Kitchen Remodeling?
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 at
3:06 am
What’s better to go with for functionality and return on investment – Stainless Steel sinks or other (enameld like in a bathroom)? I say other becuase I don’t know what types of materials sinks are made from.
Actually there are several types of sinks available these days. The design and layouts of the sinks can come in a wide range of patterns to meet anyone’s needs. Deep and wide, to shallow and oblong, you can find just about anything.
What the sinks are made of is almost a design question. Obviously most people want something durable, while others simply want something new and plan on selling soon. Either way, here are some examples of the type of sinks commonly available to the public.
Solid surface material sinks, ones that are made of the same material as the countertops, are good durable sinks and look nice as part of the overall countertop. There are also acrylic sinks available. Both are good choices when a specific color is wanted, say in a retro theme, unfortunately, they both scratch and fade from cleaning over time, because they are, after all, basically plastic. If you’re careful and try not to use abrasive cleaners, they can last a lot longer.
Stainless steel sinks are also available in many patterns and sheens. Some of them are quite nice and very durable and probably the best option from a strictly utilitarian perspective. I am not sure about them because they fade over time and that "new" shine never truly comes back like it did in the store. They tend to be noisy too because they are relatively thin compared to some other types of sinks.
Another type of sink that is available is the enamel on steel. These sinks are basically a steel bowl with hard enamel baked onto it. They are good sinks, but like one writer stated, they can be prone to chipping quite easily. They too have a very long life if well cared for.
In my humble opinion, the best sink to consider for the kitchen is the cast iron. These sinks are cast iron and are coated with an enamel type surface and although they can be heavy, they are durable, make no noise, don’t chip or scratch and take a beating and come out shiny and clean with ANY cleaner. For my money, my tastes and my needs, these are the best sinks. For the bathrooms, I would stick to the vitreous china sinks because they are just as durable and nice as the cast kitchen sinks.