# Kitchen sink not centered.



## a7ecorsair (Jun 1, 2010)

It is a little difficult following your description of the problem.
This is a kitchen?
Let's start with the base cabinet, counter top, and sink. There is usually two doors in the sink cabinet so does the sink cutout in the counter top allow the sink to be mounted and aligned in the base cabinet?


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## Alan (Apr 12, 2006)

If someone installed a sink an inch off center, i'd kick them, then make them redo it......

Normally more noticeable because it's centered on a cabinet, and a window.

I'd say 1/8" off center would be max for noticeability for me.


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## gmhut (Jul 28, 2008)

Yes, kitchen sink—hope this doesn't get too convoluted.

Counter is 12x12 granite tile and granite bull-nose system. This is a condo with a kitchen window that hits the right edge of the cabinets and makes for a very tight fit for cabinets between the wall on the left, and the window on the right. There is pretty much only one layout that worked in this space as follows:

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base cabinets, left to right: 

kitchen wall
corner cabinet (stove next to this cabinet, perpendicular on joining wall)
cabinet with one drawer and shelves below
18" width compact dishwasher
base cabinet with kitchen sink
cabinet with set of drawers in single column
window

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Base cabinet with sink:

Not sure if the cabinet was made a bit off spec or what, but the cabinet side walls lined up directly under the track that accepts mounting screws on the underside of the sink. This made it impossible to install the sink exactly centered in the base cabinet. I used the most common sized standard single kitchen sink from HD (same size as Lowe's). The next size down for any sink I could find would have been ridiculously small (mini bar sink). The only way I could see to aline the mounting screw tracks in the sink in a useable area, was to shift the sink hole in the counter over to the left side of the base cabinet by the width of a base cabinet wall.

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Upper cabinet over sink (has decorative insert and under cabinet light):

Either the left wall is out of plumb, or there is a margin of error in the cabinet manufacturing, or combination of the two. The result is the center line of the upper cabinet over the sink (gap between the two cabinet doors) is right of center to the base cabinet centerline (where the two base cabinet doors meet). Since the sink is shifted to the left of the bast cabinet by the width of a cabinet wall, and the upper cabinet is shifted a bit to the right of the base cabinet, the center of the sink (drain and faucet) are about 1 1/8" to 11/4" to the left of the upper cabinet center line (the farthest distance off center in the three elements of concern sink, upper cab, and lower cab). If you glance at this, it's doesn't jump out at you. If you stand directly in front of the sink and use the line where cabinet doors meet respectively in the upper and lower cabinets as a sighting line, all this becomes noticeable. 



Actually, there isn't much I can do about this now. I'm assuming there is no such thing as a perfect installation, but I have no idea how much imperfection is acceptable as far as centering upper/lower cabinets and a kitchen sink. I was wondering if there is a rule of thumb.


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## a7ecorsair (Jun 1, 2010)

Sounds like the kitchen wasn't laid out very well. All measurements should have been based on the window center line. The base cabinet should have been correct regardless of what happened to the top cabinets. Who was involved with the initial layout and measuring and who built the cabinets based on those measurements - different people?
Was the granite tile counter top done on site?


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## gmhut (Jul 28, 2008)

The kitchen and dining area are in one room. The window is 71" wide and not over the counter, it's off centered in the room on the same wall as the cabinets. From the edge of the window to the wall is just big enough to fit the layout as described (basically same as the original). The original set up had some odd sized cabinets that seemed to be custom built for the complex (35+ years old). There were no full sized drawers. The new layout is the same, except full sized dishwasher and small drawers were substituted with a compact dishwasher and full sized drawers, and taller cabinets were used with one shorter under-lit cabinet over the sink. There is (and was in old setup) less than an inch from left edge of window to right edge of cabinets. The new cabinets even with the smaller dishwasher, end up with the bull nose of the counter top barely short of the window. There really is only just enough room to jam everything in as is. The only way to make the base cabinet and the upper cabinet over the sink line up perfectly would have been to have the edge of the counter overlap the window. It's probably too close as it is. The cabinets are from Lowe's, nothing exotic or custom. The granite tile and bullnose system was built on site. It seemed like a good step up from the old formica, couldn't afford solid granite or Sylestone. I guess the best solution would have been to get the sink directly centered over the base cabinet, (still wouldn't be quite centered to upper cabinet) but I saw no way to get the screws into any sink mounting track (tried sinks from different mfgs of the same size) so shifting the sink was the only solution I could come up. Thought about cutting notches in the base cabinet walls, but I couldn't see a way to turn the screws in the notched cabinet walls.


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