What are drip rails for sink? Anybody have one?

15 years ago

They were mentioned in a post yesterday. I've half built my sink cabinet, which will hold an apron front sink. I'm still at the point where I can add a drip rail to prevent water from running down the front and getting the doors underneath all wet. But I don't know what they look like. Are they trough shaped, (J-shaped in profile) so the water collects in them, and then you sop it up? Are they just little flat projections under the sink?

Have any of you seen them or do you have one? How do they work?

Thanks!

Featured Answer

evilbunnie

15 years ago

Hey! I went back through my kitchen mags and found a pic of the Christopher Peacock 2002 Kips Bay showhouse kitchen, which had a lovely walnut drip rail under the apron sink. It also had a pic of a side view of the drip rail, and this was key because it explained to me how it works. Wish I could scan the pic, but I don't have a working scanner. Picture the drip rail as a piece of 1" or 1 1/2" solid stock with an ogee edge on the front. It projects about 1" from the face of the cabinet front, sandwiched between the cabinet and the sink (I don't imagine it goes all the way under the sink, but it appears that way.) HERE'S the IMPORTANT DETAIL: on the UNDERSIDE of the drip rail, there's a routered drip groove running the whole length of the drip rail, about 1/2 inch from the edge. This is the same detail that is used on the exterior window trim of old houses. On windows, the groove on the trim (which is located on the trim away from the house by about 3/4 of an inch or so) prevents rain water from running under the window sill and down the siding of the house. That's because the groove interrupts the flat plane of the bottom of the window trim, and water can't move upwards (no capillary action) to follow the groove and get to the siding. So similarly, in the drip rail for a sink, the water runs down the sink face, over the ogee edge of the drip rail and starts to run under the drip rail, until it hits the groove and can't go any further. The water then drips off the underside of the drip rail at the edge of the groove, effectively missing the cabinet front (it'll fall onto the floor tho) thus preserving the finish on the cabinet doors and cabinet face frame.

Whew! I hope you understood that. I seem to remember that Fine Homebuilding had a recent article explaining the window sill drip groove, and that illustration (if you can get it) should help explain the concept. Also, google drip groove.

SO, to recap, the drip rail does not have a channel on the top to catch drips, but a groove underneath that sits proud of the cabinet face, so that water drips off the drip rail before it can run down the cabinet front. Hope this helps!

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Comments (11)

User
15 years ago
I have looked and looked for info for you and found this thread with pics from a Peacock Kitchen to illustrate the idea. Hope this helps.....c

Here is a link that might be useful: sink drip rail
rococogurl
15 years ago
There are several drip rails of various colors and configurations in photos here

http://www.atticmag.com/category/kitchen-sinks/farm-sinks/
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While the drip edge itself may not run under the sink (though it could, if that is simpler), some other board(s) must, at least along the weight bearing sides and perhaps back, in order for the sink to be level and well-supported. The board(s) (whether solid wood or plywood) would need to be exactly the same thickness as the drip edge. I think I would use the same stock as the drip edge in order to avoid any (long term) chance that the materials would deform differently creating a cracking risk for the sink. Given that installing an apron front sink generally needs a certain amount of on-site fiddling with the sink cab, I don't think it's a difficult problem if your carpenter understands why the drip edge is wanted. Just to be clear though, a drip edge is not guaranteed to prevent water from hitting the front of the cabs. Depending on the geometry of the groove and height of the fall to the floor the water may still hit the cab, but much lower down. I would make sure the drip groove was not just a mingy little kerf. Think of the height and width of surface tension in a water glass. Make sure it's big enough to interrupt, and divert, the water's pathway. I'd make sure it was smoothed off with no little splinters to make a bridge and countertact the effect. On a style point: I usually see drip edges here that are a different finish from the cabs (i.e. stained w/ OTK white-painted cabs). There is no reason this is necessary if you like a more unified look. OTOH, if a short jolt of contrast - wood-toned, or even more daring, a ribbon of color - will enliven your space, then go for it. You can always refinish it (carefully). One final point: apron sinks are not all the same and some would provide a natural drip edge if they don't curve back under in the front. (Look under yours to see how it's made.) In that case a DE might not be necessary, especially if you have set your apron front sink a couple of inches proud of the main cab/counter edges. One of the benefits of apron sinks is that they are right up next to your body, anything that sticks out further (than the sink front) will munch away at that benefit. I would also install the sink with a good bead of (hidden) caulk under its front edge to make sure water couldn't slither its way backwards under the edge of the sink. I think I would also put a slight bevel on the top surface of the drip edge sloping away from the sink for the same reason. HTH, L.
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tetrazzini
Original Author
15 years ago
It looks like they're just square edged strips of wood, not troughed.

Does anyone have one? Do they succeed in stopping water from dripping onto the doors? I'll give it a try.

Thanks for these links.
rococogurl
15 years ago
Technically they are a molding installed to finish off the edge of the cabinet just below the sink and sometime mask the corner cut outs. They also can have decorative value, as you'll see in the way color is sometimes used for them.. (A search of drip rails will turn up all the relevant photos).

More decorative than functional but a refined detail.
tetrazzini
Original Author
15 years ago
Oh, I get it now. Thanks again, evilbunnie (which name can't refer to you since you're obviously not evil at all!) You explained it very clearly. I never knew about that exterior window trim detail, but it's clever.

Thanks to all of you for going out of your way for this. I've had a zillion decisions to make since our kitchen is a complete DIY and every little decision sets off another wave of research to be done. I'm grateful that this didn't have to become another one!
kateskouros
15 years ago
i am so confused... i looked at all the links and still have no idea what you're all talking about. does anyone have a pic? ...with arrows showing what this thing IS? oy. i'm so dim sometimes.
Circus Peanut
15 years ago
I have one! I have one! In my case, it's basically a piece of bullnosed cherry mitered at the ends and installed underneath the sink. I have some quick and dirty pix, the doors under the sink aren't finished, thus the yellow curtain down there:
marthavila
15 years ago
Circuspeanut, that looks so coool!!! Was the rail added after the sink was already installed. . . or before?
tetrazzini
Original Author
15 years ago
I don't see why it couldn't be installed after the sink was installed, but my guess is that it was built with the cabinet frame, at the same height as the sink support.

Circuspeanut, just curious: Does yours have a groove on the underside? Did you want it for functional or decorative purposes?
Circus Peanut
15 years ago
I checked and I don't have the groove underneath, darnit. I conceived of the drip rail more as a trim afterthought than anything, and my carpenter attached it months after the sink had been installed and functional. It's not integral to the cabinet at all (which is actually a re-purposed wall oven cabinet).

Had it been a professionally-designed drip rail, it might be constituted differently, I really don't know. But I'm quite pleased with it.

Hard to tell if it has really impacted dripping onto the sink cabinet doors, since there are no doors yet .. ;-) We haven't had any problems with water dripping from the front of the sink (fireclay Whitehaus 501) in any case.

Here's another longer-view shot, ignore dirty counters and cracked-open dishwasher:

What are drip rails for sink? Anybody have one?

evilbunnie

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What are drip rails for sink? Anybody have one?

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