GRP or composite sinks?

[Bob77]

I need to choose a sink for our new kitchen and it would be good to hear some first-hand experience.

 

Both my wife and I dislike stainless steel, mainly because it is noisy but also it scratches easily. Our previous kitchen had an Ikea ceramic double butler-style sink which we both liked, although it did get a couple of tiny chips over the course of its 11-year life.

 

Worktops will be concrete-effect quartz. For the sink I am thinking of a white composite 1.5-bowl undermount sink. SInk unit is 800mm so we can go fairly large.

 

Composite seems to come in two variants: "granite" which is more expensive (like this), or GRP/fibreglass/Comite which is cheaper (eg something like this). £750 for a sink seems excessive to me.

 

Anyone with either of these who can recommend whether they are a good idea or not? Do they scratch/stain? Do they stand up to hot pans? We have very hard water so I am worried about limescale - the dark grey/black sinks look lovely in the pictures but I| know they would look awful within a couple of days with our water!

[SimonD]

12 minutes ago, Bob77 said:

the dark grey/black sinks look lovely in the pictures but I| know they would look awful within a couple of days with our water!

 

13 minutes ago, Bob77 said:

"granite" which is more expensive

 

We have a black Schock Cristadur sink which is granite based - very happy with it so far. We're in a hard water area and have to say no problems with limescale, yes it's visible but just wipes away. Not overly expensive either.

 

https://www.schock.de/gbr_en/world-of-materials/cristadur

[Gone West]

At our last house we also fitted Schock sinks which were undermount in a black granite worktop. We also had hard water so we had a water softener and didn't have any problems.

 

[SteamyTea]

When you say GRP, is that what you mean. Do they look like a cheap speed boat on one side.

Or do you mean a resin cast one, which can be totally different chemically and structurally.

[Bob77]

3 hours ago, Gone West said:

 We also had hard water so we had a water softener and didn't have any problems.

 

Aren't the main kitchen taps normally left unsoftened for drinking, or did you have a separate drinking water tap?

 

I had a look at the Schock sinks. They look nice but they don't seem to do the size we want which is a 1.5 bowl to fit an 800mm cabinet. Their 1.5 bowls are sized for 600mm units which is narrower than we would ideally like.

 

Is there any material (ha!) difference between the sinks that call themselves granite or quartz composite versus the GRP/Comite ones? Fibreglass makes me think of a bathtub.

[Bob77]

11 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

When you say GRP, is that what you mean. Do they look like a cheap speed boat on one side.

Or do you mean a resin cast one, which can be totally different chemically and structurally.

 

The problem is I haven't examined them close up as yet. I had a look in one of the sheds but all their sinks were mounted above head height on a stand so you couldn't get a good feel of them.

 

The cheaper composite sinks say stuff like "precision made from an ultra-contemporary GRP composite that is pressed into shape".

 

We also need a rinser-size sink for the boiling water tap on the peninsula but I am thinking stainless steel for that one. 

 

Edit:

I found this explainer of what the material is: What type of material is Tectonite, SMC or Synthetic for a kitchen sink? (tapsuk.com)

 

As I was looking at some Franke sinks and wondered what the heck "tectonite" was meant to be (I studied chemistry and don't remember that one!)

Edited October 18, 2022 by Bob77
added link

[SteamyTea]

1 minute ago, Bob77 said:

precision made from an ultra-contemporary GRP composite that is pressed into shape

DMC (dough moulded compound) or SMC (sheet moulded composite).

I would avoid both. Think what your electricity meter box looks like, they are DMC.

[Bob77]

6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

DMC (dough moulded compound) or SMC (sheet moulded composite).

I would avoid both. Think what your electricity meter box looks like, they are DMC.

You beat me to it - see the link I added above.

 

My electricity meter is in a black cube-shaped metal (actually maybe Bakelite?) box with a glass window in the front, in a cupboard in what is now the downstairs bog!

Edited October 18, 2022 by Bob77

[SteamyTea]

2 minutes ago, Bob77 said:

You beat me to it

Even after nearly 25 years out of the composite plastic business not all my braincells have been killed off with the styrene, arsenic, xylene  and acetone fumes.

[Gone West]

15 hours ago, Bob77 said:

Aren't the main kitchen taps normally left unsoftened for drinking, or did you have a separate drinking water tap?

The tap in the picture is a three way tap with a dedicated filtered drinking water supply.

[Bob77]

In the end I went with white Reginox “granite” composite as we liked the look and decided 600mm was big enough. They feel decent quality if somewhat lighter than I was expecting. I hopefully they won’t be too hard to keep looking nice.