Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Feb 20, 2000 11:16am | #1

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   You got me -- seems the greater problem with under mounting is water getting into the end grain of the butcher block. Why do you presume that water will get under the rim? If it's properly sealed, it shouldn't happen. Also, if I may be so bold, why a stainless steel sink with a butcher block countertop? Is this to provide contrast in the kitchen? The frivolous countertop mated with the utility sink?

1. 
   Guest_ | Feb 20, 2000 05:20pm | #2

   *You might want to read the guarantee on the butcher block top. Those available around here carry a rather poor disclaimer about separation. The guarantee provides no guarantee. If you cut out for a sink you might really be compromising that top, which maybe isn't guaranteed in the first place.I have never mounted a sink in a butcher block top but have mounted a rimmed sink in wood counters. Finish was the most important part of it lasting. Sealed the cut and the caulked the underside of the rim.Not much help but i can wish you the best of luck.

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 11, 2000 03:41am | #3

   *I think self-rimming would be much wiser. Do a perfect caulk job and wipe up -always-. stains are likely, why not choose a lower-maintenance setup? A client who insisted on butcherblock I talked in a tile surround for the sink; the surround I built on exterior plywood and hardibacker, spliced to butcherblock on either side. I also put a disclaimer on the contract that if the wood failed, I'd warned her and it wasn't my problem.

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   Guest_ | Mar 12, 2000 08:56pm | #4

   *Calvin, good points. I never could see where wood counters and wet areas mixed well. Maybe with a good poly or clear epoxy finish, but this defeats one of the purposes - at least in most consumers minds - which would be to actually cut on the top. I always recommend that the client use an auxiliary cutting board even when they purchase a butcherblock top. You would be surprised at the number of folks who never think of what the top will look like after a year of cutting and chopping on it. Andrew, I like your solution. Could also use solid surface materials for the sink "insert" area.

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   Guest_ | Mar 13, 2000 09:38pm | #5

   *"Butcher block..."Are you referring to END-GRAIN butcher block, or EDGE-GRAIN strip hardwood countertops?

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   Guest_ | Mar 14, 2000 12:18am | #6

   *Mongo,You must have cut meat some time in your life. I'm thinking he's meaning strip on edge. If not, imagine that jig saw blade! Watch those fingers.

3. 
   Guest_ | Mar 14, 2000 02:14pm | #8

   *Mongo the purist ... I'm sure he means the laminated-strip countertop 90% of America call butcherblock, not the 900 lb. end-grain chopping blocks butchers used to cleave cow's bones in a single whack (and perhaps Mongo the woodsman still does to clean his CT roadkill!).What "should" so-called butcherblock be called, in two words or fewer? (Besides "so-called butcherblock.")

2. 
   MWOOD | Mar 14, 2000 02:14pm | #7

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   What is best method to use for installing a stainless steel kitchen sink in butcher block countertops? Undermount means no rim for water to seep under which is great, but that means mounting the faucet directly on the butcher block which seems to be asking for trouble in terms of water splashing all over it. (I don't care how careful you are - that's bound to happen alot.) Also, it seems that the possibility for cracking and splitting increases by mounting the faucet on the buther block.
   The other method, self rimming stainless sink means the possibility of water seeping under the rim of the sink and causing lifting and water damage of the butcher block.
   Any experience with this?