I just went through the same anxiety when my sink went in and I held up my faucet! Mine has a dramatic Victorian arc and I was like "oh no" even though I had the same faucet and same sink mounted at same levels in last house. Yesterday our countertops went in and it doesn't seem that drastic.

I think it is going to be okay. Really I do. I never had problems with splashing, like some GW posts will lead you to worry about. It is going to be okay. And when you are rinsing a 5 gallon bucket from the garden, you will be smiling.

I just realized my apron front sink sits lower than my previous sink after it was installed yesterday. Our countertop should fit flush because the cabinet was modified to fit the sink and the sink sits at the top of the cabinet. I guess I just have to live with it.

Raise the cabinets' heights by lengthening the feet underneath them all.
Now is a great time to do this.
It keeps the countertop as thin as it is today.
It brings everything inside the cabinets up to a higher level, and that too is great ergonomically.

Agree with David...
How high is your countertop going to be, currently?

I also agree with David. DH and I are tall, and I would sometimes get a backache after a long day in the kitchen. We raised all our counters to 39" with our reno and we love it! Not saying you have to go to that height, but now IS the perfect time to raise those lower cabinets so all your counters are more comfortable.

In case you're wondering... I'm not worried about resale with our higher counters. First, because we have no plans to move, but second because even people much shorter than my 5'11" height have told me that they love the height of our counters.

It's not for everyone, but it would be great if you can make your new kitchen comfortable for you and your DH.

Various issues.

- Your ideal counter height. Lots of threads on this, someone will remember the ''test'', but basically stack boards on the cabinets to simulate the final height of your counter and pretend you are prepping, see how comfortable it is. If you use a raised cutting board, include that. My counter is just under 38'', I use a thick butcher block board with feet, and the height is right for me (6' w/ iffy back).

- Distance from counter to upper cabinets. Where do your appliances live, will you have enough height for your blender and mixer and coffeemaker (current and desired), will the space ''look'' cramped, will there be enough light?

- Height of sink bottom. Deep sinks can be tough on backs, also lots of threads on this. Some people compensate with a sink grid but I think it's better to get the height right.

In your case, would you consider raising just the sink, and having the lip of the sink flush with the countertop, or even raised 1'' above it, rather than being undermounted? It can be an appropriate look for an older house and the style of sink you have, in my opinion. That would let you adjust the sink height and the countertop height independently.

Oh, on the faucet, it does not seem too high to me. In fact, if you end up raising the sink, you may be glad to have chosen a tall faucet.

I found these pics of farmhouse sinks in built-up installations. It is a vintage, period look - to my eyes.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PI9AgwaTqf4/SstwpxNMHGI/AAAAAAAAB60/DKJ4vmlqfb8/s400/farmhouse-sink.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QYaYGSTUIDk/S6qT0Oyp6QI/AAAAAAAAGdQ/LmWDmGhwb8w/s1600/100_6046.JPG

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_aA8yTG1XloI/SOiyKLKz-gI/AAAAAAAAJAY/8SCY97r6WIU/s400/MTI_MCCOY_Farm_style_kitchen_sink.jpg

Thank you so much everyone! Due to having so little time before my contractor comes over, I'll just say this for now:

The cabinets' heights are supposedly standard, though I don't know what that is. I'll measure in a little bit here.

Our upper cabinets do indeed sit lower down than most, so there wouldn't be a whole lot of room for my somewhat tall coffee maker if we changed things too much. There is a little wiggle room though - after standard height countertop goes in.

If I were to ask him to raise all the cabinets a little (I'm not sure how I'd ever determine what that proper height for us would be but I could certainly try), and I were to raise them by the feet as a few of you suggested, how cumbersome would this be for my contractor considering he's already screwed the cabinets into the wall? Is it no big deal to unscrew them, do you know? I'm trying to visualize how you'd raise the feet (?).

I left him a voice mail just now, poor guy. :( I hate being this way! I asked him to hold off on more work until I get back from an errand I have to go on which will take 2 hours. Maybe I shouldn't care, but I hope he's not too annoyed w/ me at the thought of having to wait around a couple of hours and then possibly make changes.

Thank you thank you!

Answer: unscrewing is the easiest imaginable operation.

In fact, the whole operation, of having higher feet, will be easy, and
probably exciting for him since he gets to do something "custom"!!!

(That's humor) and I'm sure the industry people had a laugh at that one.
It's not customization in any significant way. Not at all.

hth

Don't feel too badly for the contractor. It's really no big deal to re-install the base cabinets as long as you don't mind paying for the extra labor. Our base cabinets were installed incorrectly, which was the straw that led to us firing our GC. I hired a carpenter to correct it and it took him a full day to take the cabinets out, cut half of them down and shim the other half up and re-install. His initial quote was $300 but I could tell it was a bit bigger job than he thought so I paid him $400. This was 5 cabinets all 36" or wider. HTH.

Theresse,

I can't speak to the functionality of your sink height, but I can say that the sink/faucet combination looks beautiful! The faucet is fabulous and doesn't look at all to high in my opinion.

Oooh: I think I remember those gorgeous uppers from the old house forum (where I've only peeked around, but need to hang out more).

I have a similar set up with my 80 year old cabinets, plus a few new lowers designed to mimic the originals.

When I lean against my Shaws, the top lip is about 4" lower than my bellybutton. I'm 5'6" and wouldn't want it any lower.

It looks like your lowers will be painted? If yes, then raising the sink is pretty easy. My Shaws is sitting on shims to make it the right height and levelness. You could raise the sink a bit, and increase the height of the cabs by adding to the top of them. This would need to be covered with trim, or the thicker wrap of counter as you have described.

Experimenting with shims:

The gaps around my Shaws were then covered with Bondo (by me). The sink is completely snuggled into the opening now.

Bondo sink, before paint:

I love my undermount sink, and would never, ever want it upmounted. But upmounting would be an easy way to raise the sink (assuming you do have painted cabs.)

RE: the faucet height. It will probably be fine and very functional. However, if you don't like it later, can you change the spout part? I can't tell from your photo which faucet you have. Mine is by Chicago Faucets, and the spouts are all interchangeable. Mine is "flat" but if I wanted a gooseneck in the future, I could easily change it. Can you do that?

:-)

francy

If I remember correctly, to determine counter height you measure from floor to your elbow, bent at 90 degrees, and subtract 6". Then you duke it out with your SO to see who compromises, and how much. :)

"Standard" is 36".

"Snuggled." The absolutely perfect description.

"Then you duke it out with your SO . . ." The other absolutely perfect description.

FYI everyone - the top of the sink is just short of 34 1/4". My contractor said the countertop will be another couple of inches. So it all sounds standard. Too bad I'm not!!

davidro1 - thanks for putting my mind at ease re. how difficult the work is!

Cheri127 - not sure I want to pay $300-$400.00 more. Hmmm...

Nutheroikie - thank you! :) I love the faucet, still (was so worried I wouldn't love it when I got it in person but it's grand).

bayareafrancy - I'm 5'6 too and my bellybutton is 5" above the lip of the sink. Haha. Darn! ;) Thanks for the shims idea. Yes it will be painted. Kind of a pity though cause due to a door that can be swung open to hit the cabinet doors/faces, I feel forced to go with a higher-quality/harder wood for the faces and doors (inset). That means more money...but it seems a pity since the they'll be painted! But I don't think unpainted wood would look good with painted uppers. I don't want an upmounted sink either (no way - I want to be able to clean more efficiently for the first time in my life!). As for the faucet parts, they are interchangeable (within the same company of course) and the company that makes it is Jaclo: http://www.jaclo.com/products/sub_category?cid=123

They do have a gooseneck that isn't quite so high, but it doesn't come with the built-in sprayer as this one does - and I really like having a sprayer but no holes in the countertop. :)

willis13 - interesting. I got my 8 year-old to measure the height from the floor to my elbow and while I'm not sure how well he measured, it ended up being 42" so after subtracting 6" it's at standard height! But the problem isn't the counter - the problem is how low the sink is. But the grid might help a little.

I think I'd be very happy if everything were up an inch or two. I'm not a tall person (though my husband is something like 6'1 1/2) but again, both my husband and I have tall torsos. I'd look really normal if I walked on my hands I think. ;)

I'm really stuck! I don't know what to do. Now's the time, and yet it will cost more and will postpone things more and maybe I'm being too picky. Or not. Shoot.

uummm...and I'm not too bright about this stuff...but could you make the sink rim even with the countertop? That would add the inch or two you're looking for.

weedmeister -

I wondered about that but in the end, it would mean the sink were no longer undermounted (just flush) and that would - I imagine - mean there would be exposed calking?

Anyone know of any pics that show a sink like that?

Furthermore...I next have to decide how much sink to expose if any and what the pros/cons are. A friend of mine has the same sink and her undermount style has the sink edges totally hidden. She has a bad side (the side closest to the faucet, due to all that water splashing back there I guess) that looks grown and icky. While she needs to re-calk there obviously, the advantage is that guests don't have to see it. I do like that idea!

I've also seen a pic or two of others' Shaws sinks that people have chosen to show just a little bit of edge. I seem to recall reading that one person those that both for aesthetic reasons AND because the edge of her [soapstone?] was at risk of chipping without having some of the sink edge exposed to help buffer it. At any rate, that look is also nice. I'm wondering how the calking issue is there though and also if food ever catches there when cleaning off counters straight into the sink.

I spoke to my contractor (he's not coming today at this point) and he said it would be cheaper to just raise it from above and hide the plywood w/ bigger facing there. He's concerned about how it would look but said if it's only an inch or an inch 1/2 it shouldn't look bad. He thought it could cost me about $250.00. Not sure how I feel about that. Why is this decision such a PITA?!

Theresa,

I only see 3 cabinets on that wall including the sink cabinet that would make it fairly easy to remove them, build a 2x4 fram below them that will increase the height of your cabinet 1.5".

It's difficult to tell with your photos but it looks like you are keeping the uppers now in place? What is the distance you have from the top of the cabinets to the bottom of the uppers? Any change you make that affects the height of the bottoms is going to make that smaller. Do you have that space to give?

What about exchanging the sink for one that is shallower? I know that it's a thought to cringe from but if that's a possibility it might be the easiest course.

The top of my sink is 35.75 from floor. With counter, total is 37.

If it were me, I think I'd go with building up the cabs from the top, and covering the "build up" with trim. Once it is all painted, it won't really show, and then your counter can have the thinner look that you desire. (Well, ideally I guess you'd increase the height from the bottom. But I don't know about the cost, and I have to choose the cheap option. YMMV, of course.)

My sink has a negative reveal of 1/16" and I wouldn't have it any other way. I know a lot of folks here on GW have a positive reveal, b/c they like to show the pretty top lip of the sink. But I have a deep loathing of visible caulk, and I have just never seen a caulk job that made me think, "Ok. Sure. I can have that band of caulk showing." Especially a few years (and a few food stains) down the road. Again, I'm probably in the minority on this. But my eyes see caulk! You need to decide what your eyes see. :-) My cabinet guy tried to discourage the negative reveal b/c he argued that it gets dirty/gross under the edge where you can't see it. Um...I actually wipe down my whole sink every night (and throughout the day), and so I don't let the area get dirty. Problem solved! Finally, the soapstone chipping issue: After 3 years, my soapstone has some chips on the edges. But they blend right in to my vintage kitchen, and can even be easily sanded out. Chips on an exposed lip of a fireclay sink are much, much harder to reapair!

Just my opinionated opinion!

:-)

(Oh--don't forget, you also have to decide how far--"proud"--you want the sink to stick out, which relates to where the counter corners will sit on the sink.)

francy

theresse, you haven't given this thread the essential information needed for you to get good advice. What are the feet made of? If they are just large screws, you turn them by hand and it raises the cabinet.
Examples of screw-to-raise
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30076319 akurum
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20049538 capita - several lengths
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/70128972 utby
They all have different ways of hiding the screw threads.
Many other options exist.
If the feet are made some other way, they can still be raised easily.

The post from cheri is not helpful to you right now, because it talked about a VERY different situation, where she had to hire a carpenter "to correct" real problems, i.e. take the cabinets out, AND cut half of them down AND shim the other half up. This is Not At All What Is Under Discussion here.