There are companies that do car dent removal using powerful suction cups. You might contact one.

Even on t hat narrow of an area?

One more reason (among so many) not to have a divided sink. I don’t think there is much that can be done other than rebunky’s idea to hang a dish rag on it.

Is this in a rental apartment, or do you own the home? If you own the home, and this dent bugs you a lot, perhaps it’s a good excuse to replace the sink - in case you were looking for an excuse! :). Depending on the size of the sink, you can get a single-bowl 16-gauge SS (which is likely thicker than you have) sink for about $250 by MR Direct or Kraus, or the Hahn brand at Costco. Joseph Corlett, a frequent poster on this forum, and a contractor who specializes in counter and sink replacement, has said frequently that he switches out divided sinks for single bowl sinks a lot as it is a common request.

Thank you Shannon. I am curious how much of a job -- expense and work involved -- in changing out the sink (which is obviously an undermount, if I have that right... the countertop forming the boundary at the edge, etc). What about a ceramic sink? I'd have to be even more careful...

I am not sure what you mean by a ceramic sink - maybe an enameled cast iron? Don’t hunt for trouble. If you are going to switch your sink out, make your life easier (and less costly) by switching out for a stainless steel single bowl by one of the companies I mentioned above.

In a quick search, I found this thread by Joseph Corlett, but it’s about switching an overmount for an undermount. I KNOW he’s posted about switching out an undermount for another undermount; I just can’t find it right now. You can contact Joseph through his Houzz page and ask him.

Edited to add: if you scroll down this linked thread I mentioned earlier, you’ll see posts where Joseph Corlett switched undermount sinks for a new undermount sinks.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4332001/not-to-kohler-specifications

Well, it doesn't appear to be a really big dimple. Stuff does happen, and it's a part of living.
I have a dimple in my stainless fridge. I know I didn't do it, but no one else can figure out where it came from, either. just, one day, it appeared.
I'm calling it character, and calling it done. I only notice it now when I am cleaning. Remarkably, no one else has ever mentioned it. We have a lot of parties, and lots of people use the ice and water on the fridge.

Thank you Shannon and Olivia. Yes, places take on character. Or, it's a blemish and learn to love them I suppose. I'm intrigued by the idea of switching out my undermount for another undermount if it's not too much expense. Also I wouldn't do it if it were to threaten my tile backsplash at the back. I will have to read up. I suppose the single-basin ss sink would still have two drains? Or just one with the garbage disposal. That's probably a daft question.

The best you can do is press some of it out from below. A round wooden dowel type of shape about 12" long and 1/2" or 3/4" or so in diameter. Tap the dowel on the center with a hammer while someone above puts downward pressure to stop it from bouncing and can see what's going as you tap a little at a time.

John, I think you'll only find one drain in single basin sinks. The good news is, you can fit more stuff under the sink without all that extraneous plumbing.
Good luck with whatever you decide. :)

My experience with dents like this one is that unless you're experienced, you often make it more noticeable when you try to ding it out from the other side. That's because any dent stretches the metal, and there's nowhere for the extra metal to go when you try to punch it out.

If it were mine, I'd just live with it until I had a better reason to replace the sink. I'm kind of cheap, though. :-)

If you do replace it for just that minor dent, you can probably put it on Craigslist and resell it to someone less fussy. I'd buy it if I needed a sink! That will get you back a little (maybe 10-15%) of the cost of the new one.

John, if this is an undermount sink, in order to replace it, the front (face frame) of the sink cabinet has to be removed.

Joseph Corlett has posted quite a lot about tapping the cabinet frame off the cabinet & replacing sinks.

The only alternative that I know of would be to cut the sink into pieces in situ and replace with a drop in sink. The upside to this approach is that you don't have to worry about the sink matching up with the cut out. The questionable part is whether or not your existing cut-out is too large to be able to adequately support a drop in sink.

From the size and depth of the dent I can pretty much say with certainty that your not going to get it out without removing the sink , pressing out the dent then sanding and blending in the finish. It's amazing what can be done on SS- but you have to do it right. Personally, I would opt for some form of previous advice- find a scrubby pad holder or something and just cover it. Those sink dividers with flat edges are just like a bull's eye target for dings and dents.

Get a ballpeen hammer, add lots more beauty marks, and call it a“custom hand hammered sink”.

Stick a 12" 1x2 on the bottom side and give it a few whacks. It will look better. If it's not perfect, hit it with a belt sander with a 40 grit, then some 80, and 120. Maybe some 220 and a Scotchbrite to finish.

Is a 12" 1x2 a hammer? Sorry for not be conversant with things I should know about... And thank you.

John-

He's talking about a 12" long piece of wood that you would hit with a hammer. However, since it sounds like your DIY skills are pretty basic, I suggest you leave this alone. I've been doing home repair stuff for 40 years and I can tell just by looking at it that you won't be able to make that dent disappear...but there are lots of ways you can make it look worse.

The Japanese call it wabi-sabi.

Can I just say, without snark, what a blessed life you must lead to even ponder such a dent for more than a few moments. :)

Haha, now that puts it into perspective.

Wabi-sabi, I love it.

John, you're awesome. We bought a new stainless fridge and when it was delivered, the right door had a huge dent. Huge. After much anguish, the vendor promised to replace the fridge. It was winter, our driveway is really long, the delivery truck was late and I'd put everything back into the fridge, the truck couldn't make it all the way up the driveway, so we all agreed the two guys would just swap out the right door instead of the whole fridge.

My husband adjusted the fridge, we sat down to admire it, listening to the beep beep of the truck slowly backing down the drive, and noticed that the LEFT door had a dent, previously hidden by the light/position.

We laughed so hard I thought we'd pass out. I don't see the dent now unless I look.

If you don't know which end of the hammer to hold you best leave it alone. If you do try to bang it out what I wrote above and what Joseph wrote is you're best solution. Tap it from under with a 12"" or so stick not to big so you're putting pressure on the dent only. like I said have someone put presusue on top to stop from bouncing.

Get a 'Sink Divider Protector Mat'. <$7 on Amazon.

I have heard that dry ice can be used to pop out dents... just searched and found the dry ice suggestion for fixing dents in stainless steel appliances, so you might give that a try.: how to fix a dent in stainless steel appliance

I was highly skeptical that dry ice would work, so I did a bit of searching and found lots of links to YouTube videos of people attempting this, or forums where people were asking if it works, but failed to find anybody that actually had success with it. When you have a dent, it deforms the metal at a molecular level; applying cold is not going to magically make the molecules all move back to where they were before they got displaced.

I was on some job installing crown molding... there were plumbers working in the kitchen, one of the helpers was trying to remove a faucet and what ever tool he was using he slipped and put a similar dent into the side of the sink.

So his boss runs out to Staples and buys a an of Air that you use to clean out dust from your PC or what ever.

Next he took a heat gun and heated the dent real good (he said a blow-dryer would also work) after the metal was heated, he used a can of that Air spray and sprayed over the heater area and the dent popped out on its own. He said you have to use the can upside down or it will not work. The way this works he said, when you turn the can upside down, instead of the air there is a chemical inside that will come out, I think he said it was carbon dioxide, it's chilled when it comes out, so when it hits the heated metal surface the metal reacts and pops back out into its original form. He did that in 5 min and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Try it out, what you got to lose.

Good luck

Great tip ^. Thanks.

The responses here have been great! Helpful in coming to acceptance with the "dimple" and potentially in having it removed. I definitely am going to try that last tip!

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I looked at people online talking about trying to use the spray can method and, while there was a lot of talk about it, I couldn't find one YouTube video or discussion reporting success. Here is a typical short video of a guy trying it unsuccessfully on three different dents in his car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g-2QX1Kitg

And here is another failed attempt to use heat and dry ice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59cdDaK7CzA

It may have a better chance of working if you have a wide-expanse, shallow dent, rather than one like in the OP's picture where the depth of the dent is significant in relation to its small diameter. And you might have better luck when the metal is thinner gauge than a sink.

In any case, I'll be interested to hear if John tries it and what the result is. I hate to keep sounding negative, but I have some experience with sheet metal work and am aware of what happens when you put a dent in something, and then see how nearly impossible it is to get things back to normal.

Maybe it's because in all this videos people trying this on painted cars plus car hoods are made from regular steel, in newer cars they starting to make hoods using aluminium, so all the properties are different from Stainless Steel which contains chromium, so maybe this is why this will only works on Stainless Steel because it reacts differently... who knows.

Let's see if he returns and see what he will say, I'm sure he will do the same what that plumber did so it should work.

I feel like going and putting a dent in my sink and see if it works LOL but last thing I need is to hear my wife, so I will wait until I come a cross a junk sink and do a few experiments.

GN Builders- If you ding your sink as an experiment, let me know...you'll probably need a place to stay for the night ;-)

That was the first thing that crossed my mind so I put the experiment on hold until I find a sink LOL.

"John, if this is an undermount sink, in order to replace it, the front (face frame) of the sink cabinet has to be removed."

In this particular case, the cabinet front can stay. The sink will probably come out its own cut-out. I switch out undermount double bowl sinks for singles regularly. Remove any clips, drive a scraper between the sink flange and stone bottom, and out she goes. Make sure you know where the main water shutoff is please. Especially if you have PVC supply lines.