With our new sink and counters installed, it was time to make the sink functional. You know, so I could stop eating out 3x a day. This is what a new beautiful, but non-functioning sink looks like.
We stopped into Home Depot late one night, and looked at all of the strainer options. We investigated a bunch of them, checking reviews online and cross referencing with the product in our hand, looking for build quality - a good weight and solid feel. We had to buy two of them, because we chose to go with the double sink (a personal preference of mine), so we had to keep that in mind. Guess what? Sink strainers are expensive. I mean, I guess they’re important and all because no one wants a leaky sink, but I was appalled that the solid, Kohler-branded strainers we deemed acceptable were $50 a pop.
Seriously, does the picture above look like it demands $50? I didn’t think so, either, but alas, it was a necessary $100 chunk out of the total kitchen budget. They’re brushed nickel, to match the faucet we picked out (and our kitchen knobs). This is what it looked like when we laid out all of the strainer contents:
Installing them was super easy. These are the tools we used:
The putty we used had to be safe for solid-surface materials, so that took us back to the hardware store to get the right one. A project isn’t a project around here without multiple Home Depot trips. (Maybe we have a learning curve?) We needed petroleum-free so it wouldn’t stain.
Matt loosened the putty up a bit so it was pliable.
Then, he laid it around the base of the strainer. It was like using play-doh so it wasn’t too difficult to work with.
The strainer was pushed down into the sink hole, and pressed flush so that the putty came oozing out.
Next, we looked to the underside of the sink and screwed the screws into the strainer itself, essentially tightening what we just pushed down for a water-tight fit.
Side note: I love when Matt reads my posts aloud to me.
Matt: “‘Screwed the screws?’ Really, Amanda?”
Hey, I’m not a technical writer and he does the plumbing. What do you expect?
The cabinet under the sink is gross. I get the heebie jeebies being under there.
Once the screws were screwed, (ha - there I go again) the putty really squeezed out, and we trimmed the excess with our fingers.
We decided to do the plumbing underneath when we install the faucet, so that’s a post for another day. I like how they’re clean and simple, and although they set me back $100, (seriously, the most boring $100 ever spent) we know they’ll last forever. That, to us, is worth the extra money.
There you have it. Our strainers are set to go and next up is the new faucet that I’m sort of obsessed with. It’s just so pretty. Can’t wait to show you.
Hope you have a great weekend!