They say that the kitchen is the heart of the home; And a beautiful kitchen is high on the priority list of many homeowners. I am in agreement with these sentiments. After all, if my family is going to be spending a lot of time in one room, it should function well AND look nice.

The kitchen for Arrow Hill Cottage will have a classic look, with clean materials and tons of natural light. But I have to say, in all honesty, the feature I am most excited about is the kitchen sink.

 

 

Time for a little story:

About eight years ago, when my husband Craig’s family was helping his grandparents clean out their farmhouse (the very one we are living in at the moment), I spotted a cast iron sink laying in the weeds on their property – ready to be hauled away by a scrap metal collector who was paying by the pound. I am pretty sure I let out an audible shriek, then quietly and as calmly as possible, asked Craig to please find out more about it.

Turns out that it was the farmhouse’s original 1920’s kitchen sink that was removed (and tossed outside) in the late 60’s, when the room was remodeled to a more modern style.

It didn’t take too much begging for his grandparents to agree that we could save it from the pile. Craig though, needed a bit more convincing. Mostly because the thing was a beast, and hauling things around is low on his list of favorite things to do. He loves me though, and eventually gave in to my desire. We had absolutely no place to store the relic of a sink, and so we asked Craig’s parents if we could keep it in one of the sheds on their property until we built our house. And that is exactly where it has been ever since.

Craig was there last weekend, and I asked him to get a few measurements for me so that I could fine tune the kitchen design a bit more. He took pictures of the sink – in all her muddy, rusty glory – and seeing them made me fall in love all over again.

 

We will need to look into getting it refinished – probably at a body shop – but even with that expense I believe we are sitting on a great deal. I saw a very similar model on Etsy selling for $1,800! Another sink, on Ebay is listed for close to $1,000. Even reproduction models are over $700!

There are a couple of challenges that this farmhouse/apron sink will present. One is finding wall mounted faucet hardware. They aren’t quite as common as the counter mounted variety.

I like the look of this bronze faucet from Wayfair.

 

I have a feeling that lever handles might be a bit easier to operate though – so this option from American Standard might do the trick.

 

This one with a pull out spray faucet would be very functional – but I’m afraid it might not quite be in the budget. Maybe I can find something similar for less when the time comes to make a decision.

 

Another challenge will be determining how to lay the counter material. This sink style was originally designed to be a free standing unit. It probably had matching legs at some point. Kitchen design & style has changed quite a bit since the 20’s.

I am still pretty set on using a quartz counter-top material. I love the clean look. The sink will will either need to be set a bit lower than the counter height, so that the counter material can overlap the edges – to ensure that no water slips onto the cabinet below – similar to this:

 

OR possibly more likely, because of it’s integral back-splash, we will need to set the sink up higher and butt the counter-top material into the sides, like this:

 

The final design challenge that I can foresee, and perhaps the largest, is the placement of the sink itself. Because it is a single bowl sink, the placement of the faucet will be further to the right (and not in the center of the overall unit. There will be three large windows on the wall where the sink will be located, and I am unsure if I want the entire sink to be centered on the middle window (and hence, the faucet offset), or the faucet / sink basin portion centered on the middle window. Maybe you can all help me out.  Tell me which you prefer!

 

SINK UNIT CENTERED ON MIDDLE WINDOW

 

 

 

 

FAUCET CENTERED ON MIDDLE WINDOW

 

 

I should note that the dishwasher will likely have a cabinet panel front, so that it blends with the rest of the cabinetry. I feel like it seems to have more space on the right of the sink. Thoughts? Maybe I should take another look at the window placement and series?

Please comment below or via social media. Would love some help!