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Sink strainer -- next best thing to Kohler Duostrainer?

12 years ago

On the advice of my plumber and recommendations here, I ordered two Duostrainers for my new sink. Problem is, the strainers are polished chrome, the sink is brushed stainless, and I can tell that these bright shiny rings around the drains are going to look VERY OBVIOUS (not really what I want in a sink drain). The faucet is polished chrome so there will be something to match, but still. So: I could more or less stomach $40 (x2) for the polished chrome strainers, but brushed chrome is $60 (x2) and vibrant stainless, whatever that is, is $90 (x2). So is there an equally durable sink strainer in a brushed finish that isn't so expensive? There has to be, surely. Or if anybody wants to tell me that bright polished chrome rings at the bottom of a nicely muted brushed stainless sink look fine after all, that would save me the business of going through an exchange.

Thanks all!

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Comments (8)

oasisowner
12 years ago
This is probably NOT the recommended solution, but I "brushed" mine - I got out one of those copper scrubbie things and scoured the rings and strainers. They look brushed now.
northcarolina
Original Author
12 years ago
Oasisowner -- ha! It had occurred to me that after about six months or so this might be a moot point. I don't think I could bring myself to scratch them up on purpose, though.
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jess111, I don't remember seeing SS there at HD but again, I wasn't looking for one. Although, now when I think about it, there was another kind, perhaps bronze? Anyway. I did not see it at Lowes or Menards though but maybe your stores have little different inventory. Perhaps you should go to HD, see what they have and how you like it. I don't know how prone to scratches it will be but my old sink had regular cheap PC strainer and it looked ok. Not the best, the whole kitchen was a mess, but ok enough I wouldn't worry about it. I guess it you have a lot of heavy pans like cast iron etc. and use them very often, the scratch resistance may be more important to you than to me. I cannot compare those two materials as I've never had a sink with SS strainer but all PC strainers were good enough. You may check the manufacturer's website for your sink and see if it comes with a strainer or call the granite place directly. My understanding is that most sinks come without one (I guess just to make us make one more decision).
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Ha, I asked this same question when I was buying my Duostrainers. I will give you the same answer I received: a chrome strainer will look just fine. My main sink is brushed stainless (Kohler) and I was worried about how bright the chrome Duostrainers looked next to it when they arrived. But once everything was installed, they looked perfectly normal. There is no need to spend the extra on stainless strainers in my opinion. My secondary sink originally had a less expensive strainer that my plumber provided, but when we had to reinstall the sink into a replacement countertop (another story), I changed that one out to a Duostrainer as well. It wasn't so much the function since we don't generally fill that sink up with water, it was that the Duostrainer looked so much better than the plumber's strainer. Even he commented on how beat-up his looked after just a short time in use. (He is a big fan of the Duostrainers; I just hadn't bothered to order one for the second sink the first time around.) So for looks comparison, it just depends on what the Ticor comes with, which is probably much nicer than the one I started with. Not knowing what kind of strainer it is, I can't compare function either, but I think the Duostrainers are just great. And that is coming from someone who thought $40 was a lot to spend on a sink strainer. I'm glad I bought them anyway.
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We have the Kohler "Vibrant Brushed Nickel" finish on both our faucets (Kohler Vinnata for main/cleanup & Kohler Fairfax for prep). The main sink is also a Ticor. I think they look just fine together. (Our prep sink is a Kohler SS.) I also think Brushed Chrome would look fine so I'd decide on which finish I liked for the overall effect in my kitchen. I don't have the hot water faucet, so cannot comment. I also didn't use the InSinkerator GD flange, I used the Kohler SS flange instead so I can't compare the finishes. Actually, I used the Kohler SS DuoStrainer in both the prep sink & the non-GD side of the Ticor (small bowl). Here's the Kohler BN Vinnata w/the Ticor SS sink: And the Kohler BN Fairfax w/the Kohler SS sink:
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User
12 years ago
It's at the bottom of your sink. You will never notice. Ever.
dseng
12 years ago
No one else will EVER notice. And I'd hazard a guess that if you look at the SS sinks of three of your friends' houses - they have polished chrome sink strainers. This really isn't worth the worry - there are millions of SS sinks out there with chrome strainers and no one ever looks askance at them.
northcarolina
Original Author
12 years ago
Overthinking again, eh? [laughing] Thanks for the reality check, hollysprings and dseng. Wonder who buys the $90 stainless ones, then.

(The chrome ones are REALLY shiny...)

Probably I am worrying about everything because our normally-dependable handyman has left all his tools here and disappeared. I am worried about him more than the kitchen at this point.
willtv
12 years ago
Here's a shot of our Blanco Super Single sink in brushed stainless,

We don't have a strainer, but do have a Waste King GD.
The ring on the GD is chrome, so it's pretty shiny, or at least it was when it was new.
Now that it's been there for 18 months, it blending pretty well.
Don't sweat the small stuff ;)
northcarolina
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks, willtv, you are always encouraging. :)
David Bremner
last year
I know this was 10 years ago... but on the overthinking it, who cares about this stuff front... Kohler now has a version of this which costs $538 (in Canada)... I mean that's utterly insane - no kitchen sink plug is worth that.

Somebody should make a sink out of fibreglass laminated $1,000 bills to go with the $538 strainer!

Rolling eyes.

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