Is a Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink Right for You?
Before you can decide if a stainless steel kitchen sink is right for your kitchen, it’s important to know what stainless steel is. It’s an alloy steel containing at least 11.5 percent chromium. Besides chromium, stainless steel often contains a number of other elements.
Today, most kitchen sinks are made of stainless steel. Stainless is the old-time favorite in the kitchen. Stainless steel kitchen sinks are durable and easy to clean. But that really depends on what grade of stainless you get. There are various thicknesses and grades of stainless steel, as well as many different styles. You can tell the thickness of a stainless steel by its gauge. The lower the number of the gauge, the stronger the sink is. The least expensive stainless steel kitchen sink probably would be about 22-gauge and 23-gauge. If you buy a stainless steel sink, don’t go any thinner than 20-gauge steel. 18-gauge is the best marketed for residential use and 16-gauge stainless is used for commercial purposes.
Stainless steal sinks are easy on dropped dishes and glassware, can handle hot pots, come in many sizes and shapes, and are easy to care for. Advances in technology have made them corrosion-resistant and less noisy. Prices on stainless steel kitchen sinks can range from $100 to $500, depending on the gauge and the size of the sink. The lower number of gauge is better, but such sinks are more expensive.
Single and double bowl stainless kitchen sink. Stainless steel kitchen sink always come in variety of styles. Single and double bowl sinks is the most common styles for stainless steel sinks. Two bowl configurations are gaining popularity. This arrangement allows you to separate clean dishes from dirty ones as well as from waste materials.
Undermount stainless kitchen sinks. Undermount stainless sinks are fastened to the underside of the counter. Undermounting is done on countertops of solid surface, stone, and sometimes tile, but never over plastic laminate. With undermount stainless steel kitchen sinks, the countertops have no lip or raised edge around the sink, so that food scraps and liquids can be more easily pushed from the countertop into the sink.
Related posts:
- Undermount kitchen sink styles
- What you should know before installing a kitchen sink
- Single Vs. Double Bowl Kitchen Sinks
- All about kitchen sinks
- What sinks are made of
