*This blog post is sponsored by Elkay and reflects my personal views and opinions on the product!*
When I decided to renovate my daughters’ bathroom, I knew it needed one thing… farmhouse sinks. Why? Because I love farmhouse sinks and would replace all our sinks with farmhouse sinks if I could!
Not to mention, I always think you should do what you love when it comes to how you build and decorate your home!
Was this the most conventional decision? Not at all! But with a few days of hard work, the sinks now look like they were always meant to be in this little bathroom of ours!
Here’s how I did it.
HOW I INSTALLED 2 ELKAY FIRECLAY FARMHOUSE SINKS INTO OUR GIRLS’ BATHROOM (AND BUILT A VANITY AROUND THEM)
First things first, gather your materials!
STEP 1: MEASURE & GATHER YOUR MATERIALS
There is one very important measurement you need to take into consideration before you purchase your farmhouse sink. The width of your cabinetry!
Sinks are made to fit a certain size cabinet, and if you’re not replacing your cabinetry, you need to pay attention to this!
Our 24 7/16″ Elkay Farmhouse Sink was made to fit cabinets up to 27″ wide (measure from seam to seam of the piece of cabinetry that holds your sink). Some sinks are made to fit larger or smaller cabinets, so pay attention to the details of the sink you’re looking to purchase.
You’ll also see in the instructions for your sink that you cabinets need to have the proper supports to hold the sink. Don’t worry, that part you can do yourself!
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED…
MATERIALS
- Elkay Fireclay 24-7/16″ x 19-11/16″ x 9-1/8″ Single Bowl Farmhouse Sink (or another Elkay Farmhouse Sink that fits your cabinetry).
- 4 2x4s
- Pocket hole screws
- 2-2.5″ drywall screws
- 1×2 select pine
- 1×3 select pine
- 1/2″ plywood
- Plastic Wood
- Caulk
- Wood glue
- Clear matte polyurthane
- Primer
- Paint (The color I used was Pure White by Sherwin Williams)
TOOLS
- Jigsaw
- Miter saw
- Power drill
- Clamps
- Finish nailer
- Wet/Dry vacuum
- Pocket hole jig
- Hinge jig
- Level
- Mallet
- Corner clamp
STEP 2: TAKE YOUR CABINET DOWN TO THE BOXES
Before you get started, remember to turn off the water and electricity for your sink and near the worksite! Also, always wear your safety gear and follow your tool safety instructions!
Once you have all your materials and your site is safe, remove your existing cabinet doors, cabinet trim, countertop, and sink from the cabinet you’ll be working on.
Our sinks were built into our countertops, so we just removed them all at once!
Be careful when you take apart your cabinet doors, face frame, any trim, and hardware! You’ll want to save all of that so you can reuse it later!
STEP 3: BUILD YOUR SUPPORTS
Once our vanity had been disassembled, it was time to build supports in our existing cabinet to hold up our sink.
Farmhouse sinks can be very heavy, so this is a very important step!
Using my 2x4s, I measured and cut down boards to build my supports.
I measured the depth of my sink to see where my support boards needed to be in our cabinet to flush mount our sink.
You can see in the photo above that I added supports around the sides by screwing them into our cabinets. Then I added vertical supports under each of those boards.
I then added boards across the center using pocket hole screws to attach them to the boards on either side.
Tip: make sure your center boards aren’t in the way of your drain hole, and don’t forget to check and make sure everything is level as you go!
Note the added vertical supports in the next photo for reference!
STEP 4: REINSTALL YOUR FACE FRAME
Now, it’s time to make it look like your sink was always meant to be in your cabinetry!
Grab those trim pieces you took apart and bring them back to your sink. Fit them in and mark anywhere you need to cut them down to fit around your new sinks. Your horizontal pieces should still fit just fine, you’ll mainly just need to cut down your vertical pieces and any pieces that need to go around the sink up top.
For our double vanity, we ended up removing 4 small drawers to fit the sinks in, so I also used leftover trim to rework the top of the vanity.
Once it was all cut down to the right sizes, I fit the trim back around the sink and nailed it into place. The key here is to add one of your horizontal face frame pieces directly underneath the sink. This will ultimately make it look like your cabinetry was made for your sink!
Make sure to wood-fill any nail holes or wood imperfections. And of course, don’t forget to caulk where needed so all the boards look like they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be!
STEP 5: BUILD A NEW COUNTERTOP
Our old countertop was acrylic with built in shell sinks. It was time for it to all go to make way for these new beautiful farmhouse sinks!
Once the sinks went in, we lost a good amount of counter space. This wasn’t a problem for us – we actually don’t keep things on our bathroom countertops aside from some hand soap and maybe an item or two of decor anyways!
But this meant I could pretty easily and inexpensively rebuild a countertop around our new sinks!
I grabbed some 1/2″ plywood and cut it down to the countertop size, adding an inch on the front and left sides so there would be some overhang.
Then, I brought it up to the bathroom and laid it on top of the two sinks! I drew right around the edges of the sinks on the plywood so I knew exactly what I needed to cut out.
Then back out to the garage I went to jigsaw out our countertop base!
Once it was all cut out, I installed it around the sinks using finishing nails and some wood glue.
Next up I grabbed some 1×2 and 1×3 select pine boards, cut them down, and laid them out on top of the plywood. This was going to be my new beautiful wooden countertop!
I made sure to measure each board and cut them down exactly to size so they fit snug around the sinks, then I glued them all into place.
I added 1x2s around the edges to make the countertop look and feel a little thicker and a little more finished. I installed these with wood glue and finishing nails.
Then I sealed with 4 thick coats of clear, matte polyurethane!
STEP 6: BUILD NEW CABINET DOORS
Now we were on to the cabinet doors…
I needed to build 4 new doors for our double vanity since the old ones no longer fit (and just weren’t our style to begin with).
I started out by measuring the openings in our new face frame. I usually like cabinet doors to cover about half of the face frame boards and measure accordingly.
I planned to use 1×2 select pine for the door frames and sanded plywood for the centers.
Once I had my measurements I cut down my 1x2s to create my frames. I planned for my vertical boards to go from top to bottom while my horizontal boards would be my connecting pieces.
I then used my Kreg pocket hole jig to drill pocket holes in the horizontal connecting pieces (one on each side on the back of the boards).
Then, I glued and clamped each board using a C clamp and corner clamp so they were just right and secured the frames into place with pocket hole screws!
Next, I took the frames out to the garage and traced the centers on plywood so I knew just what sizes to cut down. I cut the plywood with my jigsaw, wedged them into the frames, and just secured with wood glue and caulk on both sides.
I know, it doesn’t sound like it would work… but it does!
Then I grabbed the hinges from our old cabinet doors and my Kreg concealed hinge jig, set my jig according to the directions, and cored out space for the hinges to sit on all my doors!
I installed the hinges, measured where they should go on the face frames, and installed the doors.
I then drilled holes for the door knobs before wood filling, caulking, priming, and painting the doors.
Don’t skip those steps… especially wood filling and caulking around all the seams! Those steps always make a huge difference!
Once the doors were nice and dry, I added my door knobs!
STEP 7: HOOK UP PLUMBING AND SEAL THE EDGES
Once the doors and trim are all done, it’s time to hook up your plumbing! We are not plumbers, so I’m not going to tell you exactly how to do this part. But we always try to follow the basic plan that was set up before we replace a sink.
We needed to drill holes in the countertop for our faucets to go and installed those as well as drains and plumbing.
Once everything is in place and you’re sure you won’t need to move your sink for anything else, caulk around all the edges where your sink meets your countertop. Then, caulk around where your sink meets your face frame pieces too!
This will give it a seamless finish! I always follow the caulk with a baby wipe to smooth it out and clean up the extra.
STEP 8: ADMIRE YOUR NEW GORGEOUS ELKAY FIRECLAY FARMHOUSE SINKS
And that’s it! It sounds like a lot, but the reality is if I can do this in just a few days, so can you! You’ll have your new, gorgeous Elkay Farmhouse Sink installed in no time!
No one will ever know your bathroom wasn’t originally designed for a farmhouse sink… or two for that matter!
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