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Undermount sink in butcher block island?

14 years ago

Has anyone here put an undermount sink in a wood countertop? I've read that it is possible as long as the wood is sealed well. But is it worth the risk to the butcher block? Or would it be better to go with a drop-in sink?

The sink will be a prep sink, not an apron front. I'm planning to seal our butcher block top with Waterlox. I won't be chopping directly on the counter either. I think the undermount sink looks really cool under wood, but I can't decide if it's a risk I'm willing to take. Any experience with this, either good or bad?

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (5)

pirula
14 years ago
I have it. Going on three years. It's fine.
gailrolfe
14 years ago
alicia, I did it...I'm not even completely back in my kitchen yet so I can't offer much real life experience yet but I did make the decision after reading a lot on GW about others' experiences and even posting the question once. I got a lot of positive responses that it would work. So far I love it although I am still in the phase of reminding myself I don't have to chase down every drop of water!
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We ordered our undermount prep sink for our butcher block island, and when it was time for install, my (fabulous) GC was like, nope. Not doing it. He said the edges would turn black and I would hate it. I showed him pictures in magazines, but he pretty much refused to do it. I suspect it can be done if it's sealed right, but I'm not unhappy with how he did mine. He routed it into the wood top, so it's perfectly flush. It's not the gorgeous undermount look I was going for, to be honest, but I deferred to him because he's not just a GC, he's a finish carpenter. Here's a picture - sorry it's sideways!
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I tried unsuccessfully to talk my GC into undermounting my prep sink in my butcherblock island (from Grothouse Lumber). He just wouldn't do it - he said the edges wouldn't seal properly. I showed him pictures in the magazines, but he said no. I adore him, so I went with his suggestion of routing it into the countertop, which you obviously couldn't do with a farm sink. There are obviously ways to do this, and I kind of wish I'd pushed harder. I think you could do it - just seal the edges often. You couldn't have an oiled finish - it would have to be a poly. My finish is oiled, so I guess that's why it wouldn't have worked - the edges would have looked different. If you want to see mine, it's in the FKB.
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We put a drop-in Silgranit sink in soapstone at our last house and not one of the 100 people that came to the open house or any of the 10 that tried to outbid each other commented on it. The kitchen was a (tiny) total DIY project that we intended to live in for a while, until an ultrasound showed that we needed a bigger house. :) I was a bit concerned when all the comps with updates had undermounts and I know that some people fixate on that as being "high end" but it didn't affect our sale at all. Butcher block, like soapstone, has a more rustic (not sure that's exactly the word I'm looking for) feel to me and I doubt that anyone who finds the look appealing would discount the value of a wonderful sink and well thought out kitchen. We're now back to square one in the new house and I'm not totally convinced that we need to attempt a DIY undermount in soapstone/Silgranit this time. Though, I do have a sink in mind that has to be undermounted so we may not have a choice in the matter.
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You can finish the edge with the marine grade poly. My husband did that with a Lyptus butcher block top he built for some friends. Since their butcher block top would be used for food prep, it is oil finished. Therefore, the color of the marine grade poly coated edge prep sink was different than the oil finished butcher block top, which was quite okay. It looks great together together and the prep sink edge is holding up very well. I have attached his website so you can see the color difference, just scroll down to the kitchen island. I don't know what type of finish you are putting on your island. If you don't intend to actually cut on it, a poly top would probably match up with the marine poly on the prep sink. However, if you oil the top, there will be a color differnce compared to the poly edge on the prep sink--not necessarily bad though. Here is a link that might be useful: Woodworking
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alicia58801
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the responses. Glad to hear you love it, gailrolfe. I tried to search GW for info about this, but must've been using the wrong terms as I didn't really find much. Hmm, back to the search...

Can I ask how you sealed your countertop? Was it Waterlox or did you use something else?
pirula
14 years ago
I used pure tung oil with citrus solvent as I wanted something completely food safe.

Waterlox will work, we have it on our floors. It's terrific stuff.
november
14 years ago
If you're sealing the island, go for it. We did NOT seal our island (we oil it), and I didn't realize this would be a problem for an undermount sink. My GC refused to install the sink as an undermount because he said he couldn't guarantee the cut edges of the wood.

With waterlox, though, you should be okay from what I've read. I love the look also - it's really nice.

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