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Undermount sink granite cut-out, how narrow?

17 years ago

Is there a rule of thumb just how narrow the front and back edge of a granite counter can safely be when installing an undermount sink?

Comments (11)

  • 17 years ago

    My front and back are 4 inches deep. I think it depends on the granite installers and their level of confidence and knowledge. You certainly don't want to risk breaking your beautiful new granite during transit or installation.

  • 17 years ago

    Annie,

    Thanks for the reply. I don't want to mail order a $300 50lb sink, only to find out that it's too big and have to ship it back.

  • 17 years ago

    My installers said no less than 4" and they preferred 5". I have no seam at the sink, and it is 2cm granite which is fine once it is in place, but I'm sure they were sweating it getting it down on the plywood. I ended up with 5" in front and 4" in back. Less in the front would have been nice, but by the time you account for an overhang, and placing the sink in the cabinet with room for a tilt-out in front (which I was determined to have) I needed 5".

  • 17 years ago

    Muscat,

    Thanks for the advice. My granite will be 3cm and the counter is 25" deep w/ 19" deep undermount sink cut-out, leaving just 3" front and back. Maybe it should be rod-reinforced?

  • 17 years ago

    If my cabinet is the standard 25" deep, (34 1/2" cabinet) then the ticor which is 20 1/2 deep would NOT work? ?

  • 17 years ago

    Aren't standard cabinets 24 inches deep (outside dimension)? I'm struggling with the same sink decision. Our Kraftmaid cabinets are 24 inches deep and have 3/4 inch thick wood, so the interior measurement is only 22.5 inches.

  • 17 years ago

    It seems like many of us are in the same boat w/ respect to counter to sink cut-out space.

  • 17 years ago

    Anything bigger than 2 1/2" is fine, we done many which are like that, some are even smaller.
    But for 50lb sink like yours, you have to build some kind of support.

    what's scary are those big deep top mount sink, you will only have around 1 1/2" left on the back of it.

  • 17 years ago

    I feel the smaller the better ergonomically. I tried to get the front edge under 3" wide, but the fabricator said he didn't feel comfortable with less.

    The front edge on our granite is 3" with a seam at the center of the sink. The granite is ~3/4" thick. The sink is 16 gauge in a double bowl configuration. The width of the sink opening is ~31 1/4". The cabinets are framed vs frameless.

  • 17 years ago

    Graniteoutlaws,

    How do you recommend they build a sink support structure? Should they also rod-reinforce the narrow strip of granite in front and behind the sink?

    Thanks!

    G S.

  • 17 years ago

    the only times we did use support for sinks was for cast iron sinks, which were really heavy, like 90lbs. We never came cross problems like this, we didn't have anything else to use. So we used 2-3 2x4"s. And built kind of like a frame to support the sink in case it gives the granite too much pressure.

    For your case, since you are using stainless steel sinks, it's not super heavy like cast iron, it will hang by the plywood. Add cleats on the side of the cabinets so that cabinet actually handles part of the weight.

    But now the market has something called undermount sink setter, I never used my self, but it looks like a easy tool, search around and see what other people say about this, and maybe you could use this.