Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 284 Comments

Removing Our Kitchen Sink & Our Old Granite Counters

In the words of Carla from Top Chef: hootie hoo! Our counters are ordered (more on what we chose and why we chose it here). They came in at exactly $38 a square foot from Home Depot (no hidden/added charges, which was nice) which added up to around $1700 (ouch, good thing we’ve been saving for this kitchen a while). We also priced them out at Lowe’s and a couple of local retailers and none of the local retailers could do better than $55 a square foot (huge difference, huh?) and while Lowe’s and Home Depot both had the same $38/square foot price, Lowe’s charged more for the sink cutout and a few other add ons that HD didn’t. The deal was sealed when Home Depot agreed to match a 10% off Lowe’s project coupon that we got in the mail AND the 5% off that we’d get if we used our Lowe’s card (our local Lowe’s stacks those discounts although we’ve heard some others around the country might not). So we’re happy to have saved a good chunk of money shopping around and price matching coupons.

Another way that we’re saving money is by reusing our existing sink:

CounterSink 2 Sink Close

We really like our sink, and obviously wanted to save a couple hundred bucks or so by not buying a new one (as we mentioned here, we’ve heard many times that seamless Corian sinks can be a lot harder to care for than Corian counters – so most folks prefer stainless undermount). But we learned both from Lowe’s and HD that for the Corian fabricator to accurately plan for our sink… they’d need to take it with them when they came to template for the new counters (aka make precise measurements to design the countertop). And that meant removing the rest of our granite to free up the sink.

CounterSink Before

The process started by disconnecting the disposal and the plumbing underneath the sink. Don’t interpret only having one photo of this process to mean it was quick. It should’ve been (according to all of the how-to‘s I googled and watched beforehand) but the mounting ring on mine was jammed and it took me about 45 minutes to finally get it free and spin it off. On the bright side, I am now very familiar with my garbage disposal. Maybe that should have been on my Things To Accomplish Before I’m 30 goal sheet (get that reference here).

CounterSink 3 Disposal Off

Next I wanted to remove our faucet, which we also plan to reuse (at least in the short term – later upgrading to another one-hole faucet won’t be a big deal). Fortunately this went faster, thanks to digging up the installation manual online and reversing the steps.

CounterSink Faucet Gone

With all of the fixtures detached, it was granite removal time. Having already done this once in our kitchen (we removed the first half of the granite to make room for the stove), we knew the process wouldn’t be too hard. It’d just require some muscle. So we warmed up by prying off the backsplash with a crowbar.

CounterSink 4 Prying Backsp

No sweat.

CounterSink 5 Backsplash Of

Then we made a couple of slices along the glue that held the counter to the cabinets and got to prying. It lifted up remarkably easily.

CounterSink 6 Prying Counte

Then came the muscle-y part. Which is why we recruited my parents to help again (mom to watch Clara and take pics, dad to lift). But it quickly became apparent that this slightly larger slab of granite was more than slightly beyond our lifting abilities – especially since we would’ve had to lift it up high enough to get the sink out without damaging it (if the granite slammed down on the sink while it was halfway over the cabinets it would have meant $200+ to buy a new one and potential cabinet damage as well).

CounterSink7

We had been trying to get it out with the sink attached because the folks at both Lowe’s and Home Depot thought we’d be able to better cut the sink free without warping or tweaking it that way (therefore saving us the loot to buy a new one). But that method wasn’t going to work here. That long slab of granite was way too heavy. As in, we probably couldn’t have lifted it with two more burly men present. So we regrouped and came up with the idea to try to remove the sink first, by freeing it from the glue that held it to the granite.

We began by gently sliding a spackle knife into the space where the sink was undermount-glued to the counter. Once Sherry (she’s the boss of the group) broke the seal in one spot, we were able to tap it around the perimeter with the help of a hammer. I say “we” but my dad ended up doing most of this for some reason – although Sherry did the first edge of four. Not sure how I got out of it but… thanks Dad!

CounterSink 8 Dad Sink

Eventually all of the glue was gone (this took about 45 minutes) and we were able to tilt and raise the granite up just enough to lift the sink out from under it (we kind of hinged the granite back like the top of a trunk or chest so we weren’t supporting all of the weight ourselves). The best part? The sink was unharmed… just a little dirty. So we get to save 200 beans and reuse it! Oh happy day. And you can see just how big our sink is in this shot with the wife around for scale. Note: Sherry wants me to clarify that’s not dandruff or debris on her shoulders, it’s gold beading that apparently reads more clearly in person. Gotta love a gal who rips apart her kitchen in fancy beaded clothing.

CounterSink Sink Out

At this point I guess we could’ve left the granite in place, but we knew the installers either preferred no counters or all counters when doing their measurements (not half and half, since it could throw them off) – and we also wanted to use my dad. Wait, that sounds bad. But we could definitely use the extra strength, and he was standing right there in our kitchen, so…

With the sink safely set aside in the other room, we just lifted the granite up slightly on one end and this quickly showed up:

CounterSink 11 Granite Crac

Never did I think I’d be so happy to see a crack in my granite. See, we knew that if it cracked in half around the sink (which is pretty hard to avoid anyway) we could lift each side of the slab separately. Which we definitely could handle because it was the same size as the granite piece that we removed when we added the stove a few weeks ago.

But we were less happy to find this beneath the crack – some sort of metal rod that must’ve been installed to keep the granite strong across the sink hole. Boo for unforeseen metal rod-like obstacles.

CounterSink 12 Metal Bar

But after we slid half of the granite off onto the floor, the rod was bent enough that we could use a screwdriver to pry it loose and completely separate the now two halves of granite… which were each light enough to be carried out by just two of us.

CounterSink 13 Walking Out

Here’s sort of what the aftermath looked like before we got the other half out. Note the construction-grade beach towel that we used to protect the new stove. I’m kidding about the construction grade thing, just in case my sarcasm wasn’t clear. Don’t want you guys to waste too much time googling “construction grade beach towel.”

CounterSink 14 Half Gone

Now that all of the granite is removed and residing safely (and somewhat junk-ily) in the carport to be craigslisted, our kitchen is looking something like this. Yup, it’s safe to say we’re 100% sinkless.

CounterSink 15 After

According to the counter fabricator, we’ll be sinkless for about three weeks (maybe four, considering Thanksgiving is thrown in the mix). But I did reconnect the drain on the dishwasher so at least we can still use that (and therefore maintain a smidge of civilized living around here). I try to remember that while I rinse non-dishwasher-safe pots in the bathroom sink. But we definitely have it better than we did in our first kitchen (which was a full gut job – so we didn’t have a stove, fridge, microwave, and dishwasher to use at all for months).

Has anyone else foolishly believed they could lift an eight and a half foot hunk o’ granite with two other people? Have you ever seen rods around the sink while removing or installing granite? Have you kept/reused an existing sink? Did it take you a second to disconnect your garbage disposal like it’s supposed to? If so, consider me a jealous man.

Comments

  1. Renee says

    I can’t wait to see! You guys need to do a Pick My Presto like Layla! Would love to get your opinion on a few things!!! Enjoy all you do!

    Reply

  2. Megan Desroches says

    Yay! I am as excited about the progress of your kitchen updates as I am about planning our own. I love what you are doing with it!

    Reply

  3. Amanda @ Our Humble A{Bowe}d says

    Hootie hoo is right! I’m excited to see the counters! It makes such a big difference. We actually put our wood counters in over the weekend and they also came out to $38 per square foot. http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/counter-productive/ Strange, huh. We had two 2 foot by 13 foot long pieces which were a easy enough to move with two grown men. We actually chose an apron sink because we were afraid to have thin strips of granite at the front and back of the sink. Hope the Corian works well there!

    Reply

  6. Meredith says

    Yay! My favorite sentence of the post: “We probably couldn’t have lifted it with 2 more burly men present.” The “more” which implies that John & his dad are ‘burly’ cracks me up.

    Reply

  12. Meg@Keeping up with the Jenks' says

    I wasn’t there when they installed our granite, so I probably would have assumed that I could totally have handled it as well! Plus, I think I’ve got super human powers.
    Your quick recap definitely makes it seem more “easy” than I’m sure it was!

    Reply

  13. Elissa says

    Going sink-less is familiar, at least you have a dishwasher. We gutted our kitchen recently and we went without running water in there for 7 weeks. I was washing everything by hand, on my knees, in our (newly resurfaced) clawfoot tub. Best of luck with the rest of it!

    Reply

    • Sayward says

      I WISH I could have washed my dishes in the tub during a kitchen reno… during my senior year of college my ‘about to graduate and get married’ friends bought a fixer upper in our college town. The bride and I were going to live there until graduation/wedding time. They gutted the entire kitchen and only bathroom in one fell swoop, swearing it would all be finished by the time I moved in. Nothing got done. At all. Enter five months with zero kitchen, no tub or shower, and no bathroom sink. Then add a small mini fridge and microwave in the living room, a garden hose, a sometimes working toilet, and student teaching. Those were dark times :)

  14. Valerie says

    Sherry you are one stylish diy’er! My mother-in-law (who is awesome and not at all comparable to the MIL stereotype) wears sequined shirts when she gardens, so seeing that pic with gold beads and work gloves made me smile!! The kitchen is looking great, can’t wait to see it take shape now that the ball is rolling!

    Reply

  15. Kristin says

    Will you be able to get as much $ for the granite with the large piece being cracked in half? Does it depreciate the value of the granite at all?

    Also, it’s nice to see you wearing some color Sherry! I love the shirt! :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We figure that the chances of someone who wanted an 8.5 foot slab of granite with a sink hole in that exact position are slim. Most cabinet configurations are different enough that people buy granite remnants to cut down and do things like cover a bathroom vanity top or even cover side tables or a patio coffee table. So we’re hoping that we’ll still be able to get them sold! We’ll keep you posted though!

      xo,
      s

  16. Amanda says

    I admire your dedication to DIY, I’m not sure if I could go four weeks without kitchen counters or a kitchen sink! I noticed from the pictures that the window ledge in your kitchen matches your old counters, do you have plans to change that out down the road?

    Reply

  17. Katherine says

    Jealous… we also went the Corian countertop way with our kitchen remodel (come to think of it, I ought to be taking pictures and send them your way… we’re almost done!), but HAD to replace our stainless steel sink. Ours was mounted on top of the existing laminate counter, so it got all bent-up during demo. *Le sigh* We got a Corian seamless sink in white, and so far the maintenance hasn’t been too bad. We just add a little bleach and fill the sink up for a bit – and with all the nasty germs kitchen sinks contain, that’s probably a good thing!

    Reply

  18. Ashley B says

    It’s gonna look great once it’s all finished, but I can’t help chuckling to myself about those eyeball cabinet drawer knobs. They are currently staring around wondering what is going on and they have no idea what is about to become of them.. :D

    Reply

  21. Melissa S. says

    I sure hope you keep that fancy granite windowsill. A little momento of your kitchen’s past life.

    Kidding. Totally kidding. I think that granite is on the top ten list of Ugliest Speckled Granite Ever. And the windosill thing? *shudder*

    You guys are kind of lucky in a way, having started with such a grizzly “before” will make your “after” all that much more impressive! LOL :)

    Reply

  22. Jenna {Jenna Sais Quois} says

    Haha, I take it you guys will NOT be hosting Thanksgiving Dinner this year. But you definitely should next year… with your dining room and peninsula area being so open and close by, nobody would have to be exiled to a distant “kids table” in a far-away room. Which is where I still have to sit at age 25, by the way…

    Reply

  23. JennP says

    I love the irony of ripping your kitchen apart the week before Thanksgiving. It’s probably safe to assume you’re not hosting this year!

    Looks great so far. Can’t wait to see the painted cabinets :-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yup, we just like our existing sink a lot. Much better than the new deep double sink we installed in our first kitchen. There’s something about a single bowl that allows big pots and pan handles to fit! So we figured “why not work with what we have and save some money?”

      xo,
      s

  26. Allyn says

    Whew.
    Thanks for the dandruff clarification. I was about to send Sherdog a massive bottle of head and shoulders.
    Seriously, way to go be men (and woman! hear you roar!)
    That’s a massive piece of granite!

    Reply

  27. Emmarosemc says

    Looks all too familiar. We did a complete gut job before realizing that it takes a long time to rebuild. We were without a kit be for a good 4-5 months.
    Instead of craigslisting the granite you could also see about donating to a local company that makes recycled granite backsplashes.
    I went with a double domsjo farmhouse sink from ikea. Fairly cheaper $300 and sooooo worth it. Especially
    since you guys will have white countertops that would be beautiful.

    Reply

  29. Rebecca @ the lil house that could says

    Mike and I once lived without a kitchen sink for 8 weeks in our old place. We were foolish and tore out all of the existing cabinets, THEN decided to go to Lowe’s to get some inexpensive in-stock cabinetry, as my father in law told us we needed all standard sizes. Turns out we needed to custom order them and it took 8 weeks for them to come. Lesson learned.

    The bathroom sink isn’t so bad though, especially since you have more than one of them :)

    Reply

  30. bridget b. says

    yay for being able to reuse the sink! i just noticed that your window sill is made of a piece of granite that matches your old counters. what is the plan for that?

    Reply

  31. Rachel Tatem says

    Sad that there was a crack, glad that you didn’t break your backs. My husband and I redid our kitchen recently and had to go 9 months without a sink, do to the slow pace that we had to renovate so YOU CAN DO IT!

    Reply

  32. Gabbi says

    We just bought our solid surface Allen + Roth countertops at Lowe’s last night. They came out to be $33/ft. installed. Since the labor charge is included, they wouldn’t honor our 10% off coupon at our store, but they extended our expiration date on it so that we can use it when we buy all the paint for our casa. Thumbs up for that since it’ll be a pretty expensive trip, buying paint for an entire house, including all trim, doors, ceilings and cabinets in the kitchen!

    Can’t wait to see your kitchen come together! :)

    Reply

  33. Micha says

    Woot! It’s progress! And progress is good :o)

    I’m glad to hear you’re still with a working dishwasher; life is so much better when you don’t have dirty dishes taking over your kitchen and spreading through your house!

    Reply

  34. Jessica says

    You guys are hilarious and such an inspiration! I’ve been wanting to redo our countertops for years and have a new hope that eventually we can do some ourselves AND find good deals! Thanks!

    Reply

  36. Dana says

    Have you picked a color that you are painting your kitchen cabinets – I can’t remember? Is that the next step or the back splash??

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We still have a lot to do before we get to painting the cabinets (remove cabinets and add floating shelves, hang a new range hood, build in a rehang our new microwave, demo out the old tile, etc) – we’re waiting to paint and do the backsplash until the end of the project since they’ll be things that can be scratched or ruined during other hanging and demoing phases! As for the color of the cabinets, not sure about white or some soft tone of taupey-gray. We change our minds every day!

      xo,
      s

  37. GretchenF says

    On my husband’s behalf, I am kind of happy to hear that you had a little struggle with the plumbing. We did the sink stuff when we had our countertops replaced, and it took him a couple of hours and 3 trips to Ace to get ‘er done. And I actually thought at the time, “I bet John and Sherry wouldn’t have these issues.” Although he was working really hard, so I just said that in my head.

    Reply

  38. Laurie says

    My husband and I gutted a 3,000 square foot 60 year old ranch 5 years ago. Recently it was time to give our kitchen a mini face lift in the form of new stainless steel appliances, sink and faucet. We had effortlessly renovated an entire house but the sink project was nearly our undoing. Our new sink didnt fit in the old sink hole, which resulted in rebuilding our entire countertop. What should have been a two hour max project turned into 3 days and at least half a day was spent on the disposal. It was the worst DIY experience we have ever had, the kind that has you insulting each other’s mother. When we finished, my husband said “I hope you love this sink and faucet forever because if you don’t you will have to pick out a new one with your second husband.”

    Reply

  39. Amy @ this DIY life says

    Watching you redo your kitchen makes me anxious to get started on ours. Perhaps we’ll lose a wall or two this winter :) I’ve done a lot of reading on kitchen renovations and most pros recommend living in a place for 4 years before doing a kitchen reno (we’re at two years and I’m going a little crazy). What made y’all decide to take this on after less than a year in your house?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Wow- we’ve never heard four years! We always think 6 months to a year works for us. It’s when we did our first kitchen reno too! By then you know how you use rooms and have more of any idea of function and what you want. So many people renovate even before moving in, but we never would have come up with the peninsula idea in this house, or the idea to close off a doorway and gain an extra bedroom and a lot more kitchen storage in our first house!

      xo,
      s

  40. ally says

    Your dishwasher is white? Were you planning on swapping it for stainless at some point? Also, great work so far and very pretty shirt!

    Reply

  45. Mandy V says

    Although we did not have to deal with removing granite (ours was builders laminate special), we totally ran into the same thing with the garbage disposal. We ended up youtube-ing it which has saved us SO MANY TIMES during our DIY adventures.
    Luckily, we bought a new sink so we only had to be without our sink for a day when we removed the existing sink/countertops the night before they came to install. But we had a horrific acrylic sink that looked 20x older than it actually was (also builders special)…it had to go!

    Reply

  48. Mandy says

    Oh man, when we first moved into our place our garbage disposal sounded like the monster under the bed. The first thing I wanted to do was replace it and a (girl) friend at work told me she did hers and it was super easy. Um, right. It took me like a day to get that stupid mounting ring off too and by then I just wanted to throw the whole thing off the balcony. Thank goodness for more patient brother-in-law guests who come that weekend to finish the job for you :) So John, I feel your pain for sure.

    In happier news, I’m so pumped to see your kitchen done, I wouldn’t be able to wait a couple weeks! (see above for impatience reference…)

    Reply

  49. Kasey March says

    I am so jealous of your remodel, I can’t wait to buy a house and start fixing it up. Watching your progress is keeping me motivated to stick to my budget and make the dream a reality, thanks guys!

    Reply

  50. Karen J says

    I’m very excited to see this whole project! We had undermounted sinks that FELL of the granite and marble counters they were attached to. Shoddy install much? Luckily dh was able to fix them.

    Have you taken good pics of some of your accent tile designs; I think you could presto-changeo photoshop an interesting little print with some of the designs as an homage to the old kitchen (maybe changing the blue to white and placing on a different colored background). Of course this is ocming from the person who knows nothing about photoshop.

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *