What Price Beauty? Part II
THE SINK
In a previous post, I stated that the quote for a custom soapstone sink, including shipping, would be $3,315.
While this does not seem bad for a custom stone sink, it still freaks me out. $3,315 for a…sink?
My favorite sink purchase was about ten years ago. I was helping a friend restore their old house, and they needed a sink. But they had almost no money. Across the alley was an old wood shed. One day, curious what was inside, I trespassed and found that the shed was empty save one thing: A large wood crate which appeared to contain a very large and very heavy cast-iron sink with a porcelain finish. As the porcelain was avocado, I knew the sink had been sitting in the shed since the 1970s.
I asked the owner of the shed if they wanted to sell the sink. “Sure. How about $50?”
I then asked my friend: “Could you deal with an avocado-colored sink?”
“How much?”
“$50. And it’s very high quality.”
“For $50 and high-quality, I will love the color.”
The crate was dragged across the alley. Uncrated, three basins were revealed, two large to each side, and a smaller one in the middle. Golly. This was a $$$$$$ sink in its day.
I then did a tiled counter, after finding a stash of old tiles in a salvage yard, and all (drum roll, please) in 1970s colors including avocado. The finished counter had about ten different color tiles.
The sink looked fabulous, and my friend was THRILLED with results. “And all my friends LOVE the sink and counter! They want to know where to get the sink. I tell them they will need a time-travel machine!”
Anyway, this is what I am used to. Either a free sink (like the fabulous best-ever one I have been using for 25-years, or $50, or maybe, maybe, I might pay up to $200. But $3,315? Ouch.
So when Mark suggested that I contact a Canadian soapstone sink company, which he felt would be less money, I did.
Wanna know the results?
Their quote, including shipping, was $3,101. Oh, just a little less.
But wait! But wait!
Their quote, I belatedly realized, was in Canadian dollars. What would that be in US dollars?
$2,478.
Oh. Oh!
That would be an almost $800 savings over the first quote! And $2500 is a lot less scary than $3,300!
So…Ross excited.
Thanks, Mark!
THE CABINETS
I ordered the Blue cabinets from Lowes for the island. These would need to be installed before I can confirm the size of the walnut butcher-block counter.
They were expected in mid-April.
Today though Lowes emailed that they are now expected in June. That would not be the end of the world but my worry is that I will get another email in May stating that the delivery will be in August. And on and on and the cabinets will never ultimately arrive.
So, I am waiting for a call back from Lowes to see what an actual human advises.
Ross…nervous.
THE STRIPPER
At last! At last! At very long last!
I ordered a fancy-schmancy infra-red paint stripper! This should massively help with getting rid of the caked-on paint on all the wood in the kitchen: doors (4), trim (several miles worth), and wainscoting (lots).
Sadly, I read that such strippers do not really work on brick, so the massive chimney might have to be done with regular liquid paint stripper. Ugh.
But…Ross excited!
32 Comments
Leave a Comment
Your email address will NEVER be made public or shared, and you may use a screen name if you wish.
Hey Ross – I thought you found someone that could make you a sink much cheaper? What happened?? 🙂
No, Debbie, much cheaper is not yet a possibility!
Ross, over at The Second Empire Strikes Back, he’s using a paint remover that he’s pretty enthusiastic about, and it doesn’t require special protections or hours/days to work. Can’t think of the brand off-hand, but it is a mail order thing, and I honestly do not know if it works on anything but wood. Might want to check it out, though.
Ha, here I was thinking about posting over there about possibly using an infrared stripper at their house. That stripper he uses is great.
I think it’s called Cooper’s. It appears that it works very well.
I still say ouch with the sink. Have you trolled ebay and craigslist?
Dan, you are correct.
Cooper’s.
I’m gonna order some.
Thank you, Arkay!
Hi Ross.
If I was ordering something from the US into Canada, I would be responsible for the import taxes. These are equal to at least the sales tax and can be significantly higher.
I know that the us is less interested in collecting import taxes but I don’t want you to be surprised. Make sure that the shipping includes brokerage (dealing with the import process) and that you understand any federal or state import taxes.
Thank you, Jackie. I had not taken this into consideration.
I will try and learn what import duties would be.
I hate to think that you don’t have a photo of that magnificent vintage sink ensconced in its delightful tile counter. I also hate to think that you can’t possibly post it for the delectation of your readers.
David, that was my pre-blog life.
I photographed nothing.
On Pins and Needles for you! 🙂
Ross, I am confident you will not regret the fancy infra-red thingy.
Agreed, Devyn! It was on your blog that I read about such thingies not working well on brick!
Good luck with it. I had one and hated it. I ended up switching to just standard heat guns and like them much better.
The problem is that a heat gun (which I been using for four decades) can easily burn down a house. Somebody used one on the Cross House in 1999, and caught the house on fire!
And there are many such examples across the land.
Also, a heat gun causes the lead in old paint to go into the air as fumes and this is highly dangerous if inhaled.
Why did you not like your infra-red heater, Sharon?
It was heavy and awkward. There was no way to set it down while you scraped. (If I had bought a stand, it would have helped with that problem.) It had these weird metal screens on the sides and it was difficult to see what was happening to the paint. I had more of a problem burning the wood with the infrared heater than I ever did with a heat gun. I would use the heat gun at the lowest temperature that worked on the paint and I would keep it moving and not hold it one spot too long. Perhaps I poisoned myself with lead fumes, I don’t know, but I sure love all the stripped wood in my house.
Ross, I love that large white sink already in the kitchen. Why not use that one? You could save $$$ for other things. If you are worried about it not being period correct, hang a plaque on the wall explaining the sink’s origin.
Ha, Patty! A plaque is a great idea!
Just throwing back your own logic, put up a plaque of explanation and use whatever resources you have available (avocado sink) !!!
Patty, I might end up with plaques all over the house!
Just out of curiosity, I looked up soap stone sinks on ebay, They had a few, but they were all in pretty rough shape. They all were “alberene ” soap stone. I wasn’t sure if that was a type of soap stone or the name of a company, so I looked it up. It turns out that the Alberene Soap Stone Company was founded in 1883 in Virginia. Supposedly, Virginia is the only place in the US where soap stone is naturally found.
This led me to the M. Teixeira Soap Stone Company which makes custom soap stone sinks using Virginia soap stone. They have locations in NJ and CA and have a flat shipping rate of $275 for anywhere in the continental US. While they can make custom sinks, they also sell non-custom soap stone sinks in three sizes ranging in price from $850 to $950. Maybe they would be even cheaper than the Canadian company.
Their number in NJ is 201 444 0778.
I should have mentioned that the Alberene Soap Stone Company is still in business and that’s where
the company in NJ buys their raw soap stone. Back in the 1800s, Alberene Soap Stone was a huge
company with factories making soap stone sinks in NY, Chicago, and Boston. So… on the off chance
that there was a soap stone sink in the Cross house, it may have been manufactured by the Alberene
Soap Stone Company. Full circle there!
Thank you, Kerri!
I asked Teixeira for a quote.
Ross
Look up “Grandpa’s Antique Kitchen” in MA for period sunk options. His website is atrocious (http://grampasantiquekitchen.com/products.html) but give him a call – he has in the past had antique soapstone, slate, Monel, and German Silver sinks for sale.
I did not have a good experience with him.
I am sorry to hear that. The other person who told me they had dealt with him had similar feedback, unfortunately.
Would you consider bringing the avocado sink to the Cross house? It might not go with your other plans but if you do love that sink as much as you do it could stay with you. It would also be wonderful to see photos of it!
It’s not mine, Gabby!
Darn! Thanks for clarifying that for me.
The soapstone sink isn’t really that expensive when you consider how much people spend on cabinets, sink and countertops anymore. If you filled the same area with a few good base cabinets, high-quality undermount sink and a quartz, marble or granite counter, you’d be unto the process a pretty penny. And your soapstone sink costs only a little more if you think of it that way!
I ordered my Kitchenaid refrigerator September 16, 2020. I was supposed to get it mid November. Then end of January, then mid February, then the backlog was supposed to be completely caught up last day in March. They were supposed to deliver it on April 24. Now they are saying June 15.
You are not going to be happy with that Lowe’s crap. It might last you 15 years, give or take.
Call Dr. Doug. Pay him whatever he asks. You will get solid wood, high quality and exactly what you want. Paint them blue if you want.
Just sayin’.