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Original poster

Belfast sink - yey or nay

47 replies

Lovingmylife · 04/10/2021 20:07

Just that really..I am designing my kitchen and love the look of them but are they any good?.do they chip easily?.do you regret having one?

OP posts:

MissCreeAnt · 05/10/2021 00:50

Ceramic is a love it or hate it thing, Belfast or no. I love it, nothing else cleans up so easily.

We have an IKEA ceramic sink that has a similar kind of look to a belfast but without the extra depth. It works really well for us.

Allywill · 05/10/2021 01:13

I posted on another thread about sinks. We have a Belfast sink. 1) it has chipped over time and 2) the weir overflow thing is very difficult to keep clean as is the over lip thing from the worktop (ours is granite). I sacrificed the look of the sink and got a washing up bowl for practical purposes. We also have the grooves in the worktop for drainage but hardly use it as mostly use the dishwasher. My dad was in hysterics when he saw it at first he thought it was very old fashioned and said his mum had one when he was a boy! He couldn’t believe we had chosen one.

Time40 · 05/10/2021 01:53

Awful sinks! Impossible to use without a washing-up bowl, because it's so easy to break things. Far too deep. Look filthy almost instantly. Don't do it, OP.

In my opinion, the best type of sink is a stainless sink double sink, with both sinks full size. Once you've had a double sink, you will never want to go back to having just a single. I can't understand why more people don't want them.

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Time40 · 05/10/2021 01:54

... or a stainless STEEL one, that should say.

Kk789 · 05/10/2021 07:06

How are people breaking things? I don't understand!

ShipwreckSunset · 05/10/2021 18:18

I had double sinks before, but find we don’t need as the Belfast sink is so big that not an issue to rinse things down the side if needed. But then our sink is just used mainly for rinsing stuff, no idea where the plug is tbh!

Not sure why everyone is breaking stuff either? Unless washing up bobbing around furiously?!

Gubanc · 05/10/2021 18:21

I had one that was a 'double' butler sink. I'm short and I loved the depth of it, I measured my baking trays and made sure they'll fit.
Being double, one side was used for draining so you never really looked at drying dishes, they were mostly below worktop level.

Ikea sells a little draining thing, doesn't fit much but it could help wirh drying.

ElizabethG81 · 05/10/2021 18:27

Depends how tall you are. My parents have one and it gives me terrible back ache.

DroopyClematis · 05/10/2021 18:45

My mum had one. She always had to have a plastic grid type mat on the base as china and porcelain would chip or crack. We didn't have a dishwasher .
It always looked skanky and mum was always bleaching it.
The sink developed chips and a sort of crackle glaze where dirt would collect and stain.

Definitely a case of style over substance.

CointreauVersial · 05/10/2021 19:21

No, hate them. Too deep (backache) and never look clean. I don't even think they look good, unless you have a rustic-style kitchen.

Mossstitch · 05/10/2021 19:28

Love it, don't understand the people who say difficult to clean, much better than stainless steel that shows every watermark. Spray bleach, leave for 10 mins, rinse off and sparkling white. No drainer with mine, have seen you can buy separate wooden drainers but to be honest on the rare occasion I wash anything by hand I just use a tea towel spread out on the oak work top. 5'8" here and no backache but is an ikea version which I don't think are as deep.

Coogee · 05/10/2021 19:30

We have deep one in the utility room. We have a shallow one with an integral draining board ready for the kitchen refit. It’s French, I think.

poohaloo · 05/10/2021 19:30

No they break everything... get a composite sink

LadyofMisrule · 05/10/2021 20:01

I had one in the kitchen and would never have one again. It looked fabulous, but we broke far too much china and glass, including the wonderful giant Bridgewater tea pot I got for a wedding present. :-(

Coogee · 05/10/2021 20:04

We had this one in a house we rented. I loved it.

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 05/10/2021 21:05

I have one undermounted with draining grooves in the worktop. I am 5'10" and I don't find it any worse back-wise that ordinary sinks I've had before. I've broken two glasses in it in 4 years and not time it was because they slipped from a height from wet hands - they would have smashed in a metal sink too.
I can wash big oven trays without splashing water all over everything and myself, because it's so deep it doesn't splash generally as much as an ordinary sink does.
The draining grooves work just as well as a draining board and there's no lip with silicone to trap dirt and get gross.
There's a bit too much of a gap between the top of the sink and the underneath of the worktop but that's poor fitting rather than the sink itself.
It was in the house when I moved here and if I was re-doing the kitchen I'd choose one again.

SunLovingMum · 05/10/2021 21:09

I have the double caple sink. I’ve had it for 3 years now. Love it. I do use washing up bowls though. No chips, scratches etc. Nothing. I have a quartz work top with drainage indents carved into the work top.

Datsandcogs · 05/10/2021 21:59

I’ve had a couple of kitchens designed and am currently house hunting. A Belfast sink would put me off a kitchen, not enough to not buy a house but it definitely isn’t a selling point.

Clymene · 05/10/2021 22:01

Maybe it's because I use a dishwasher but I literally have never broken a single thing in my sink. Im clearly less clumsy than I thought!

queenrollo · 06/10/2021 07:34

I have one and am seriously considering having it out and refit with something else.
Tha back thing - I think this in part depends if you are prone to back ache or not. I am only 5ft 3 but I cannot stand at my Belfast and wash a full sink of pots in one go any more. My husband is 5ft10 and likewise, he finds the sink difficult to work with.

I have to have a rubber mat in the bottom to avoid breaking/damaging things. In the 30 years of owning my own home we have lost more crockery in the last 5 years with this sink than ever before with a stainless steel.
The glaze has crackled and stained and no matter what I do I cannot get the damn thing white again. Local specialist said it needs a re-enamel job.
As someone else said the lip overflow is a nightmare to clean.

It looks so beautiful and as I have a very old property it really is in keeping with the look, but I have found that from a practical point of view in a very hard working kitchen it's not been the best investment.

I had one in the old utility (now gone as part of the kitchen remodel) and it was amazing for boot/dog/filthy child cleaning and all those paintbrushes and tools that needed washing. It was an old one and looked every year of its age, but was thoroughly practical.

Dillidilly · 06/10/2021 07:45

We had an Ikea double ceramic butler style sink in our last house. Absolutely loved it. It also had a lip at the back so the tap came out of that rather than the wooden work top. We used a washing up bowl in one side, and had a cunning metal drainer, also from Ikea, over the other side for smaller items to drain.
For this house, I've been looking at single ceramic sinks which extend into a regular draining board side from Wayfair.
Never had any issues with keeping it clean (unlike stainless steel sinks) or chipping china, and it looked so good it made the kitchen.

Lonelycrab · 06/10/2021 08:18

It’s a nay from me. Backache, no drainer and yes you will break things. Also had ours with a wooden worktop which went bad where the two met.

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