Basic Terminology of the Sink Industry:

Below are listed some of the most common terms used in the Sink industry, these would be found in sink brochures and technical specification books.

Sit on Sinks
The Sit on Sink is a complete unit usually made of stainless steel or enamelled steel, it will be either 30mm or 40mm in thickness and 500mm or 600mm in depth. Usually the back of the sink is formed into an upstand of approximately 40mm high.
Older sinks may be 42" x 21" single drainer or 63" x 21" double drainer, this type of sink is so called because the complete sink sits on top of the base unit (no worktop is required). These type of sinks are old fashioned by today's standards but they are still available in metric and imperial sizes, however the choice of quality in the domestic market is mainly limited to contract quality.

Modern Sit on Sinks
The modern day Sit on Sink in principle, is the same as the traditional Sit on as mentioned in the previous section, with the exception that the quality is far superior, there is no upstand at the back and usually the sink is part of a stainless steel sink and worktop. Examples of this relatively new type of sink will be shown within our online catalogue.

Inset Sinks
The Inset sink is the most common type used today, they are, as their name suggests inset into the worktop and clamped from underneath. The use of this type of sink enables the flow and uninterrupted lines of the worktop to continue around the kitchen. Inset sinks can be fitted into virtually any surface where an aperture can be cut to accept it.

Under Mounted Sinks
This type of sink in it's unfitted form looks similar to the inset, the difference is that the under mounted is fixed underneath the worktop and not from the top. There are limitations as to the type of worktop that this sink can be undermounted to, it must be solid in construction, usually Granite, Corian, Solid Wood or other non porous types of materials. This type of sink installation is usually best left to a professional.

The Hand of the Sink
The hand of the sink means which side the drainer is on, (in some cases which side the bowl is on) this is important to determine when using high quality sinks as they tend to be manufactured in left or right hand form.

O/A Width of Sink
The maximum overall size of the sink from left to right.

O/A Depth of Sink
The maximum overall size of the sink from front to back.

Cut out size
The size of the aperture, cut out of the worktop to accept the sink, usually 10mm less than the o/a sink size all round. IE. total length of sink less 20mm and total depth of sink less 20mm. In some cases this size may be greater (check with manufacturers recommendation).

1 TH or 1 Taphole
A one taphole sink is designed to take a single stem, monobloc mixer type tap. A tap of any description may be used providing it is monobloc.

2 TH or 2 Taphole
A two taphole sink is designed to take individual Pillar Taps, Deck mixers or Two hole Bridge sink mixers.

1 TH Reversible
A reversible sink has pre-cut tap holes at front and back enabling the sink to be left hand drainer or right hand drainer. The hole not used is usually filled with either a pop up waste or matching stopper.

Waste Kit, Waste Kit/Overflow
The waste kit and overflow is commonly confused with the plumbing kit. The waste kit refers to the perforated outlet in the bottom of the sink, the size of this is either 70mm diameter usually with a black rubber stopper or 110mm diameter usually in the form of a basket strainer waste.
The overflow, if designed into the sink, will be rectangular or round in shape and is usually found in the main bowl or on the drainer, the overflow usually joins in to the main bowl waste under the sink.

Plumbing Kit
The complexity of the plumbing kit can vary from sink to sink, basically the plumbing kit pipes connect to the waste and may or may not include a trap (S bend)