Kitchen Sink and Faucet Installation

Sink Installation

Preparing The Countertop

Now remove the sink from the counter top and temporarily place it back in its box or another safe place. From the pencil mark, measure 1/2″ in towards the center of the sink. Follow around the sink tracing, and every three or four inches apart make a mark 1/2″ in from the original pencil tracing. (One or two inches apart if the sink is oval or round.) Once you have gone around the sink, draw a line and connect the marked dots. Now erase the outside pencil tracing. The smaller tracing you have now made will be the line to use to cut the countertop for the mounting of your sink.

Cutting The Countertop

Drill a 3/8″ diameter hole on the inside of the outline on each corner if your sink is rectangular. If your sink is round or oval, then drill a hole in front, one in back, one on one side and one on the other side.
Use a piece of wood long enough to cover the opening (front to back) by a couple of inches on both sides. (1″ wide x 1/2″ thick will work fine, but any scrap wood long enough to span the opening will do.) Screw this piece of wood into the center of the countertop piece to be cut out. This will prevent the cut countertop piece from falling through or prematurely snapping off as you complete your cutting.

Use a saber saw, and insert the blade into one of the drilled holes. Start cutting along the inside of the outline until the outline is completely cut, and you can remove the cut piece out.

Check the Fit of the Sink

Place the sink in the countertop opening you made, to make sure it fits correctly. If your sink is massive, get someone to help you. If any adjustment must be made to the countertop, it is better to find out now than after you have put sealant on the sink. Once you are satisfied the sink will fit correctly, remove the sink from the countertop.

Install the Faucet and Drain Assemblies

If the sink has faucet holes, then install the faucet. Also, install the basket strainer(s). If you have an automatic dishwasher, then also attach an Air Gap to the sink, normally installed next to the faucet. If you are installing a garbage disposer, install the disposer flange. In the case that you are installing a bathroom sink, then install the faucet and the pop-up assembly. This will be more easily done at this point as you will have full access to the sink, rather than trying to install the faucet and drain assemblies from below after the sink is installed.

If your kitchen sink is heavy, you may not want to install the basket strainers or garbage disposal flange at this point. You may use this spa as an extra place to hold your sink when installing the sink to the countertop. If your sink is heavy, get someone to help you.

Basket Strainers

To install the basket strainers, disposer flange or pop-up assembly use a good grade “plumbers putty.” Regular plumbers putty is not suitable for every type of sink. For stone, granite, marble, and other porous surfaces we recommend you use the Amazing Sta-Put Ultra Plumbers Putty.

Make a bead by rolling the plumbers putty back and forth on a clean surface. Make the bead about the diameter of a pencil. Place the flange upside down and apply the plumbers putty around the underside of the flange. Now place the flange through the drain hole of the sink. Attach the rubber gasket supplied with the basket strainer, disposer flange or pop-up assembly, by placing it around the underside of the flange and sliding it up to the bottom of the sink. The rubber gaskets supplied with the basket strainers and disposal flanges are flat, square cut, and thin. The rubber gaskets supplied with pop-up assemblies are generally beveled and quite thick.

Gaskets

Gaskets are sometimes a tight fit and may require some extra effort on your part to slide them against the bottom of the sink. Put the beveled end towards the sink. Slide the paper or metal friction ring up and underneath the rubber gasket to prevent the rubber gasket from moving or twisting as you tighten the nut onto the strainer, disposer or pop-up assembly. As you tighten the nut, any excess plumbers putty will be squeezed out around the lip of the flange. This excess plumbers putty can be removed with your hands and put back into the container as it can be reused for any future use.

Once the sink is in place, you are now ready to finish mounting the sink to the underside of the countertop. Most stainless steel sinks use special mounting clips that hook onto brackets located on the underside of the sink and are tensioned against the underside of the countertop by tightening the bolts against the bottom of the sink with a nut driver. Space the clips evenly around the sink. As you are tightening these sink clips, the adhesive caulking may squeeze out from under the top sink lip. This is okay. Just remove the excess with a clean, soft, damp cloth. If you are using caulking that is not water cleanable, then wait for the caulk to dry and cut the excess off.

Connect the Drains

For Kitchen Sinks:

Install the basket strainer(s) or disposer flange. (If not already installed.) If you are installing a double sink then the use of a tubular continuous waste kit, end outlet or center outlet, will connect the two drains. Then join the P-Trap to the continuous waste kit and the main drain wall inlet. If you are installing a single bowl sink, then install a P-Trap to the main drain wall inlet. The Garbage Disposer will be installed on the sink, then connect the rest of the disposer to the disposer flange and complete the installation of the drain.

Connect the Water Lines

Before you connect the water lines to the faucet, flush out the water lines. Use a bucket and put the end of the “cold” connector to be connected to the faucet and turn your valve on for a minute to flush out any sediment that may have collected at the angle stop valve while it was closed. Repeat this for the “hot” connector as well. Now you can connect the water lines from the angle stops to the faucet. Turn the faucet on and check for possible leaks in the drain system.