I hate my kitchen sink. I have hated it for a very long time. The thing I hate the most about it is that the sides are so curved, you can barely put anything in the basins. Any glass I put in there topples over. It is infuriating to me.
So finally, I made the commitment to get a new sink. Not only that, but I was going to get a hot water dispenser, a filtered water dispenser, a new garbage disposal, and a new, fancy, pre-rinse spray faucet. I began my search online and was immediately overwhelmed by the potential options. I mean, there are a LOT of sink options out there. Eventually, I settled on a 50/50 split sink. In the process, I learned a bunch about sinks. One thing I learned was the gauge of the steel. You can get anything for 16 to 22 gauge thickness. 16 is probably overkill and you don’t really want more than 20, so 18 is a great target point.
Also, the thicker steel will reduce some of the tinniness when banging items around in the basins, but that can also be mitigated by sound deadening material. I looked at my existing sink and it had something like a spray-on sound deadener all over the bottom. When I bought my new sink, it said it had sound absorption as well.
When I got the sink and unpacked it, I saw the deadener on the sink. It was a 4” square pad on the bottom of the basins. What good is that going to do? I knocked on the sides of the basins and the gong was obnoxious. Sigh. This is fine. I can fix it. The fix idea isn’t mine or even a new idea at all, you can see plenty of examples of the technique online.
When I was installing my stereo in my car, I used a material called Dynamat, which is essentially the same deadening material that is stuck on the bottom of my sink (although much thicker). When people deaden their cars for improved audio quality, they usually go overboard and cover every exposed bit of metal. But the key is that you really only have to cover the areas that resonate. Corners? No. Large flat panels? Yes. Cover them entirely? No. Cover about 50% of the area? Yes.
So I made a small purchase of Dynamat online, about $18, and applied it to the edges of the sink. Each of the flat walls got a treatment. I made a short video of the before and after effects of the treatment.
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