What are the shells: a description of their main differences

Choosing the right sink in your own kitchen or bathroom is a fairly demanding task. The range offered by manufacturers is so great today that it is easy for a person uninitiated in the subtleties of sanitary equipment to get confused when choosing a suitable sink. In this article we will acquaint you with the main criteria of modern sinks.

Materials

We should start by considering the materials that can be used in the manufacture of sinks:

Faience

Earthenware sinks are found very often primarily due to its low cost and appearance similar to marble models.

But at the same time they have several quite tangible flaws:

• Porosity. Over time, sinks created from this material absorb various liquids and odors, which affects the convenience of their use.
• Fragility. A careless blow or a dropped solid object in a pottery from a faience can cause a crack, which will lead to its complete destruction.

Tip: do not install sinks of such a fragile structure in the kitchen, where the danger of heavy objects falling into them increases many times.

Some repairs to the faience sink before it has split completely can be done independently:

Porcelain

Porcelain products are much more practical than their cheap earthenware counterparts and have a whole set of advantages:

• Absolute environmental friendliness.
• Dense structure, thereby eliminating the absorption and spread of odors.
• Inertness to chemically active substances, which makes possible the use of any household chemicals in the implementation of the care of the sink.

• Resistance to different temperatures. Hot pans or frozen fruit can safely be placed in porcelain containers.
• Noise absorption. The sounds of falling water are partially absorbed by porcelain, which is conducive to home comfort.
• Smooth and pleasant to the touch surface.
• Enough high strength.
• Aesthetics.

But there are also some disadvantages:

• Great weight. This somewhat complicates the installation of their own hands and forces the use of reinforced fastening systems.

Tip: if you are installing a suspended model, then make sure that the wall consists of concrete that can support the weight of porcelain.

• The possibility of the appearance of chips with a strong blow. Although the strength of porcelain products and significantly higher than that of earthenware, but to drop them heavy objects still do not.
• High price.

Metal

Metal sinks are ideal for the kitchen.

The most common products are stainless steel, which have the following properties:

• High resistance to mechanical and thermal stress. Knives, cups or even pots that have fallen into the metal sink will not harm her.
• The presence of multifunctional models. The metal is fairly easy to process, which allows the construction of an additional bowl or wing.
• Affordable cost.
• Simple care instructions.

Advice: it is not recommended to use abrasives in the process of washing the iron surface, as they may leave behind scratches.

The most significant shortcomings include the noise emitted by the water beating on the metal.

But there are also more exotic models:

1. Cast iron. The cast-iron sink is incredibly heavy and prone to corrosive processes. These two significant shortcomings practically supplanted such impractical products, although in the past they could be found quite often.

1. Copper and bronze. These are representatives of the aristocracy. Bronze or copper sink will give your bathroom a rich and luxurious look. Their performance is also high, including strength, inertness to acids, durability and resistance to high temperatures. But the cost of such products is very high, which significantly limits their distribution.

A natural stone

Sinks from a natural stone can brag the following pluses:

• Unbeatable natural beauty.

• High resistance to mechanical and thermal stress.
• Environmental friendliness.
• Long operational life.

But there are significant drawbacks:

• Significant weight, which creates difficulties in the installation process and requires an enhanced system of fasteners.
• The complexity of care. The stone surface is endowed with many pores that are difficult to wash out.
• High price. The use of natural raw materials has never been cheap.

Fake diamond

Of course, the outlines of sinks made of artificial marble or acrylic cannot boast of their naturalness, since they are more even and smooth, but the designs created from them are free from the drawbacks of natural products.

They have the following advantages:

• Appearance is not inferior to natural stone.
• High strength properties.
• Affordable cost.
• The lack of porosity, which greatly simplifies the care of the sink.

Mother of pearl sinks or decorated with mosaics are also possible, which will add personality to your bathroom.

Dimensions

After we have decided what the sink consists of, it's time to move on to its possible dimensions:

Installation Methods

What kind of sinks can there be?

Conclusion

Shells come in a wide variety of variations, which we described in detail above. The main differences are in the material of manufacture, size and method of installation.

The video in this article will introduce you to more information. Have a good choice!