Why We Had To Replace Our Bathroom Counter...

So I mentioned that we had to replace our guest bathroom counter. 

This is the reason we had to replace it...

See all those cracks?

Here's a closer look...

We had an integrated sink, meaning the sink and counter were all one piece. The problem with this is that you can't just replace the sink. So here's how it got that way...once, when the boys were little, they clogged up this sink with lots of toothpaste, liquid soap, etc. You know how kids put a lot of soap on their hands, then half of it goes down the sink in globs? Well, it clogged it up and my hubby had to get a really big snake to clear it. I remember the snake went from this sink all the way into the front yard. It was a big job.

About that time, I read a tip about pouring boiling water down your sinks regularly, to keep them from clogging. Sounds good, right? No. It was wrong. Very, very wrong. 

This sink/counter is made of cultured marble. Not real marble, mind you. Cultured marble. The standard builder grade stuff. And apparently it doesn't stand up to boiling water. Lol. 

I mean, I poured boiling water down my kitchen sink all the time, but it was made of a different material. And the thing is, the cracks didn't appear right away. I didn't notice them until I'd been doing this for probably a year. The cracks slowly appeared and then got bigger and bigger. I blamed my boys too...I kept thinking they were scratching it up with their Matchbox cars or something. Ha! Sorry, boys. :) 

After I realized it was the boiling water causing the scratches, I stopped. But the scratches continued to appear for years. It started looking really rough. We had to order 2 slabs of quartz for the kitchen and we asked if they would have enough left over to do this little counter, and they did! Of course, it was a little more money for them to demo the old one, cut the sink hole, and install it, but well worth it. 

And as you can see, this time around, we went with a drop in sink. We got the Kohler Pennington drop in oval. That way, if we ever need to replace the sink, we won't have to replace the counters too. We could have gone with an undermount sink, but this was just easier and we were on a time crunch. Plus, drop in sinks are a lot easier to replace than undermounts. We were still able to use the same faucet.

So that's my PSA for the day: Don't pour boiling water onto cultured marble. :) 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Lisa