My Copper Kitchen Sink that Wasn’t

• You want that beautiful vanity that you’ve been pining away over but it’s just a hair too big for the space.
• You adore a particular light fixture until you find out it will cost half your room budget.
• You found the perfect picture to hang over your bed but it’s the wrong size.

It can be doubly frustrating when you decide on something that seems to check all the boxes. So you finally pull the trigger, and then you discover it won’t work.

Such was the case with my copper kitchen sink 😥 .

The Sink Saga

Initially when we ordered our kitchen, I was OK with a stainless steel sink. But, as I was browsing kitchen designs, I came across a copper sink.

I LOVED the look.

I’d heard alarming things about copper, though. So, I started researching the idea. The more I read, the more hooked I got.

I spent hours looking at sites and reading reviews on specific sinks. It was going to cost SIGNIFICANTLY more money so I went back and forth a million times, but I was becoming OK with the price.

I WANTED one.

I honed in on the particular sink that was the right width.

Here’s all the boxes that got ‘checked’

• I contacted Home Depot (where we purchased the kitchen) and they said that particular sink would fit.
• The timing was right, the sink would arrive in time for the official countertop measurement appointment (it was a requirement that the sink be present at that time).
• I found a vendor I really liked coppersinksonline.com (no affiliate links) and the sink I loved (their 33″ sink in the Rio Grande finish – it even sounds wonderful when you say it).

So, I ordered the sink.

I also ordered a bronze faucet to complement it. Heck, my sister even bought me a copper utensil caddy.

The Sink Arrived

It was right on time, and it was just as beautiful as I hoped it would be.

The sink sat in my living room patiently waiting for its big moment for about a week. The first picture below is a full image right after it arrived and the second picture is a closeup.

Bye bye Sink

The day arrived and the countertop vendor came to measure. He went to work, then paused and delivered the bad news.

The sink was too deep for the cabinet.

I had to make a decision on the spot to go look for another copper sink that would fit or move ahead with the original stainless steel sink.

If I went for a new copper sink, it would delay our kitchen installation another 4-6 weeks.

If I went with the stainless sink, we would have countertops and a sink in less than 2 weeks.

As much as I loved that copper sink, this was a no-brainer decision.

We had been living without a functional kitchen for weeks. In particular, not having a proper sink in a kitchen is a slow kind of a torture.

The copper sink went back.

We incurred shipping and restocking charges for the sink and faucet to the tune of $262 (ouch!). But the good news 😛 was that Home Depot reimbursed us the whole amount without question since they had told us the sink would fit.

Bottom Line

The whole experience got me thinking about all the compromises that we had been making.

This was really just the latest.

When you remodel, you have to worry how much everything costs and whether things will fit. When you own an old house you also need to worry that your house will cooperate with you. Which it often does not.

So the moral of the story, I guess, is that not only are remodels a lot of physical work, but they can be emotionally exhausting as well.

I have to tell you, though – that stainless steel sink is kind of growing on me.

After all, it does match all the kitchen appliances .

For more information

About the rest of our kitchen projects, visit our Tour My Kitchen page.

How about you?

Do you have any remodeling sagas you’d like to share?

I’d love to see and hear about them in the comments below. It’s always nice to know I’m not alone :).