Undermount Sink with Laminate Countertops

14 years ago

I had my heart set on getting an undermount sink in our new kitchen, and recently decided to go with HD laminate instead of granite due to a budget cut. Can I still have my undermount sink with the laminate? Or is that a no-no?

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parsuzi

14 years ago

I have a friend who did get an undermount sink w/ laminate. Her's is actually more integrated than undermount. She does like it.

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Comments (7)

pinch_me
14 years ago
Yes, you can. There's a commercial ring thing that makes it possible.
There isn't one for a farm sink but someone on here did it with recycled Corian so that's what I'm going to do.

Here is a link that might be useful: Undermount Sink with Laminate Countertops
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I have a Karran sink with laminate counters at my weekend lake place - picture below. I've had it for a little over a year - I like it. It's in a space constrained corner so I like that I don't have that big overhang that I used to have with the cast iron sink. It seems like I have a couple more inches of counterspace on either side of the sink now. Aside from that advantage, the ease of wiping things into the sink is great and the lack of a place for gunk to build up is nice. Potential disadvantages - I'm really careful about the edge of the sink that meets the counter. You know how laminate edges like this seem to chip? I wonder if this edge would be prone to that or if it's stronger since it's attached/supported somehow by the sink? The sink does stain easily - if you want a "stainless" sink, this would not be for you. It cleans up nicely with something like softscrub but you need to clean regularly. There's another product called counterseal that also allows for undermount with laminate. I've seen on display - it looked pretty good too but had more of a "ledge" that I didn't care for - where crud would accumulate.
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Many if not all of the sinks can be purchased locally (so that's no additional cost over whatever your sink costs). They have a list of sinks that their rings work with. It is limited - you can get a sense of the options here: http://www.counter-seal.com/products/sinks. Then there is a pdf that gives you all of the manufacturers and style numbers that match the ones they have rings for. I can't find that on their website right now, but they can send it to you. You have to buy the 'ring' from them. That 'ring' comes either in a board, or just the ring. The 'in-board' has to be put on before the laminate - so that means square or bevel edge counter built by your contractor. If you want post-form laminate (with the smooth front edge), you need the 'ring alone'. This is much harder to install. The ring-in-board for my single sink is in the $200 - $250 range depending on whether you want a 'custom' or a 'stock' color. I don't see why a double sink would be more, since the ring goes only around the outside. It's less for the ring alone, rather than 'in-board' version, but the labor is much more, so I think it's probably cheaper overall to go the in-board route, unless you are a DIY person. (And I like the look of the square edge anyway, but that's just me). You should read up on their website, they have all the instructions posted. BTW - Counter-seal wont sell direct to consumer. Something about taxes, so you need your contractor to contact them for pricing. They do have some dealers, but I don't think very many, since the one they directed me to was in Idaho or something and I'm in NY. The price they gave my contractor to buy direct from them was much better in any case - not surprisingly. Here is a link that might be useful: Counter Seal
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kristine_2009
14 years ago
Yes you can, Karran makes undermount sinks for laminate counters.
kristine_2009
14 years ago
I have a question about pinch-me's link to the counter seal ring....is that only for use with stainless sinks?
3katz4me
14 years ago
I have a Karran sink at my weekend lake place. Some friends of ours just built a new cabin and I noticed they have similar undermount with laminate though they didn't think it was Karran. Mine seems to be holding up okay so far - I've had it a couple years. Here's a picture of mine.
km5tq
14 years ago
I purchased a ss undermount sink before we decided for sure on the countertop material. It was a great bargain for the 16 gage sink, so I couldn't resist.
A couple of weeks ago I called a Wilsonart HD dealer, and I was told that the the laminate material would not support the weight of the ss sink. She said I would have to go with the intergrated sink

This was only one dealer, so I'm not sure she was correct.
User
14 years ago
You can use the CounterSeal method with some standardized size stainless sinks. They have to have the template on file. It's not cheap, and you end up with a ring of Corian around your sink attached to the laminate. YOu still have seams around your sink, which is the weak point in laminate. There was a poster on here who had that fail---badly. ANd you're locked into the Corian colors which may or may not match your laminate color well. Done right, the color match looks great. Done badly, it' looks like exactly what it is, a ring of off colored plastic around your sink rim. Although there are some sources that will sell on the net, it's designed to have a trained fabricator install it. It won't be warrantied if you DIY.

The Karran process uses solid surface sinks (solid acrylic) in white or bone and the only thing that keeps the assembly watertight is the thin skin of your teeth laminate thickness. You have to have a licensed installer to do this, and it's not an inexpensive choice. Not available DIY that I'm aware of, and it's not warrantied if it is.

There still isn't a method to undermount a sink in laminate that is as inexpensive as the laminate itself. It will cost $300-$600 to be done, and must be done by a licensed fabricator to have a warranty. I don't trust any of the methods for longevity and I would not put them in my own house. Gibby's looks great, but I have to point out that it is a vacation house and doesn't receive everyday usage. I'd have to recommend that if one of your goals is to have an undermount sink, you shouldn't make do with questionable half measures in laminate. You should redo your budget to include the acrylic/stone surface that you love, plus the undermount sink---from a reputable fabricator.

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Undermount Sink with Laminate Countertops

parsuzi

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