Prepare the Work Area

To get the sink ready for removal, turn the water lines off.  There are usually two valves inside the base cabinet under the sink: one for hot water, and one for cold water. 

After closing both the water valves, disconnect the fittings.  At this point, the water lines should be free and can be removed from the supply lines.  They will still be attached to the sink and faucet, so just let them dangle.

The next step is to remove the drain lines from the stink. Use a small bucket or a towel to catch the water inside the P-trap as you remove it.

Now that the plumbing has been disconnected, you can move on to removing the sink.

 

Remove old sink

Remove any fasteners holding the sink in place.  They are usually inside the base cabinet, underneath the sink. 

Use a utility knife to cut through the bead of silicone around the sink.  The sink should now be free to lift straight up and out of the countertop. If it doesn’t come out easily, use a flat pry bar to break it loose.

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Remove countertops

First, remove all of the lower cabinet drawers, doors, and all contents. 

Next, remove the screws in the base cabinets that are holding the countertops to the cabinetry.

Then use a utility knife to cut through the silicone beads to help free up the countertops.

Kitchen cabinets with doors and counter tops removed ready for farmhouse sink install

Most laminate countertop removals can generally be handled by one or two people.  But, if you have tile, concrete, or stone countertops, you’ll want to get as many friends as possible to help lift.

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Build a support frame

Most farmhouse sinks are extremely heavy, and the Fireclay sink in this example is no exception. Around 85 pounds! While that may make it a little more difficult to handle, it makes up for it in durability!

To install the farmhouse sink properly, you’ll need to build a frame out of 2x4s to support the weight.

To retain as much usable cabinet space as possible, we built the frame by screwing 2x4s right to the sides of the base cabinet. This kept the framing from eating into the storage space below the sink.

 

For an ‘undermount’ sink, the top of the sink needs to sit ⅛” under the countertop. To determine how tall your framing needs to be, use a measuring tape to measure the inside height of the cabinet, minus the height of the sink, minus ⅛”. 

Lastly, make sure the 2×4 frame is a tight fit behind the cabinets. You will need to mount a trim board to this 2×4 in a later step.

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Cut Into existing cabinets

This part can be a little intimidating, but it’s actually pretty easy.

Remove the false front panel (the fake drawer under the old sink). They are usually held in place with little spring clips – just pull hard to remove.

(Important: save the false front panel to use as a trim board in a later step.)

Carefully measure and mark the front of the cabinet where the new farmhouse sink will protrude through the front.  Plan for a ¼” gap on either side of the sink to give yourself a little wiggle room.

These cuts do not need to be 100% perfect because the gaps will be covered up with a trim board. 

Double check your measurements to be sure the sink will be centered before you cut! If everything looks good, grab your Sawzall and start cutting!

 

Keep the pieces you remove. They will be repurposed after the sink is installed.

Cabinets with doors and countertops removed with the under sink cabinet cut into to make room for farmhouse sink

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Install the farmhouse sink

Now that you have a frame in place and a cutout for the apron front, all you need to do is slide the sink right in.  For now, the sink just rests on top of the framing – no need for fasteners or adhesive.

View of cabinets with doors removed and a white apron front farmhouse sink sitting in place before countertops installed

The ¼” gaps on both sides of the sink leave room to make final adjustments when the countertops get installed

Use a bubble level to make sure the sink is level in all directions so that water will drain properly.  If needed, adjustments can be made with shims.

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Install New Countertops

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Reconfigure The Under Sink Base Cabinet

Make sure to wait until the silicone has fully dried and cured before you resume work on the sink/cabinets (usually 24 hours).

Using the wood you saved from step #5, install the new top of the base cabinet. 

Holding old cabinet trim piece next to apron front farmhouse sink to show how to create new trim piece

Mount the boards directly onto the 2×4 framing with a finish nailer. This will cover up the 2×4 and make the base cabinet look complete.

At this point, the front of the cabinet should be completely flat – and ready for the cabinet doors to be re-installed.

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Install trim around sink

Use the old false front panel (from step #5) to cut new trim boards to go around the sink. 

Measure and cut one for each side, as well as one for the bottom. To make the trim boards look seamless, we glued them together before installing.

Using the old spring clip hardware made it easy to put it up in one easy step. (Another option would be to use finish nails, or adhesive to hold the trim boards in place.)

**We chose to reuse the existing trim pieces in order to match our existing cabinets. If you are planning on painting or refinishing your cabinets, there’s no need to repurpose the old pieces. It would be easier to create the base cabinet and trim pieces in steps 8 & 9 from scratch, if possible.

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Cut Cabinet Doors Down To Size

Measure the new opening for your cabinet doors. Use this measurement to decide by how much the doors will need to be cut down.

Make sure the bottom of the cabinet doors will line up with the other cabinet doors in the kitchen.  Our doors needed to be cut down by exactly 3”.

To keep the existing look on the face of the cabinet door with the raised frame, we decided to cut a piece out from the middle. This allowed us to shorten the door overall without losing either the top or bottom frame.

Next, remove all hardware from the doors including pulls, and hinges. 

Use a table saw to cut the top of the cabinet doors off in an inconspicuous spot – in our case, this was right below the top frame (as seen in the photos above).

Then, cut 3” (or your measurement) off the body of the door.  These cuts need to be very precise using a high tooth count finish blade to make the cleanest possible cut.  If you have to make this cut by hand with a circular saw, you’ll need a track kit.

Use wood glue and dowels to join the top frame of the door to the cut down bottom piece.

To hold the pieces together while the glue dries, use ratchet bar clamps for 24 hours.

Reinstall the door pulls and hinges, and reattach the new doors!

 

Now all that’s left to do is hook up the plumbing and reattach the garbage disposal.

 

 

 

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