Kitchen Details: The Sink

I’ve been asked a number of times recently what my favorite project is to date, and hands down, it’s still the kitchen (so far). I especially love the area around the kitchen window: the striped window treatment, the sill for my succulents (one of the few spots in the house that gets a good amount of morning sun), the new faucet, and my ultra-deep undermount stainless sink.

I already covered all the details about the faucet in a previous post here, but I also promised at the time to eventually share the details about the sink and answer some FAQs that come my way. So, I’m back today to give you a little bit more detail about it and how I maintain the surrounding countertops. Now that I’ve been using this sink for a few years, I’ve gone through a little trial and error and found what works (and even though this post is not sponsored, there are a few referral links in here that help support this site if you were to buy products off of my recommendations, magic-internet style… for more info, you can grab details on my disclosure page).

The sink: it’s awesome. But in the below picture, it’s also dirty (I did that on purpose, just hold on a sec).

I had a beat up old double sink before, but one of the things I loved about this one was that it was a single basin and deep. It was provided to me several years ago by a local company called National Builders Supply, now more simply known as Supply.com (they are based in Austell, GA, which is where I grew up).

This exact model is made by Houzer (similar smaller version here), and my favorite part has to be the drain grooves at the bottom (for whatever reason, they just look more upscale me). I also like the curved corners, though I’ll admit that I was in quite a panic when cutting the hole into the countertop didn’t work out quite as perfectly as I expected.:

The sink undermounts to the butcher block counters, which can pose two main issues: water splashing up and leaving spots on the surrounding lip of the counters, and rust stains in the sink (you can see one in the basin below on the right side). But hey, since this blog is all about lessons learned in DIY, I wanted to share all about how I’ve gotten around these two problems and keep the sink area looking pristine.

As you can see from the close-up photo below, these are those water spots I was talking about. Usually, I’m pretty good about wiping the sink down if anything splashes out, but I’m also not the most diligent about oiling down the counter on a regular basis (I do it only every few months, tbh). As a result, stray water spots form on the counter around the lip of the sink pretty easily. From day to day, this isn’t really all that bothersome, because you can’t really see it unless you get closer.

And whenever I have wet hands or water the plants along the window sill, sometimes a water drop or two will cause the wood to show a few spots along the back of the sink area. It’s normal for butcher block to show some “character” over a few years of use, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind! Luckily, there are two products that solve these issues for me every time.

How I clean my stainless steel sink

It probably goes without saying that when it comes to cleaning, I would rather literally haul rocks first. So I make every effort to find a product that does as much as it can for as little effort as possible.

The solution that eventually worked for me is Bar Keepers Friend, which now comes in a convenient spray bottle.

I just spray the foam on and let it sit for a few minutes, then use a little elbow grease to remove rust marks, residues, water marks, old veggie grime, and anything else that falls into the sink (like stray leaves that fell off one of the plants, for example). It quickly polishes to a nice shine, and then I can move on doing things… like not cleaning the sink. End of story.

How I remove water spots on butcher block

For water spots, I use the same exact oil and wax treatment that I’ve been using since I first installed the counters: Howard Butcher Block Conditioner.

I’ll usually throw it in the microwave to nuke it for a few seconds to get the wax to flow out of the tube easier, but I apply it with either a little paper toweling or old t-shirt fabric (since it’s well-washed, it doesn’t produce lint).

I slather the mixture on and let it soak into the wood, usually overnight. Anything else that doesn’t soak in gets wiped back off (to keep the surface from feeling gummy). Sometimes, it takes a couple of applications for spots to totally disappear, but the almost always do.

For anything stubborn, I run a little bit of sandpaper over it, clean off debris, and then oil. Works like a charm.

Thanks to the deeper sink, I’m a lot better about keeping the kitchen looking more cleaned up — I know that there are plenty of folks who are Team “Beside The Sink”, but the deeper basin is great for folks like me on Team “In The Sink”! For you Team “Immediately In The Dishwasher” people, well… being perfect must be nice. ;)

As I mentioned, there was a mistake made when the hole for the sink was cut during its install; the blade bent out around the curve, cutting the underside of the corners closest to the edge a little too much. My uncle and I did our best to help hide it as much as possible (once I stopped freaking out, that is) by cutting a small sliver by hand, re-attaching with wood glue, and filling with a little walnut putty.

The color of the putty doesn’t take the oil as richly as the rest of the wood, so I might someday go back in and darken those spots a little, but I really don’t notice it anymore. It’s on the inside right corner of the sink, so when you’re looking around the room, it’s pretty much invisible because it faces away and your eyes are drawn elsewhere (plus, imperfections in butcher block that are filled with small bits of putty isn’t totally unheard of).

But anyway, one small piece of the puzzle has been figured out, and I love the view!

What’s your favorite feature in your kitchen?

For more info on the kitchen makeover and progress to where we are now, check out the House Tour pages.

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