So much detail goes into building a custom home, especially if you are not working with a designer and we were not. It can become overwhelming. Nearly every single item installed was selected by my husband and me. While I thought I was up for the task, being an interior decorator and not wanting someone pressuring me into their design, however, I did eventually feel the pressure of spending hour after hour selecting every sink, faucet, drain, cabinet, knobs, and paint colors. But as we inch slowly to the completion of our home, those selections have slowed. So finally, I also have time to get back to this blog that was created nearly seven years ago to follow this build!
Today, I want to talk sinks and faucets. The links included in this post are affiliate links which could give me a small commission should you make a purchase from that site at no cost to you. I sincerely appreciate when that happens.
When you are building or remodeling, there is such a world open to you for selecting things that make you happy. This is our fifth main home in our lives and our last. Along the way, we have had a second home for our boys while in college that was new, two vacation rentals and one vacation home. This is our very first custom home. The only home we bought that had a previous owner was our first home and that was before there were personal computers and an internet that opened the world up for perusing, pinning, and purchasing.
SINKS
Sinks have several finishes and I have had most of them. My first house had a harvest gold porcelain sink. It was chipped. When a porcelain sink gets chipped it leaves a big black spot in the sink where the porcelain has disappeared. Porcelain sinks also scratch super easily. However, I have since learned how to remove the scratches and ways to protect my sink from getting scratched, let alone chipped.
My second sink and third sink were stainless steel. They also scratch easily and eventually dull because of it and the smooth surface can wear down so that the finish is gone as well. I have not learned how to remove scratches but I have learned to polish the stainless.
I had a copper bar sink and now I have a gold one and they are easily spotted from nothing more than water, but oh are they gorgeous!
There are many more, glass, wood, stone and I am certain they all have their good and bad points.
Below I am going to share the sinks I purchased for our dream home and tell you why.
MY KITCHEN SINKS
I was directed to a showroom to begin to select sinks, faucets, tubs, toilets, etc. and I walked in and had to wait for my contact to be free to meet me. Waiting, I began to browse and stumbled upon this sink. At the time, I am not sure if I even knew what type of sink I wanted, but once I saw this double fireclay rounded apron front, it was love. When I found out the price, it was shock!
The salesperson attempted to steer me towards similar sinks but none carried the same style and while I am not usually a “label” girl, that blue Shaw 1897 England was something I could not stop thinking about. I have always been drawn to antiques and I believe many things made long ago were made to last a lifetime. This company has been in business more than one hundred years!
That became the standard. I looked for quality and style disregarding cost from then on. We would pay for that in the end in more ways than one.
Here is a photo of the sink in our kitchen.
Here is the link for that gorgeous sink right on AMAZON! https://amzn.to/3bJnM24
It was not until we moved in and had our kids over that I recalled problems I had had in the past with porcelain sinks and here was my dear son washing dishes without any protection to my sink. I couldn’t ask him to stop, he was so sweet to be helping out. So when he was done I checked out the scratches. Thankfully they were minimal and I used baking soda to make them disappear. After that we popped in some small rubber mats to protect the sink bottom. Eventually, we may purchased the metal grids that are made for the sink, but they are definitely pricey and the amount of money in the sink, faucet, garbage disposal and drain plugs is already beyond belief, so we may add it to a wish list for now.
I love the look and feel of porcelain and the double sink was a necessity for me. I hand wash a lot. Having one side to rinse food debris into the garbage disposal, as well as rinse the suds off after washing is imperative to me.
MY PREP SINK
I am a matchy-matchy girl. That is unusual for a decorator. But I don’t want two different brands of sink in the same room, throughout the house is a different story. I ordered a small round rohl sink, but it actually had a different name on it. When it came time to check for install, something had gone very wrong.
Fortunately, for us, the quartz countertop on our island had been cut too short and was going to be recut. The sink was pulled out to see where it would go and they had cut a square hole for a round sink and it was far too small. In trying to make a template of where it would go when the new counter was installed, we realized it was far too large to work. With a mere three days before the new quartz would be cut, we needed to find a sink to ship quick…which you know that now a days, that is not the easiest of things.
The quartz company said she had a Kohler sink that would work, but I was determined to find a new size in Rohl and get it here pronto. I was very fortunate to find one that would ship the next day. It was square but still had my Shaw Imprint and was the same quality fire clay as the main sink.
Here is a picture of the sink I believe we ended up with. Unfortunately, I still have the other sink and need to sell it, it has been too long to do a return.
Here is the photo of that sink installed.
Here is the link for my Prep Sink on AMAZON! https://amzn.to/3vSBrel
KITCHEN FAUCET
For more than six years I had been putting together Pinterest boards, Houzz Idea Books and Printing things that I loved for our dream home not even knowing what we were actually building.
Over and over again, in the faucet category, I was drawn to bridge faucets and wall mounted faucets.
A bridge faucet has the knobs go to a pipe and the faucet goes to that pipe and it is all elevated rather than mounted low on the sink surface. It looks a little bit like a bridge.
A wall mount faucet can also be a bridge faucet, the water pipes just come straight out of the wall above the sink counter rather than hidden in a cabinet.
Usually these style faucets are a bit victorian in their style. I imagine there are some modern ones out there now, but they were not capturing my eye.
Many people are moving towards auto faucets that can turn on or off with the wave of a hand or even work with their wifi. That is so not me. It is important to know what you love when buying so as not to get pressured into something that is not you by a designer or builder or salesperson. That is why you really should start a look book of some kind before you begin building.
I don’t know what I would have done without those tools knowing now how extensive my selections were going to have to be.
Another thing that I was certain of before building was I wanted Polished Nickel. I wanted it everywhere on my main and upper floors. I loved the look of it. It is just a hint different than chrome to me but it has this antique quality to it that puts a smile on my face. Little did I know that within a few weeks of living in the house, that smile would be wiped away…but I’ll get to that later or in another blog post.
Here is a picture of the Kitchen Faucet we selected.
This faucet is made of Solid Brass, then finished in Polished Nickel. It is very heavy. When I use the sprayer, it is evident the quality of this faucet set. It comes in a variety of finishes as well as different knobs and there are some less ornate styles available of the same amazing quality. I have never had anything more than what a Lowe’s or Home Depot would have in their store. Both of those stores may carry these, but only online if they do. I actually ended up ordering mine from AMAZON! Can you believe it? It always pays to check them out. I didn’t save any money over using them from a bath, kitchen or builders site, but I was provided with free shipping, quick shipping and I knew if I had a problem, there would be no problem sending it back. Here is a link to the faucet if you are interested. https://amzn.to/3P7ZP25
Here is a photo of the faucet installed in my Rohl Sink.
PREP SINK FAUCET
I made a mistake in my selection of the faucet for the prep sink and I didn’t even realize it until I had used it several times.
Again, I had to stay in the same family as my kitchen sink faucet, so I looked for a bar sink faucet in the Whitehaus Collection and found a lovely faucet that was also a sprayer which would be great when cleaning vegetables or fruit for prepping.
Okay, pause for OMG! In writing this and confessing to my mistake, I just discovered that I did not make a mistake and this faucet has both a stream and a spray. It is too difficult to explain but I read a review that said the water had to be off to turn the spray back to a stream. I went downstairs and made it happen but don’t know how I did it. I’ll call tomorrow and find out the secret but, wow~, so glad to discover this.
Here is the picture of the faucet.
This is the same beautiful quality Solid Brass covered in a Polished Nickel. It swivels, pulls out and yes, it does both a spray and a stream. It looks beautiful in my island at the prep sink.
Here is our faucet installed.
Here is a link to this faucet in Brushed Nickel. https://amzn.to/3A9z4pH
POT FILLER
One more faucet in the kitchen is our Pot Filler. The first Pot Filler I had was at our vacation home and I had not picked out anything for that home, it was well under construction when we purchased it. I have to be honest, I forget about it often and go over to the sink to begin to fill up a big pot for pasta or boiling eggs before I remember that I have the pot filler. It also comes in handy when you are making a recipe and need to add a cup or so of water. Do I think it is a necessity in the kitchen? No, not in mine, but since I had one previously, I decided to go ahead and include it in this gorgeous dream kitchen.
Here is picture of the Whitehaus Pot Filler in Polished Nickel that I should have ordered. 🙂
Well, now I just discovered that I actually ordered the wrong Pot Filler for my kitchen. My entire house has these cross handles. The single hole sink faucet I do not believe was available in a cross handle and so in selecting the Pot Filler I ended up selecting the handle that matches the prep sink faucet.
It is certainly not an obvious mistake because unless I was blogging about it, who knows when I would have realized it if at all. I may have thought the Pot Filler also did not come in a cross handle.
I love how it looks and. functions and that overall it matches the other Whitehaus faucets in this collection.
Here is a photo of my installed Pot Filler.
Here is a link to the Whitehaus Pot Filler but not in my finish. https://amzn.to/3BVX15k
SINK FLANGE AND STOPPERS
Over the years we have had a need to replace the sink plungers in our kitchens and have found it very frustrating. They don’t hold water, they don’t fit. They are often plastic and they look cheap.
These Rohl Sinks did not come with even the metal rim or flange. So on the hunt I went. But of course, Rohl has made everything you need to fit their sinks and that includes the flange and stoppers. However, while they come in the same amazing quality as the spectacular sinks, they also come with that same high end sticker.
I held my breath and ordered. If you select one that has the Shaw imprint on it, well that costs even more. You know that is exactly what I did.
The rings and stoppers came in boxes, inside the box they were carefully shipped within red velvet bags. The weight and shine, and I did order them in Polished Nickel, was obviously of high quality.
Here are the pictures of the strainer and disposal caps.
Are these not the most beautiful? If you could touch them you would understand the quality of these pieces that will outlast my lifetime. Jewelry for my kitchen sink.
Here are the strainer and disposal stopper installed in my kitchen.
Here is a link to the Rohl Disposal stopper. https://amzn.to/3PexV4K
Here is the link to the flange which I did not picture. It is the ring around the sink hole. https://amzn.to/3bFXXAf
Okay, I have to mention it in this post because it is clearly visible in this photo. No one, no where ever mentioned that Polished Nickel spots. After one use, this flange and stopper are spotted. This is a close up so it looks far worse here. I researched how to take care of it and purchased basically a metal polish. Can you believe it? I suddenly have the equivalent of Silver for my faucets, knobs and drawer pulls and door handles as well as lights!!! Oh well, I still love the material and think it is even stunning spotted. Remember you can purchase these in lots of finishes that won’t spot.
Here is a link to the Rohl Basket Strainer. https://amzn.to/3vS6I0P
In a future post I will do a before and after to show how I can clean these babies up!
Lastly, we used an air contact disposal button. I had never heard of this before, but I love it to pieces! No switch on the wall or under the sink. No concern about a wet hand. This is a push button installed on the surface of the sink and it comes in Polished Nickel and by Rohl!
Here is a picture of the Air Switch.
Here is a photo of the air switch installed in my home. It looks a little different than the one pictured above but both are Rohl.
Here is a link to the Air Switch on AMAZON: https://amzn.to/3PcMhT8
What do you think? It’s new to me. So much of our new home is filled with things that are new to us. We were in our last main home for nearly 30 years and even with some updates, we weren’t looking to add all kinds of bells and whistles. I had no idea things like this even existed.
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
I hope you enjoyed seeing these beautiful kitchen pieces and what they look like in our kitchen. If you have any questions regarding any of them, please ask me below. I will continue bringing details of our new home to the blog, so please come back often for more of this as well as Dovie’s Book Reviews and other lifestyle subjects I love to write about. Take to me in the comments! Follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram and visit my shops all linked below.
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