D.I.Y. sink drip ledge

[homeinmelbourne]

A simple, inexpensive and decorative addition to a farmhouse sink. A drip ledge (also called drip edge or drip rail) serves both form and function by giving a custom look to the kitchen sink while also protecting the lower cabinetry from water drips.

Materials used:

• Piece of timber
• Wood screws
• Angle Brackets
• Stain + Polyurethane Sealer OR Paint of your choice + Septone Acrylic Clear Spray Paint

Steps:

1. Cut the length of pine to the width of the sink and lower cabinet (600mm) and scribed the curvature of the sink onto the piece of pine. We ensured that the width of timber allowed for the drip ledge to be 15mm proud of the sink apron.
2. Routed a channel on the underside of the drip ledge for mounting onto the filler panel below the sink. 
3. Cut the radius corners and routed around the edges.
4. Used an orbital sander and 800 grit sandpaper to smooth over the whole piece of timber
5. Removed the sink and pre-drilled holes into the drip ledge, carcass and filler panel below the sink. Test fit the drip ledge with the angle brackets.
6. Stain and seal or paint: We initially planned on staining the pine however after multiple stain/varnish test samples, we weren’t able to get an exact match to the colour of the flooring - so we opted to paint it white instead.
7. Painted 2 coats of paint in ‘Natural White’ - Dulux.
8. Lightly hand-sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper.
9. Sprayed 5 coats of Septone Acrylic Clear Spray Paint. 
10. Screwed the drip ledge to the sides of the sink carcass as well as the filler panel below the sink using angle brackets.
11. Reinstalled and siliconed the sink in.

[KatieC]

Hi @homeinmelbourne,

This is such a clever project! I know that I tend to splash over the sink when hand-washing dishes and this would be a great way to preserve the lower cabinets. I like that you went with the white to match the sink, it turned out very well. Did you find any learning points along the way with the installation or was it pretty simple? 

Great work.

Katie

[homeinmelbourne]

Hi @KatieC,

Thank you! One thing we learnt was that it was difficult to stain pine to make it look the same as the flooring colour. It was hard to cancel out the yellow tone and the wood grain would become darker and more pronounced the more we stained it.

We spent about a day sampling which stain combinations would match with the flooring and spent more money on wood stain only to paint it white. In the end, I think the white turned out ok. Thanks so much for your comment!