Sink Woes

Why are we looking at my kitchen sink, you may ask?  Well, because my sink had a boo boo.

For the record, I have a composite granite, under-mount sink, covered by a granite counter top.  One of the things I love about the sink is that it looks like stone and cleans like a dream.  Stains? Cast iron skillet scuffs?  Take the rough side of the sponge and some detergent to it and it’s all gone!  Love the sink!

In late August, Steve and I joined his family in Colorado for a few days.  Upon returning home, I found the sink on the left with a dark stain all the way around going up about 2/3 of the way to the top.  Almost like someone had soaked their jeans and the blue of the denim had left a stain.

My son had out of town guests while we were gone, so I have no idea what happened.  But I wasn’t worried.  This sink cleans like a dream, remember?  So I grabbed the sponge, got some detergent, and with the water running, started to scrub.  True to form, the stains went away, but the cleaning process revealed something else.

At first I thought it was just a scratch.  Sure, I was disappointed, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

So, I needed to defrost some vacuum sealed meat for dinner, so I filled the sink with water and dropped the plastic-sealed protein into the sink.  I prefer defrosting meats this way instead of using the microwave.

Then I remembered the scratch, and just to be sure, I opened the cabinet and ran my hand along the bottom curve of the sink.  Scratches aren’t supposed to leak, are they?

I didn’t think so.  Shoot!  Now what do I do?

Not a problem.  The kitchen store where we had purchased the sink 2 years ago filed a claim on our behalf under the manufacturer’s limited lifetime warranty and we received a replacement sink, free of charge.

Of course, installing the sink came at our expense.  And I was scared to death that there would be damage to the counter and the backsplash.

So I called someone, who said they didn’t do that but recommended someone else, who recommended someone else again, who recommended…you get the gist.  Five recommendations later, I spoke to Dave from Rapid Restoration, who said he’d come take a look and let me know.

Dave and his colleague came by without charging me a service fee and told me he was pretty sure he could get the old sink out and the new sink in without endangering my counter top and my backsplash, sent me a quote a few days later, and with our acceptance of the bid, scheduled us for the repair.

I was concerned with how high the bid was, so I verified that they were bonded and insured, and checked references.  Turns out it is not cheap for a reason.  There is a lot of concern about how the sink was originally installed and whether the granite could be compromised in the process.  If anything happened to the granite, it would be on them to make it right.

There were three guys in my kitchen.

Adding to the complexity, turns out the replacement sink, although the same model number, was just slightly bigger, requiring some adjustments.

On the first day, they put it mostly back together, supporting the weight of the sink, until all of the sealers dried.

 

The disposal and plumbing had to wait until the next day.

I didn’t think being without a sink would be that bad.  But I felt that even making do with leftovers didn’t suit because there would still be some number of items that would need rinsing.  I just couldn’t make myself pile dirty items in a corner until the sink was functional again.  I’m a bit anal that way.

Ok, I’m a lot anal that way.

So no food prep, at all, for the better part of two days.  Hmmmm…choosing not to cook as opposed to not being able to cook are apparently two entirely different emotional states for me.  I needed my kitchen back for my world to be put back to right.

Luckily, Steve is on the road and Sam is working nights.  I didn’t need the added stress of thinking there were people I needed to feed without being able to.  I said I was anal, ok?  And I’m Latin, and the recipient of that oft present Latin gene that compels me to feed people.

My guys throw “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” quotes at me frequently for that reason.

Dave’s team was very competent, professional, and cleaned up after themselves leaving no trace of the mess they had to make during the work.  It was worth the expense.  Not only am I grateful to find someone willing to take on the risk that came with this project, but that I found someone who accomplished the task so beautifully.

However, I did tell Dave that if anything happened to this new sink, I would just move.