p.s. the reason he scribed is cause we didn't have the luxury of a bumped-out sink (or "proud" sink) so he had the corners to contend with...

Hmmm, Bondo. Francy, I would love to see photos of that, if you wouldn't mind!

Thank you so much!

Our painter also used Bondo to fill the gap around our Shaw's sink. I didn't watch him do it so I'm not sure if he taped off the sink first or not. It looks perfect though!

My Porcher is caulked.

Here is a link that might be useful: farm sink install

Hasnt anyone come up with a slightly flanged farmhouse sink yet so the bottom curved edge hangs slightly over the edge of the cabinet and the cut is not such a nusiance? If not, some manufacturer should.

Before Bondo (gaps at sides, corners, and bottom):

(I also bondo'ed those gaps you see between the cabs and my beloved, droopy, saggy original douglas fir floors.)

Bondo was easy peasy to do. I taped sink. Mixed bondo stuff in a baggie so I could squeeze it out like frosting. Smoothed with metal blade. Sanded when dry.

Right curved "corner" and side:

Left "corner" plus bottom (sink was quite lopsided and had to be shimmed to be straight, so gap at one side of bottom):

I can't find any pix of it painted. But it looks great! Of course, this only works with painted cabs.

hth!

:-)

francy

Thanks, Francy, the visual really helped! :^)

Kind of speaks poorly of the ability levels of cabinetmakers or carpenters that they can't scribe a farm sink better than that.
OTOH, how much extra would any of you pay for a "perfect" install if you were told early in the process that farm sinks carried an extra installation charge. Would you still bite if it were an added $200?
Casey

SM,

I don't think it has anything to do with the ability of the cabinet makers.

Historically, most of the farmhouse sinks were just big rectangular basin sinks (made of stone, marble, porcelain, whatever) that were mounted below or level with the counter on a cabinet/table. It wasn't a difficult or fancy installation, though it was remarkably practical.

Somehow, the farmhouse sinks became wildly popular with people installing off-the-shelf cabinets, and now the poor cabinet makers are left to find some way to bastardize the modern "sink cabinet" to fit.

It's no wonder they have to cobble together hacks of their own. If you look at bayareafrancy's sink install, the cabinet faces and doors are well-crafted-- it's just that the sink cabinet isn't meant to house a farmhouse sink, so she had to Bondo it to make it work.

I don't know why it would have to cost extra to install a farmhouse sink. . . IF the cabinets were actually configured to house a farmhouse sink.

In my own case, scribing wasn't even discussed. Of course, I knew about it from GW, but I had seldom seen it done really well, and since I was painting, I wasn't interested in "going there" so to speak. I had no way of knowing if my cabinet guy could have done it to my satisfaction. My cabinet unit is one long piece (not separate cabinets), made to exactly match the existing 1929 cabinetry, and the sink was just always planned as a sort of platform within the stretch.

I love the pictures on the Shaw's website of traditional looking installations. They typically have gaps because the curved sinks are set into squared spaces. If I had natural wood cabinets, I probably would have done something like that, and with a drip rail. In a way it looks a bit off to my eye the way we all have them snuggly hugged into place.

:-)

francy

My finish carpenter friend, who is a genius and no you can't have him until he finishes framing my range hood, scribed my Whitehaus farm sink perfectly. Since it's stained cabinetry, I hadn't even thought of caulking it - hmmm. No issues with it uncaulked in the two years since install, at any rate. We don't have kids & their attendant sink hijincks, but my OCD guy does give its ability to withstand dishwater a good workout.

Can't find a good pic at the moment, but here's a shot. I warmly recommend doing a drip rail underneath, not that we needed it for hiding the cut, but it would cover a multitude of scribing sins if necessary. We made ours out of extra cabinet wood, but I've seen some lovely ones in marble and soapstone.

I think the manufacturers could also help by coming up with a template.

If I wanted a farmhouse sink on stained cabinets and they would guarantee a perfect scribe, I would pay a $500 upcharge, probably. However, sometimes I avoid the stress of situations like this by choosing something easier to execute.

I failed to put my comment in context. When I referred to "cabinetmaker", I failed to qualify it by saying "small shop cabinetmakers" not intending to imply that I meant cabinet manufacturers.
When I indicted carpenters/cabinet installers, for their lousy workmanship, that needed no qualification.
Filler isn't acceptable even on painted cabinets.
My own job of scribing my own sink:

A playing card can't pass through the scribe.
Some members here may recall I'm a historic preservation carpenter.
If manufacturers could, they would provide a template. Two factors play into why they do not; the farm sinks are molded, then fired after drying. In the drying process they deform slightly from the shape of the mold. The ones deemed unusable are culled out, but every sink is uniquely shaped to some degree.
Secondly, no two intstalls are exactly alike; the sectional profile of the sink would be different at any given point. If you choose to install it with a 1 1/2" overhang, it's not the same shape at the faceframe as if it were installed at a 1" overhang. The installer has to make the scribing template on site for each installation. So, essentially I'm bemoaning the laziness or ignorance of those who would embark on this kind of installation freehand, and leave the ruins to the homeowner.
BTW, my sink base is one specifically designed for apron sinks, from Conestoga.
A lot of contractors seem to be over-promising and under-delivering.
Casey

LOVE that drip rail Peanut! Love. It.

Ha! Thanks, Francy. I think it started out life as the door panel of a base cabinet -- we sliced and diced my recycled cabs so many times I lost track. I do remember being worried about matching the stain.

One thing in favor of a drip rail are the flatter bottoms of non-Shaws farm sinks.

It is odd that manufacturers don't take these sinks more into account; I suspect that it's part "prefab need not apply" snobbery and part what palimpsest points out: just too hard to standardize for handmade sinks. Most cabinetry lines seem to carry a farm sink base now, though, with the doors lower down and top panel ready to be scribed.

We used a spare wall-oven cabinet and cut down doors from elsewhere to fit.

The advantage to a drip rail made of countertop material (solid surface, soapstone, granite etc) would be its water-resilience. Apologies for not remembering whose this is, but I love it. Here you can see that the sink fit between side cabinetry, doesn't look scribed at all. I wonder how the finished product came out?