Composite granite kitchen sink ... good choice?

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Honest Bill

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We're remodeling our kitchen. Our counter tops are laminate, so we need a self rimming sink. We like a black composite granite sink by Pegasus we found at Home Depot ... it would look great in our application and be a nice change from the stainless steel sink we've had the past several years. However, our plumber doesn't like granite sinks ... says there is a problem with cracking and staining, plus he's had problems with the punch-outs for the faucet, etc.

The guy at Home Depot says that this sink is one of their best sellers and that they get no returns. He says that the only cracking problems with these sinks is before they are installed and not aferwards?

Anybody have any experiences, good or bad, they would like to share about these sinks? Are we better off going back to stainless or even using something entirely different?
 

Honest Bill

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What if ...

you drop something heavy in them after they are installed, like a big pot or something? Will they crack?

Also, the color of the sink we want is "Volcano Black" ... anything special you have to do to keep the "scum" etc. from showing? The last thing we want is a high-maintenance sink.

Thanks for your help, Mark!
 

Mikey

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Can't help you with black, but I can say I bought a Silgranite white sink and am generally happy with it. It's a huge single-bowl, replacing an equally huge but not as deep stainless steel. I like the looks, love the size, but it does take extra care. Not excessive, but you do have to keep aware of any dirt or rust or metal scrapes that show. We clean it with Comet, which works a lot better than Silgranite's high-priced stuff, and occasionally bleach it with Chlorox. It does clean up well. I haven't worried about its fragility much, but there's no question I am much more careful about dropping things in the sink than I used to be. The downside of these natural and unnatural stone countertops and sinks is that things don't bounce anywhere near as well as they used to.

I wondered about black -- keep us posted :D.
 

Honest Bill

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What about the ...

knockouts?

Do they easily punch out or do you have to drill them out? The sink we are looking at has one hole and 3 knockouts ... we plan to use one of the knockouts for a filtered water faucet and perhaps the other two for a instant hot water faucet and a soap dispenser. Our plumber said he has had problems with the sinks cracking when trying to drill out the knockouts (he said they don't just "knock out").

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Silgranite sink, Mikey. I'm assuming that's similar to the Pegasus (Home Depot brand, I think) granite sink we are looking at.
 

Mikey

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Can't help you with the knockouts either --

mine was an undermount sink with only 3/4" or so all around -- no wide rim and knockouts to deal with. I'd use a diamond hole saw if I were doing it myself -- I don't like knockouts in anything.
 

Garydaplummer

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My Experience

I put two of these black Pegasus sinks in within a month for two of my customers this past fall. The customers selected them and I installed them. They seem like real good sinks. The knockouts are partially drilled from the underside of the sink and the Pegasus directions tell you to tap them with a hammer from the finished side of the sink to knock them out. I held my breath and tried it the first time-worked perfectly! I really like them and the Swanstone kitchen sinks. I think you'll be pleased with the Pegasus.
 

Honest Bill

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Gary, why is my plumber so ...

unexcited about using this sink? He says that he has had a couple of bad experiences with similar sinks (cracking during installation or when punching or drilling the holes out) and doesn't want to eat another one, but you had two good experiences. Also, what about dropping something heavy in it, placing something hot in it, and special care requried in cleaning it? These are not issues with stainless steel. Have you heard back from your customers in these regards?

FYI ... Home Depot told us that they won't take the sink back if it cracks during installation.

I appreciate you sharing your experience!
 

Master Plumber Mark

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nothing is better than .....SS.....

they are fairley durable, but of course nothing
is better than Stainles Steel

you cant put somethign burning hot on one
like the frying pan right after cooking bacon...

just common sense stuff

We has some brand that we literally
had to burn through that pop out with a lennox
hole saw and it dulled up the hole saw....
 

Bob NH

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The "composite granite" that I have seen is a composite of "quartz crystals and 20% acrylic resin". Acrylic is the plastic used in "Plexiglass". http://www.galleriacollection.com/kindred/granite.htm

Put in more common terms that is sand and plastic that is cast and then polished.

Because the surface is ground away the polished surfaces of the grains are exposed on much of the surface, and the spaces between are filled with acrylic. I suspect that they can be damaged by both heat and by impact with heavy sharp objects.
 

Cathy S.

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Granite Kitchen Sink

2 years ago I had an Eljer ROK Granite Composite kitchen sink installed. This was a product from the Astracast Company. 5 days ago I poured hot water in the sink and the sink cracked in about 45 places. They say that these sinks are heat resistant to 530 degrees, but mine still cracked. Unfortunately I have had granite counter tops cut to fit around this particular sink. I would not recommend this sink. If I could find a stainless steel sink that would fit in the opening that I have I would buy it in a minute. Also, the people at Astracast will not return e-mails or phone calls regarding the warranty on this product or any explanation to why it cracked. Very poor service indeed. If you do choose to go with a granite composition sink, please choose another brand from another company.
 

MG

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Heat resistant, yes. However, this time of year you can end up with a cold sink / counter top and subject it to thermal shock if you're not careful.
 

Bob NH

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Thermal shock cracking is a characteristic of composites using plastic and low-expansion materials such as quartz or metal. Epansion of the plastic due to heat near but not completely surrounding a hole will cause tension stress at the hole where it is most susceptible to cracking.

An example would be if you are pouring boiling water off a pot of potatos or spaghetti, maybe into a collander, and it was heating a spot near the outlet. That spot would try to expand and create tension at the nearby hole, and could reuslt in a crack at the outlet.

Another case would be if you immediatly ran cold water on or near a spot that had been heated by the boiling water.

Most people don't dump hot grease into a sink but that would be even worse.

On the other hand, real granite has been around for a few millenia, and has survived temperature high enough to melt rock. It is unlikely to crack due to thermal effects but can crack if it is overloaded, especially near a hole or corner.
 
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Garydaplummer

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Both sinks have been in since fall and have heard no complaints from either customer. I did some work before Chrsitmas at one house and there were no comments from the homeowner. I'm going to the second one on Monday, a couple with three young girls. Theirs has been in longer. I'll see how they like it so far and get back to you.
 

Garydaplummer

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Customer Follow Up

I was doing some work today for a customer who I installed one of these exact sinks for in July of last year. The homeowner told me they love the sink but it does show water spots a lot being black (expected). Their girls are always dropping their dishes and glasses in there, and although they have not set a hot pan or anything directly in the empty sink, they have had no problems even when they dump the remaining tea kettle hot water in the sink.
 

Lorih

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spots on black sink

My neighbor had one of the black composite granite sinks put in and didn't like it because of the water spots. I was telling my mom about the sink and that I wasn't sure I would like it for the very same reasons, she said if you rub a little baby oil on the spots and every once in a while wipe the sink down with a very small amount of baby oil it would remove the spots and keep them from appearing. I told my neighbor what my mom said to do and they tried it, and she said it works great. You use such a tiny amount and you can't see any oil or film on the sink at all.
 

Bpetey

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I installed one almost 3 years ago under my granite counters. I don't remember which brand but it was from HD. Volcano black granite composite double bowl. left bowl is 2 in deeper and bigger than right. Initially I was concerned because the instructions said to wipe the bowls after each use with a dry towel. I have city water (on the hard side) no softener yet and have never dried my bowls. I do clean them about once every 2 weeks with dish soap and a sponge. It looks brand new after cleaning and I rarely see any water spots or soap scum. I also have put a pan straight from the stove into the sink just to see if it would handle the heat. My instant hot doesn't phase it either. I drilled 2 holes in mine before installation with a diamond/carbide hole saw that's barely OK for a home owner. It drilled through OK, no cracks or anything, it just gummed up a little like plastic melting. Made it hard to get the plug out. My counter installers drilled 1 hole through the granite and my sink at the same time with a construction quality diamond bit with no effort at all Their bit cost approx 80 so I will just stick to my 10 bit and work a little harder. Long story short I love my sink. Would buy and install again if I ever move.You're looking at about 2 weeks since las cleaned.

SSCN0187..jpg
SSCN0188..jpg
 
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Laurie H

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Just found this forum and this topic. I was looking for info regarding replacing the drain stopper for my Pegasus composite sink and stumbled onto this. Just thought I'd toss my 2 cents in. We redid our kitchen last year and this is the sink I kind of built the kitchen around. I loved it the first time I saw it. I bought the big single bowl sink and think it's wonderful. My friend/neighbor has the double bowl sink and my boss does as well. We all love how deep the bowls are and I think it's easy to keep clean. We all have the black sinks and I have started to notice a little white water mark around the faucets, but now that I've seen there is a cure for that, I'll get out a little oil and fix that. My water is slightly hard and I've always had a problem with water spots.

I used to have a stainless steel sink and never liked it. It was super easy to clean and all that, but I just never wanted it or liked it. This is my dream sink and I just love it. I don't abuse it, but one of the salespeople at Home Depot told me she's abused hers and it still looks wonderful.
 

Ombeline

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And what do you think of porcelain sinks? I personnaly don't know much about these things but that's what some friends told me last time, well, now I don't know what I to do?,apparently there are experts here, so I'd like have advice or criticism to make a good purchase. Here are more or less the models found on this page: http://www.twenga.com/price-porcelain-kitchen-sink.html , hopefully you can help me, thanks fpr everything.
 
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