The Kitchen Sink Trials
Meet my faithful friend, Youngstown
When we moved to Maine, the first big milestone was getting the water turned on so that we could actually move into the house (about a month after we arrived on Deer Isle). Without water, we had been pretty limited in our “cleaning” capacity apart from the use of a broom and a Shopvac. The day the water was switched on, we could finally start to clean, and, miraculously we were able to establish the toilet was actually functional, hurrah!
My first stop was scrubbing the kitchen, a very exciting process for me: the kitchen clearly hid an incredible selection of tableware, cooking gear, and tools. But without cleaning it all off, it was hard to see what we had. I started with the kitchen sink.
At first glance (honestly, a fairly horrified glance), I assumed this kitchen sink — which was squashed between an oven and a fridge, right in front of a window — would be one of the first things we would send to the dump: stained, and rusted away in areas, mouse poops in the dirty pots stacked high in the sink, its rusted metal drawers filled with lord knows what, my first thought was how quickly we could get rid of it.
I started by emptying the drawers, sorting and washing the mouse debris and dust off the house collection of cutlery and tools. I truly began to realize the extent of the treasure hidden in the sliding metal drawers of the sink. Even a silver Tiffany cheese knife. As I continued scrubbing the sink clean, I began to appreciate its storage capacity and retro charm — (who doesn’t love a mid-century logo?) — as well as its sturdy double sink!
It didn’t take long before me and Youngstown became friends. Youngstown is fully built of metal, with a satisfying slide to its drawers, and a perfect amount of draining area straddling its convenient double sinks. As we got to know each other better, it even began posing for photo shoots, despite my original horror.
Eventually, my curiosity piqued, I did some research onYoungstown’s history, finding similar sinks in far worse condition selling on Ebay for $2500?! By now, the question had gone from how to get this sink to the dump, to how we could restore it. Built in the late 40’s-early 50’s “the Youngstown Kitchen Sinks included pull out drawers and shelving. Deluxe models even included two sinks, pull out cutting boards and a cutlery drawer transforming the ordinary sink into an extraordinary piece of furniture”. Ours appears to be a Deluxe Model! (Though I haven’t found a chopping board!)
By now, Youngstown was becoming a beloved member of our home and we were prepared to invest in its future. The first major improvement we made came toward the end of summer, when the plumber came for the day to move it away from in front of the window where it was blocking the view to the curving stone wall and the forest beyond — but far more horrifyingly, the window, seen from the outside, gave a full and unflattering view of Youngstown’s rusting derriere. (Thank goodness Beau can’t see what’s showing just below his cheerful wave).
We were all palpably relieved when the plumber scooted Youngstown over just a few feet, onto it’s own perfectly sized wall, liberating the window, opening up a lovely view to the garden, and hiding its unseemly backside.
But that wasn’t the end of Youngstown’s embarrassment. When we scooted it over, the sink’s side panel (which had previously abutted the stove) was revealed — caked with grease and rust. My heart sank, (Youngstown stayed stoically silent), but I was undeterred.
I researched whether there were any local sandblaster/powder coating companies nearby. (Uh, there is basically nothing “nearby” beyond rural and/or basic amenities within an hour’s drive). One person responded by email enquiring whether we would break down the sink for them to recoat it. But when I mentioned the word “rust” the conversation screeched to a halt. Could we really save this Youngstown? Maybe I shouldn’t be so attached to a rusty old sink. How does it even get taken apart? Can we re-coat it ourselves? Ah the saga of Youngstown.
Currently Beau has been traveling on the West Coast, and so after a week with my daughter and mother (and her puppy) visiting, I found myself with 6 days ahead of me solo on the farm for the very first time. I needed a project to fill the void. Also: I needed this project to be in a warm room (it’s been snowing and the barn is still freezing). My eyes fixated on Youngstown. The sink was a good companion and had the added benefit of being located in close proximity to the wood burning stove AND just across from our heater.
At the very least, I thought, “let’s see if the handles are salvageable” (They’re caked with years of grime). I unscrewed each one, and soaked them in fizzing vinegar and baking soda.
The handles, post soak, shined up beautifully.
While they were soaking, I found some hardy bleach-based cleaning products under the sink — inherited from our forebears, and started scrubbing.
What I thought were permanent spots and dribbles, and caked on grease that we’d never be able to get rid of, actually started to disappear now (my prior efforts must have been with “shy-er” chemicals). Or maybe Youngstown was just feeling the love. Encouraged, I scrubbed, and scrubbed, and scrubbed. And lo and behold, our ugly duckling became a sink swan! Even the inside of the double sinks went from gross, to more or less acceptable.
Youngstown’s all day makeover complete for now, I settled down by the wood burning stove, in front of the sheet we have strung up between the pocket doors to the living room: our movie screen. The new 4 part documentary The Many Lives of Martha Stewart suggested itself to me. Having been in Europe during most of her rise to fame, I hadn’t fully appreciated her story (she was not on my radar when I lived in Lisbon…). This was the perfect coda to my day. As I watched, I wondered to myself if Martha would have gone to such lengths over this sink! Yes, no doubt, she would have approved.
As for Youngstown, I’m not gonna say it’s just like new. But maybe “not perfect”, “it’s basically OK” is asking enough of a 75 year old sink. Does my kitchen need to look like new? Do we really need a new sink? Is it worth it to keep on fighting for this ol’ sink?. (Next stop is some TLC mixed with Bondo where the rust has left gaping holes on the side of the unit). These are the kinds of thoughts that circled through my mind as I scrubbed.
As the days and weeks in this house wear on, this approach of using what is here has been broader than just the sink project. More of a Whole House approach. We try to preserve and re-use as much as we can from what we have found in the house. This way, we can enjoy the wonderful knock-on effect of making our renovation process much simpler by limiting our options (and costs) and hopefully, making way less environmental impact, by avoiding buying new.
There is a cupboard in the summer kitchen we might be able to re-house in the kitchen. It matches the kitchen’s built in China cabinet.
There are drawers in the pantry we can put either side of the oven. (I’ll have to strip the paint off the ones that got painted white and hope it matches the rest of other cabinets…
Remember that beam we found in the barn, that replaced a rotted sill in the foundations? If we can’t upcycle the barn boards, old doors, and other wood that’s already in the barn, second hand works too — Facebook marketplace and our local Buy Nothing… Luckily we have time on our side and trust the process…
Stay tuned as we tackle sink sage part 2: repairing the rusted out holes in the side of the sink.
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Wow, I am impressed! By your determination! I love the old sink, it's beautiful new and it has loads of character now, scrubbed off. It's so hard to clean out so much of other people's crap, but you took that on so well. And spring is in the air :)
Exhausted from the scrubbing and hope you can move to more refreshing tasks in the garden, perhaps! The clean white view of your sink aria was a treat, however!