In the pursuit of domestic bliss, he decided to get hacking.
Step 1: Varde bench before - 3 drawers in a horizontal row. First decide on which side you want your sink. Right worked for us. Pull out two drawers and unscrew sliding mechanisms. Remove the centre panel of white melamine dividing the drawer cavity. Also remove the inner right side drawer mounting panel (see birch piece resting on drawers on the floor.) Cut another piece of birch (sourced from Ikea's bargain basement) to the same size.
Step 2: Reattach these two pieces of birch to the left side of the cabinet - one piece on the second shelf, one piece on the bottom. You'll also need to cut two more birch panels to frame the right side of the drawers. Screw these panels into place from beneath the shelf. (Phil also braced the panels at the top with a piece of aluminium angle.) Reattach sliding mechanisms. Insert drawers.
Step 3: Time for the sink. Cut two pieces of white melamine and attach as shown. These panels will support the sink on either side. They can be screwed in from underneath the drawer support rail, and dowelled into the back panel for extra strength. The two white metal brackets (resting on the middle shelf) come with the sink and can be used as a handy guide for measuring the spacing between the panels. (These brackets will be attached later to help support the sink.)
Step 4: Measure sink side and back, transfer measurements to bench top and cut out the cavity. Note: The back edge will need to be rebated so that the sink can sit far enough back without leaving a gap. So, after cutting out the cavity, lower the sink into place and mark guidelines for the rebate along the back edge. Remove sink and cut the rebate. (Take care to avoid slicing into the thin back panel of the cabinet.)
Step 5: Photo shows the underneath view of sink and the rebate. As you can see, the vertical rebate sections need to be cut fairly deeply into the chipboard backing. A chisel works fine if you're careful.
Now attach the white metal sink support strips. Note: In the photo the sink is shown elevated above the supports so that the rebate can be seen more clearly.
Step 6: Cut a panel from another piece of birch to fill in the space around the front of the sink. (The piece we found It isn't a perfect match, but should mellow/yellow out with time.)
Once the plumbing's all sorted, set the sink permanently into place with clear silicone.
Voila! Domestic bliss. Now whose turn is it to do the dishes?
3 comments:
Lovely! Thanks for sending in your hack. :)
You know there is a bar that goes into all the sink cabinets, that may offer more support. It goes across the front before you put the sink in. It supports the open space for the sink by the rag in one of your photos. I have had a counter crack because it did not have the right support at the sink. It looks great.
Thanks very much for the tip! Phil thought the melamine inserts that he inserted underneath the sides should be enough. Guess now that it's all siliconed in we'll just have to wait and see.
cheers
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