Sink today

We have a kitchen sink! Yay! After 6 1/2 months living here, we have a kitchen sink! We can use real dishes! I don't have to rinse fruit in the bathroom sink anymore!

The plumber sent one of his staff instead of coming himself, which I was quite pleased about. The guy that was here is much nicer, and didn't yell, bully, or act like a jerk once. Of course though, nothing is simple. He had to make some adaptations in the installation because the clipes that hold the sink wouldn't work with what was under our countertop. Contrary to the way it looks, overmount sinks are not held on by their lip. There are clips underneath that support the weight and screw into the underside of the countertop.


He couldn't put the dishwasher in either because the electrical was in the wrong place. The electrician is coming this weekend, and I'll have him move it then. There was also a problem with the oven, which is right next to the dishwasher. It is not yet bolted into place, so it leans to the side and gets in the way of the dishwasher. The general contractor is coming Friday, so I'll have him look at this. The plumber also had trouble punching holes in the stainless steel sink. It came with one hole for the faucet. We need three more for the filtered water dispenser, hand soap dispenser and air gap. I love clutter free surfaces, so any time I can avoid having something out on a flat surface I do. By having the soap and filtered water, we don't need a water pitcher or soap bottle out. The air gap is an alternative drain for the dishwasher that keeps the dirty water out of the house's water supply in the event the dishwasher backs up. It's required by code, and the inspectors are very tough on this. A similar backflow protection is required on outdoor plumbing in case you use fertilizer or chemicals on the lawn.

Since the sink was quite inexpensive, the stainless steel is thin and the plumber didn't feel like he could be sure to make a good hole. He had seen them messed up before, and didn't want to mess up our sink. I appreciate the attention to quality even though it will delay us. He is going to send over stainless steel guy to do the holes. The faucet also wobbles a bit because the metal is thin. We may have a sink made in a few years - I don't think this one will last. I bought it before we were going to do a full remodel on the kitchen. I considered getting a nicer sink during the process, but I really like that this one has an integrated drain board. I don't need to have a separate dish drainer on the countertop which I like. Since it's not a standard size, if we end up replacing it we'll have to have one made. But that's in the distant future.

Here is a shot of the sink. The drainboard is to the right.

Another shot of the sink.



Today we found another dog poo right under the mailbox. It was on a 6" square pad of concrete left over from the wall the previous owner had. How did they even get him to go there? I cannot wait until my dog-repellant spray gets here! BTW - both C and I love dogs and hope to have some soon. We just don't like people who leave dog messes on our lawn!

I was really productive today, and worked a little bit on a lot of things. It really works well for me to do that. I can work all day and not feel bored or overwhelmed. Some of the taks are really tedious, like scraping paint splatters off of everything, and by tackling it in small increments I can get it done.