07 June 2010

Something new under the sink

Somebody rethought the sink base. Check it out.





This is Merillat's new CoreGuard™ sink base. In a Merillat CoreGuard™, the door and frame of the cabinet are the species hardwood someone would expect, but the rest of the cabinet, the sides, the back and the floor are made from a seamless, water-resistant, engineered polymer.

What this means is an end to water leak and spill damage under the sink. Remarkable thinking Merillat.


CoreGuard™ made its debut at KBIS this year and will be available this fall. If you'd like to see one in person, Masco Cabinetry (that's Kraftmaid, Merillat and DeNova) will be at booth 2793 at the AIA show in Miami this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you're at the show, stop by their booth and report back on that sink base please. I saw it in Chicago and I was quite impressed. I'd love to get some other reactions. Good job Merillat!

13 comments:

  1. I'll definitely check this out in MIami. Sounds like a great solution for consumers and a bright, reflective space for the plumber to work.

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  2. I like how the majority of the interior has the material. I sell Pacific Crest cabinets and they have a sink liner in their Bellmont Cabinetry line that is very similar. It has a gray stainless look, but it a polystyrene material. The sheet sits in the bottom of the cabinet and has a dimpled design that can collect up to 1 gallon of water. It's such a great feature for the customer.

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  3. Brilliant! Wish I would have thought of it.

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  4. Love this idea! Why hasn't anybody thought of it sooner? Simple, amazing ideas like this can have a really BIG impact!

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  5. Thank you one and all. I wonder too why no one ever thought of this before. No matter, I'm glad somebody did.

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  6. Hi Paul, actually my very favorite sink liner to date is one by Mockett. Check it out. I always recommend it to clients - it is custom sized to the cabinet base, water resistant and reasonable in cost.

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  7. Seems like a very sensible idea. The only reservation I might have is wondering how that polymer will age--if there will be any issue with it becoming brittle,and being able to take the weight of a sink and stone top for the long haul. May be me just being biased against plastic...that Mockett liner has piqued my interest, though.

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  8. What an excellent idea! Just Merillat? Is Kraftmaid going to follow suite do you think? I used to sell Merillat and was not thrilled with the brand. Perhaps they've stepped up their game since I sold them almost 8 years ago. This sink base idea is really a great idea as all the components that would be exposed to water would be waterproof. I like this idea better than a liner that just covers up wood or particle board components. The problem with sink leaks is that they usually aren't detected until they've been going on for some time and then it's too late. That's why I think this is a great idea.

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  9. I like it! I've been using a dimpled sink mat from hafele as an inexpensive option to retrofit a standard sink base. The dimples hold 1.5 gallons of water per square meter, which is reassuring if there's a drip under the sink that goes unnoticed for a while. See it here (if the link works): http://www.hafele.com/us/external/catalog/A_book_pages/370.pdf

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  10. Thanks for weighing in gang. Nicole: I can see that link but I think it's to their trade-only catalog. Don't you need an account to log into that site?

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  11. It's likely I can only see that link when logged in as a trade account. I wasn't sure. Here's another link that shows the same mat through an indirect source: http://www.kitchensource.com/drawer-organizer/pdf/1037.pdf

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  12. If its going to be seamless and watertight (and work as such), plumbers need to know beforehand to rough-in supplies and waste through the back wall instead of the bottom of the cabinet. In one of the pictures above, pipes with off the shelf chrome escutcheons would defeat some of the effort to contain potential leaks. And a knock-out to connect to a 3/4" or 1" drain might make sense in some applications.
    Don't know how much this cabinet co$t$, but another way to go would be just specify a door and drawer front instead of a cabinet under the sink, then cover the exposed sides of the adjacent cabinets with frp, build a floor out of a water resistant material like hardie-backer, then cover the drywall back and new floor with frp too. I've done this before and, for a little bit more work, saved hundreds over the cost of a regular sink base cabinet.

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  13. It's a Merillat cabinet so I can't imagine that it costs more than a couple hundred dollars. What you're describing would be justified on a $1500 sink base but sine that's not what this is, I'd say that Merillat's Core Guard is a better use of money and time.

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