topmount

 

Topmounted bowls sit on top of the bench and have been a change from traditional in bench basins of yesteryear.

As the name suggests, these bowls are installed on top of the benchtop. The “lip” or rim of the bowl should be at a suitable height for you to be able to wash your hands and clean your teeth easily, which is an easily overlooked issue when choosing a high sided bowl. The base of the bowl is sealed down to the bench top for stability and to stop excess water creeping into your drawers.

Topmount bowls are easy to install, and mass produced items are in large supply. This makes them more budget friendly than alternatives.

Also before you buy, be sure you will be able to clean right around the bowl and tap when it is installed, as some people put a bowl and tap on a small bench, leaving plenty of hard to reach places difficult to clean. 

 

Undermount

Undermount sinks sit below the surface of the bench and have been gaining in popularity in recent years.

Our clients just love the streamlined, sleek look that a well-installed undermount sink offers.

They work particularly well in stone benchtops – either in natural stone like granite or marble, or man-made stone such as Caesarstone.

To install undermounts, a hole needs to be cut precisely in the bench to accommodate the exact dimensions of the sink. Sealing is important to ensure they remain watertight.

We also make sure that there is a supporting structure beneath the sink to hold it firmly in place.

Before we start, we will check how much room there is to accomodate the basin you want, and make sure that it won't effect the cupboard space available under the sink.

Flushmount

Flushmount sinks are where the sink and benchtop form one unit.

There are no edges, lips or rims to the sink and they provide a streamlined look.

Like undermount sinks, a hole to accommodate the sink must be cut perfectly and sealed well.

 

Sink materials

So now that you’ve got an idea of what type of sink you’d like, it’s time to decide what it will be made of.

 

Stone Sinks

You can choose between natural stone and man-made composite alternatives like the ‘Integrity ONE’ range of sinks from Silestone, shown above. Choose the same colour as the bench for a seamless flow from bench to sink – in the right kitchen both look simply wonderful.

Silestone is non porous and never needs to be sealed. It has high stain, scratch and heat resistance.

Natural stones are fabulous, but be aware that they do need extra care to maintain those good looks.

Solid surface Corian Sinks

 

If hygiene is your main concern, you can’t go past a solid surface sink – usually referred to as Corian (the brand name of the DuPont product).

Corian gives you the ability to create continuous surface incorporating the benchtop and sink (often splashbacks too). There are no joins or rims so it’s harder for dirt, grime and water to gather.

You can even have a stainless steel base in the sink.

Ceramic Sinks

 

Gloriously vintage, ceramic sinks look perfectly at home in more traditional style kitchens. There are an array of colours to choose from, so you’re sure to find something to fit your needs.

One consideration with ceramic is that it can scuff, mark and chip, so extra care and cleaning is required to keep it looking pristine.

A single or double sink?

 

Whether you choose a single or double sink will depend on the functionality you need.

If you regularly need to soak large pans or trays, a large single bowl sink will work best. But if you need to do two or more things with you sink – such as rising vegetables while soaking a pan or using soapy water alongside clean rinsing water – it can become more tricky.

Double sinks offer more flexibility to perform separate tasks, but you might be limited by the size of the basins.

The choice is yours – both basins the same size or one larger than the other. Whatever you opt for, be mindful that the larger the sink, the more bench space it takes up, and a larger cabinet is required below.

And just to make things more interesting – you can even choose a triple sink set-up.

In those cases, the middle sink tends to be a dedicated garbage disposal with two regular basins on either side.

What basin will you choose?

We hope this information helps you choose the best basin bowls or sinks for your brand new  renovation.

It’s just one of the important aspects to get right, But if you do feel overwhelmed by the amount of choices and information. Feel free to call us today to organise to meet up. We would love to hear about what you have planned and help you with our knowledge and expertise. Otherwise feel free to head over to our bathroom gallery to find some inspiration.