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.

"1. Is there a way to remove them well so as to salvage / sell (as well as preserve the cabinets they sit on)? 2. Is there a market for used granite? 3. Where do I go to find someone for removal?" chromaspace: 1. Yes. Don't forget safe storage as well as safe removal. An unsecured granite slab can crush a person, especially a small one. 2. Yes, but the more exotic, the better and the larger the pieces the better. I just pulled some granite for customers yesterday and they would be lucky to recover my fee from the sale. 3. I highly recommend www.homeadvisor for finding a granite removal contractor. I'd look under "granite repairs". " However, there isn't anyone anywhere that will guarantee that both the granite and the cabinets both won't suffer damage being separated." Again, hollysprings nails it. Yep, I broke the tops yesterday at the sink even though they'd been rodded and I had installed additional support. Easy enough to fix though. Don't expect granite to separate at seams easily. Properly made seams are stronger than the surrounding stone as I found out yesterday. "Along the same lines, is it possible to re-use an undermount stainless steel sink that is attached to a granite counter top?" suellen: Yes. After you've detached all mechanical fasteners, drive a stiff scraper between the sink and the bottom of the stone, then drive in a shim. Work your way around until the caulk seal fails. Scrape and abrade all the remaining caulk from the sink flange. With progressively finer grits, it will shine like new. This post was edited by Trebruchet on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 9:17

Blight is probably what is making people recommend not to reuse the potting mix. The spores that cause tomato blight (the late blight that crawls up from the bottom and makes the leaves turn brown and fall off) live in the soil and are spread to the leaves when rainwater splashes soil onto the bottom leaves. I have reused potting mix for tomatoes by mixing in some fresh compost and using it in the bottom half of the large pot. Then finish with fresh potting mix on top. My theory is the plant is less likely to get those spores if the reused soil is covered. My tomatoes always seem to get blight no matter what, but it was certainly no worse than usual. Compaction is a real problem so if you try this, use very coarse compost or some shredded wood like you would find in coarse potting mixes. Any leftover mix from last year ends up in my compost pile to (hopefully) re-equalize the spore population. I also mulch around tomatoes as soon as they are planted to reduce the soil splashing.

I'm not sure it's worth it, even if it I should possible. The boxes are, by far, the cheapest part of the cabinet. New doors/drawers, hardware, and retrofitting a new face frame will probably be almost as much, if not the same, coat, but more work.