Thursday 14 April 2016

Renovation project - Original French ceramic sink

Renovation project - Original French ceramic sink

We start on the kitchen and the first big job is to remove the old kitchen sink, we want to keep this as it is a fantastic original French ceramic sink unit, it is just unfortunate that it has been cemented into the wall.

Renovation project - Original French ceramic sink

John has already managed to loosen it and move it slightly to install the water pipes, but now we need to remove it completely, it is so heavy and there are only the two of us.

We place a big piece of folded cardboard on the floor with some pieces of plaster board over it, so that we can hopefully put it straight on here with out dropping it or damaging it.

The doors need to be removed from the old unit, these come off quite easily, one just lifts off and the other falls off due to the rotten wood.

Next it is removing the frame, this is where it gets tricky, if it is removed wrong, the sink unit can just fall, but John manages to remove the frame and the sink is now precariously in place.

It is time to lift it off and move it to the floor, fingers crossed everybody.

John takes the lions share and we manage to get it on the plaster board with no damage. We have saved the sink.

Renovation project - Original French ceramic sink

We would recommend that at least two people do a job like this as it is very heavy and if not supported correctly will fall and break.

John has started to fit the new waste pipe from the utility as this will have to connect under the sink, this means breaking a bigger hole through the wall into the kitchen.

As we do this we realise the new style of kitchen we have just planned will have the waste pipe and the water pipes on show, we can box these in, but the boxing in will be high and all the way around the room due to the different heights of the rooms.

We would also have to rethink the plug sockets.


On reflection this would ruin the look of the kitchen and we now go back too our original idea of having the kitchen all along one wall.

I cannot say this enough, do not have set ideas on what you want to do, the house will always let you know what needs to be done.

We set about making the new cupboard for the sink unit, but as we are going to buy cupboard doors this time, we cannot work out the size of them. It is not worth making the unit until we know for definite, so we have no choice but to go and buy them.


The doors are fantastic value at Brico Depot and cost 26 euros for a full size white high gloss door, we buy the handles at 6 euros each (it is only when we get home we realise that the handles come with the doors) this means that the door and handle only cost 26 euros each. John is a happy bunny, provided we can find the receipt to take the spare handles back!

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