I have a House of Miniatures dry sink kit that missing is one drawer front. I kit-bashed it into a slate farmer's sink, to match the slate countertops I have planned.
First I dry fit the kit to see how the parts went together and examine what I needed to do to turn it into a sink. I determined I needed to shorten the center vertical support and cabinet door to make a shorter base to build the sink on top of, replacing the short horizontal piece above the middle drawer with the long horizontal piece above the top drawer. The pretty pieces that form the top and front of the dry sink went into my wood scraps box for use somewhere else, later.
At this point I also compared the height of the sink against my other cabinetry, since this will sit under the same countertop...it's perfect, no alterations needed.
I marked and cut the center support and cabinet drawer. I cut a piece out of the middle of the cabinet door instead of off the end to keep the shape of the front panel intact....I cut it at an angle instead of straight across because after I glue it back together the seam won't be as noticeable.
I glued the base together in its new configuration. After the glue dried I used wood filler to fill in the empty square at the top of the center support piece, then glued on the back piece.
While the glue on the base was drying I assembled the drawers. The sides stuck out a skoosh further than the bottom piece, so I trimmed them down. When I did the dry fit I noticed a gap between the drawers and the base of the cabinet...in order to have that gap be the same width on all four sides of the drawer I put the front on a little high instead of flush with the bottom, using two pieces of plastic something as a spacer (I measured the gap to be four pieces of plastic something wide).
Now the gap around the drawers is distributed evenly, but because I trimmed the sides of the drawers down they sit back in the base a wee bit too far...which most likely won't be noticeable when the piece is finished, but...
...a couple of pieces of cardboard glued in place on the base behind the drawers fixed this problem, bringing the fronts of the drawers flush with the front of the cabinet base.
I decided, because of the way my sink will sit in front of the windows in my kitchen, to make a one basin sink with a drainboard instead of a two basin sink.
I cut and glued in supports for the drainboard, and started sanding grooves into the top of the piece I cut for the drainboard. In retrospect I shouldn't have made the whole drainboard slanted, just the grooves....but I can't change that now. I've also started painting the sink area black, in preparation for the finish it will get, and I've marked and drilled holes in the cabinet door and drawers for their handles.
I painted the area under the drainboard black because if I don't have something lined up just right and end up with a sliver of a gap somewhere you won't see wood through the gap. It's easier to address that issue now, just in case, instead of later when I can't get a paintbrush in there. The finish I'm using will cover any gaps, so for this particular piece it's not really an issue, but this step is a habit.
The drainboard is finished and glued in, and the piece that forms the front of the sink has been cut and glued in. The front of the sink is not flush with the front of the cabinet because I've left room for the finish it's going to get....if I were only going to paint it I would have glued it in flush to the front.
After the glue dried I painted the rest of the sink pieces black then gave them a light sanding. I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the sink to inset a grommet as my drain..the hole doesn't go all the way through the bottom, it's just deep enough to set the grommet into.
I taped off the base then applied a thin layer of JB Weld epoxy all over the sink as my slate finish. I could just as easily have used paint to get the same effect, but I'm experimenting. I inset the grommet before the epoxy sealed.
After the epoxy dried I sanded it smooth then applied a second coat to the front. I ended up applying three thin coats, sanding between coats, to get the front the way I wanted it.
After the sink was done I taped it off and gave the base three coats of paint, sanding between coats, then sealed it with a satin varnish. Once the varnish was dry I put the handles on, using superglue to hold the nails into the holes I'd pre-drilled. I didn't use the fancy Chippendale handles that came with the kit, I used others I had in my stash which better suited the look of my kitchen.
Here's a better shot of the top of the sink, with all the sanding dust wiped away. The back and two sides will be inset under the countertop, which is why those edges look rough.
Because this piece isn't as deep as the rest of my cabinetry I have room to install a faucet on the countertop behind the basin, once I get to that step in the construction process.
