Everything about the Kitchen Sink: How to Chose the Right Sink for Your Stone Worktop

The relationship between your kitchen sink and the worktop that surrounds it is a delicate one. You must find a balance that successfully combines function and aesthetic within your overall room design. Since you’ve spent all this time and consideration in choosing your ideal stone worktop, identifying the right sink can be the icing on the cake. 

So from different materials to different styles, we give you a run down of the kitchen sink options and when they work best!

Positioning

Undermounted

Here, the sink sits underneath the granite, marble or quartz worktop. They are a popular choice to work with stone worktops as they help to create a longer line of vision to showcase the stone. Not only this, but they are practical to use as they can be wiped directly into. This is great when you are maintaining your stone worktop by using just warm water! Draining grooves are cut into the stone itself leading directly into the sink. In this way, this style really optimises space for smaller kitchens and creates seamless lines for larger kitchens.

Overmounted

The main benefit to over mounted sinks is that they are cheaper and more straightforward to install and change. So if budget is a concern, these are worth considering. While over mounted sinks can be ideal for worktops of other materials, the durability of a stone worktop does not need to be improved by the extended reach that an over mounted sink provides. 

Butler Sink

Gaining popularity in butlers’ pantries, these sinks were designed to reduce the strain of leaning over a counter to use the sink. This gives them their distinctive ‘apron’ front and makes them ideal for smaller children using the sink. This style of kitchen sink looks elegant and striking in both traditional and modern schemes. Additionally, the very visible contrast of the sink and your granite or marble worktop looks great and is very practical to use. However, these can be more complex and therefore more expensive, to install.

Material

Ceramic

You’ll most often see a ceramic sink in the Butler style, but they are available in any configuration. Working well to provide a contrast with the surrounding worktop, think about the stone hue that you have chosen. White ceramic can bring out the light tones in a sparking quartz. Alternatively contrast the ceramic with a darker granite or marble. 

Stainless Steel

With a huge variety of shape, size and function within stainless steel ranges, this option definitely offers the most choice. When it is well maintained, steel can look great against a granites and quartz worktops of grey hue. If you’ve chosen an under mounted sink, the material is far less visible, so you may want to take advantage of the cost benefits to a stainless steel sink. 

Composite

Your composite sink could be engineered from granite or quartz, and so it follows that a sink of this material it will be as durable as your stone worktop itself. You can tone the colour of your sink to blend with your worktop. Living with your composite sink may take some getting used to as you will need to avoid the harsh cleaning products that you may have been used to with stainless steel options. 

Accessories

Of course, it doesn’t end there! We’re not going to discuss taps – that’s a whole new debate! However, you should consider the ways in which your sink can be optimised in its functionality. Think about integrated food draining and chopping facilities over the sink. These are all little things that can aid your daily life in your new kitchen.

The key factors in choosing your kitchen sink are both aesthetic and practical. Do you want to build contrast in your kitchen scheme, or would you rather create the appearance of flow? Think about your washing up, food prep and family sink use and make your decision to match. The sink is a vital part of a kitchen surface, and as experts on stone worktops at Zenstone, we are happy to guide you.