Just last month I moved into our new house which has about 56 square feet of stainless steel countertop area in the kitchen. The homebuilder simply contacted a local commercial stainless fabricator and it was handled like any commercial job would be. There are quite a few things to consider. Personally I wouldn’t order any of this online — after seeing the process, I would strongly recommend having them made locally and installed by the fabricator.

A commercial fabricator is probably not familiar with certain aspects of residential construction. In particular, homes tend to be a little more “loose” in their tolerances, so be careful — we had to get several areas re-framed because the stainless was very square and straight and the framing was not.

Get price quotes for different gauges of steel, as this will vary the price dramatically. I went with a thinner 14ga on the low-traffic surfaces and 12ga on the heavy-use areas.

Be sure to specify what kind of lip you want on the underside, or you’ll probably just get it cut straight. Also, be sure to specify cosmetic details like where welds will be done and how they’re finished, how corners will be finished, etc.

Get the plumber involved, particularly if the stainless fabricator is building the sink into the counter. We had a problem where the fabricator didn’t make the drain opening large enough to fit a standard sink basket, and cutting a larger hole is very difficult.

Good luck — they look awesome, and they’re great if you cook a lot!

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