Mine is not installed yet, but I think I can speculate about what he or she is saying. For a granite countertop, they sometimes make slotted holes (keyhole-shaped) in the bottom of the granite. A series of bolts can then go in the slots to hold up the sink. Soapstone is probably not strong enough to support this load. Therefore, the sink needs to be supported from below.

There are commercial products that sound like the "carriage" your fabricator is describing. I linked to the "Sink Setter" below. It is only about $30.

(Doubtless Kevin will be along to tell me that I shouldn't speculate on such things.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sink Setter

Nope...mine is installed just the way it's done in granite. No extra support. I have a Kraus undermount stainless steel sink.

Hi Firstian,

We designed our cabinets precisely so that the lip of our undermount stainless sink is supported on both sides by the cabinet box. If I remember correctly, our installer added a thin strip of wood on one side of the cabinet to offer a little extra support. I don't know whether you'd have that option.

The sink and soapstone countertop are sealed with a bead of silicone. Even had the fabricator needed to build-in some wood supports, there would've been no additional charge for this installation.

Hi,
The people who installed our soapstone put in brackets to add extra support for the sink. Our situation may be a bit different than most though as we did not get new cabs. Ours are the original that we just painted so they were not made to fit an undermount and had no lip on them for holding. I do not believe that it cost extra though. We used Bucks County Soapstone in Perkasie, PA. They were wonderful to deal with so it may be worth a call to them to check if it makes sense in your situation. HTH :o)

I was told that the fabricator would use clips provided with the sink. I'm not confident that this will be enough support. My cabinet doesn't have a lip around the edges...Granite fabricator told me they use steel supports in addition to clips. Oh jeeze, do I have to get Corian..
Will be watching this post for others comments/solutions. Good question firstian...thinking the same thing as you :o

any wood piece that spans across the two cabinet sides is a fine fine support.

The sink setter is good too because it looks like a product sold as a product, and there are many people who need that kind of reassurance which is all psychological.

Both A and B above are a larger structure than a series of individual clips (not connected to each other in a larger structure). Since they both are attached to the cabinetry, they don't need to grab onto the stone or quartz or whatever material countertop.

Any form of grip / grab onto the underneath of the countertop material has its disadvantages; therefore your sink support should have a mechanical con nection to the cabinet. Here is a description of the disadvantages of using some other method as the sole means of mechanical support: 1. Holes drilled in a countertop weaken it. If it cracks one day, you lose. . 2. Silicone is strong but is not proven to be strong enough all the time. Silicone is never sold as a mechanical fastener, by the way.

So, what this means is that "a number of clips" is a method that is less than ideal, less than the best, and not to be recommended. The clips have to be attached with some kind of glue or screws going into (new weakness) holes. Any ONE clip might be less-well-aligned compared to the others and it might end up taking a lot of the mechanical stress, and if so this then puts all the mechanical stress onto one new screw hole or one glued clip. In reality, this IS what happens.

It is possible to use glue sold as glue (that's not silicone), and which is designed to grip onto stone. But this kind of glue might work or might only work half as well as expected. Ya never know. Just put a cross bar from side to side and you will have done more work in less time.

Hth

Talked to my cabinet guy today. He also agree that additional support for the sink to transfer the weight to the cabinet is highly desirable. So he's going to build that into our design.

I know this thread is quite old, but I have just chosen a soapstone counter and am looking into stainless sinks. Has anyone experienced problems with chipping of the stone around the edge of the sink?

sandn--what sink is shown in your photo? I am also looking for rectangular...
Thanks!

Our kitchen is still fairly new (finished in mid-June) and so far no chips anywhere. We tend to be pretty rough with the kitchen, especially near the sink. I found that with a 30" single bowl sink, there is so much room that I really have to try get close to the edge, let alone getting something to chip the edge. The sink we have is

BTW, where are you, and have you selected a stone and fabricator yet?