What No One Will Tell You About Farmhouse Sinks
When we bought our farmhouse sink, I naively thought I wanted one because they looked so beautiful in photos of farmhouse style kitchens. Now that we’ve had our farmhouse sink for three years, I want to tell you What No One Will Tell You About Farmhouse Sinks, especially cast iron sinks.
Fact #1:
You will chip dishes and break glasses if you aren’t careful. It happens. We’ve lost two dishes and two glasses in our sink. Cast iron sinks are made tough to prevent chipping. Honestly, it’s cheaper to replace a glass or dish than the entire sink.
Fact #2:Â
You may get wet. We’ve found that when our faucet is on the spray setting it spatters us. I’m not sure if this is a factor of the sink design or the sprayer. We didn’t have this issue with our old two basin sink. To solve the problem we use stream most of the time and put the water on low when spraying.
Fact #3:Â
It will get dirty. A white sink will definitely show dirt and grime.
This was a bit of a bummer, as someone who had to constantly shine the surface of our old stainless steel sink with baby oil to hide the hard water spots. But, I’ve come to terms with it and only have to clean it once a week to keep it looking like new.
Fact #4:
It will get scratched. Cast iron sinks will scratch, but I expected as much since we cook almost daily using heavy cast iron pans. Honestly I’m surprised we haven’t chipped the sink yet. It’s held up to a lot of abuse. In three years we have yet to chip our sink, but the marks and scratches have happened.
Luckily, I have the perfect solution to clean a cast iron sink (or tub) to help it look new again.
Before:
After:
Fact #5:
You can’t wash dishes on one side and set the clean ones in a dish drainer in the second basin. With one large sink, all the dishes in it will get wet. This was the one change that was less of an issue for us. We simply put our dish drainer on the counter. When we have company, I put the drainer out of sight under the sink.
Conclusion:
If we were to go back in time and do it again, would I buy a farmhouse sink again?
Absolutely! I still love the look. Cleaning the scratches every few weeks is no big deal. I absolutely hated our stainless steel sink because of hard water deposits and spots. Scratches are much less noticeable than the hard water deposits.
I LOVE having a big sink to clean dishes in. I feel a bit like Elaine enjoying the extra wide driving lanes Kramer created. Who doesn’t like a little more elbow room?
Best of all, I can hide dishes in it. Little known fact, my coffee mug and a knife were in the sink when I took this photo:
The apron front farmhouse sink we have is this one. (affiliate link) If you decide to buy one, I think you will love it, as long as you are okay with those 5 Things No One Will Tell You About Farmhouse Sinks!
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I love farmhouse sinks, even if they are hard to maintain
When looking to get the farmhouse sink – did the garbage disposal drain and separate drain under the sink cause and problems?
I mean going from two drains down to one?
I previously had stainless too but love, love, love my new large Blanco Silgranit sink! They come in apron fronts too.
Love your cottage kitchen. Would you mind sharing the blue paint brand and color you used for the cabinets ?
Thank you
Tricia, sure! It’s Copen Blue by Sherwin Williams. You can see the other colors I used in the kitchen here: https://prettyhandygirl.com/paint-colors-home/
We’ve had black granite composite sinks in the last three homes we’ve owned. I’d never have anything else. Most people don’t even notice the sink because the color doesn’t scream “white sink” from across the room. The black composite blends into the background, is easy to keep clean and doesn’t chip. Farmhouse sinks are all the rage but I’d never have one.
Thank you so much for sharing these details! I was thinking about adding one to my kitchen and it was really useful to know about these! Thanks!
Despite everything a farmhouse sink comes with, it still looks absolutely gorgeous! I have always wanted one, now thinking otherwise.
Another thing NO ONE WILL TELL YOU: a sink with right angle corners is impossible to keep clean. I got new soapstone counters with a soapstone sink. The sink was a beautiful, deep, rectangle farm sink and —- RIGHT ANGLE SQUARE. Even a toothbrush in the right angles wouldn’t get all the way into the 90 degree angles. I even wrote to OXO kitchen utensil company & ask them to design a cleaning brush that would really get in the corners. (I had already bough all the cleaning brushes by OXO at Bed Bath & Beyond.) After a few years, I removed it & bought a white ceramic (or porcelain ) over cast iron farm sink with curved corners. Yes, my shirt gets wet-who cares, I’m cleaning the kitchen or I could wear an apron. I clean it with liquid “Bar Tenders Friend”.
Oh, yes, that would make it difficult!
I absolutely love my farmhouse sink. It’s the single basin, white Kohler apron front sink. I bought the metal sink grids from Kohler and they are great. You do have to scrub it at least weekly. But isn’t that true of all sinks? I use bon ami or any scratch free cleaner and generally bleach it out occasionally.
LLLLLOOOOOVVVVEEEE my farmhouse sink! To prevent scratches and chips BUY the metal sink racks!! They are brilliant and help keep your sink clean AND you can let items drip dry! Farmhouse sinks typically sit lower…but great for me at 5’2″….I’d buy/have another farmhouse sink in a heartbeat!
Glad you like your farmhouse sink but not for me. I like my extra deep double sink. Dryer with clean dishes on one side out of sight and use the other side for everything else. Agree about the Barkeepers!!
Do belt buckles scratch the front apron of sinks?
We haven’t had any issues on the outside of the sink. But, my belt buckle is a good 2 inches above the sink top. I’m 5′ 6″ tall.
Thanks for reply, Brittany. I also like Bar Keepers Friend. It does a great job on my stainless steel sink.
I’ve heard they scratch up stainless sinks. A friend has one and it was a mere two weeks before hers was scratched. I do love the white sinks and dream of having one one day.
I love my farmhouse sink!!! Buy “Bar keepers Friend” walmart, cheap, best cleaner takes all the black marks off of your sink.
Ditto on the Bar Keepers Friend, it makes the sink shine!!!!
I have a double basin, extra deep, soapstone farmhouse sink & I absolutely love it! I use sink mats on the bottom to keep dishes, glasses, from breaking. You can buy them from Amazon, they come in many colors & patterns. I throw the mat in the dishwasher with my dirty dishes, then put a fresh one in the sink.
Good tip! Thanks for sharing.
I replaced my sink with the worst one ever. A stainless steel farm sink. I hated it. There was always a pool of water in it. It always need shining or cleaning to be presentable. And yes, because of the flat bottom….soraying was,an issue. Water everwhere everytime you used it. I also added stainless steel appliances…..never again. Way too much work. Sold home. Bought another. Put regular sink in and fingerprint resistant appliances. Have much more time now. Id rather clean the cast iron sink…at it would last longer.