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Vintage Elkay Stainless Steel Kitchen Console with built in fluorescent light

pam kueber - Updated: October 6, 2019

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

Yum, one of our favorite woddity features:
Water + electricity. Not.

elkay sink with integral lightThanks to reader Nutella, who spotted this amazing sink in Baltimore. It’s a vintage Elkay stainless steel three-bowl sink with a very notable, unusual feature: A flourescent light bar that runs along the top. This wonderful oddity — see our entire woddity archive here — combines two of our very favorite things: Water and electricity! JK: Get with your own properly licensed expert to assess safety etc…

The seller, who gave me permission to show this photo, was able to trace this sink to a 1962 advertisement in Popular Mechanics — see page 116.  Elkay is calling this a “Stainless Steel Kitchen Console” — and interestingly, the sink shown in the ad appears to have a built-in Nutone blender system, too.  The ad also spotlights another novel feature, which I don’t quite understand, “… The console has a built-in sprayer under the water faucet. When control is set for ‘flood’ or ‘spray,’ the spray goes automatically into action, leaving the housewife’s hands free….” Does this mean the sprayer is part of the water faucet… or is it somewhere else? Where is it?

The sink is for sale for $250 or best offer. Here is the ext of the ad:

Vintage Elkay brand 3 bowl kitchen sink from about 1962, judging by the ad in Popular Mechanics from that year. It measures 42 1/2″ x 22″. Notice that it has integrated light, disposal switch, drain closures, faucets handles, and spout. The faucet has a built-in spray feature. It is a classic and everyone oohhs and aahhs over it. A copy of the original advertisement appears below. The house from which this sink comes was built in the 1970’s. We are renovating the kitchen and replacing this item. It needs a new washer on the cold water faucet, perhaps a new cartridge — part # A42057R. Amazon.com has one for sale for 39.05 ( http://www.amazon.com/Elkay-A42057R-Replacement-Micracore-Cartridge/dp/B0033UX88U.) We have not replaced the fluorescent bulb in the light and I cannot say whether the light works or not. One of the drains was replaced, but we have the original parts. $250. If you don’t like the price, make an offer. Act quickly, please.

Excellent woddity spotting, nutella.

Other wodd sinks we have known and loved:

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  1. Warren Hart says

    I finally installed our vintage Elkay Cuisine Console and am still grinning from ear to ear from happiness. It’s so cool to work with in the kitchen compared to my last sink. I bought mine about 15 years ago and put it in storage thinking I would get around to putting it in one day, and well, we tore the kitchen completely out to the studs and rebuilt it around my Elkay. Mine has the little pull up button drain stoppers and square drain cover strainers on the 2 side sinks with the original jetsons faucet with a flying saucer like directional sprayer and jet wing like knobs that i had completely replated. I lost the etched Elkay name on the faucet when I had it plated but it’s still on the sink. Mine doesnt have a light but it’s installed in front of a window so light isnt an issue. Oh, did I say I love it!! if you ever get a chance to get one and cant make up your mind, do it, you wont regret it at all.

  2. Wesley Zimmerman says

    Hey Pam,

    I know this is an old post, but I have a client who has a triple bowl Elkay sink from ’63, with the drain levers like this, and I’d like to find information on how to repair them, otherwise the sink will get replaced.

    Thanks!

    Wes

    • pam kueber says

      Hi Wesley, how cool! I don’t know. I recommend you start with deabath.com — they may be able to help you… The other place people have had luck with is Locke Plumbing… Hope it works out!

  3. Jeffrey says

    I just bought one of these off of craigslist and I am trying to find a little more information on these. Does anyone have anything? Elkay doesn’t have a “legacy” section to their website. I did find out that these were marketed as the “Cuisine Console” by Elkay around 1962.

    Thanks!

  4. Muzz says

    Hi… I am wondering if anyone could supply the model number for this very Elkay sink. We still have ours (installed 1970) and are looking for a part that will stop a leak that’s manifested at the junction of the faucet. (I’ve heard that it might be an O ring.)

    The rest is working just fine, including the light! Thanks for any leads.

    Love your website, just found it!

  5. Marta says

    Love that sink! Unfortunately, I am looking to replace my double sink with a large single. It’s too hard to hold large pans up for washing anymore.

  6. 52PostNBeam says

    As to the sprayer function, looks like it’s one of those things that screws into the faucet itself, and you can slide a lever over to make it like a shower head, or leave it open to allow water to flow out normally. I bought an old Elkay and it has one. They also have a ball joint in them so they can pivot around… it’s exactly like a mini shower head. Usually they have a lot of rubber parts that don’t stand the test of time unfortunately.

    Have you never done a story about these little shower heads for the sink? Lemme know if you need photos.

    • pam kueber says

      Well funny you should bring it up — we have just this story coming tomorrow morning! Skary.

  8. Donna S. says

    I have that sink with the original Elkay faucet but no light or fancy sprayer. I love it. The faucet reminds me of an airplane!

  9. puddletowncheryl says

    I see the hutches advertised here in Oregon all the time too. My Mom’s fav. Love that sink!

  10. Stacey says

    That sink is cool, I have to say. But look in the background of that picture – that hutch caught my eye. I love, LOVE that Early American style hutch!! I’m hunting one for my very own, but they are hard to find.

    • Janet in CT says

      Stacey, where are you? In New England there are alot of those hutches around. In Maine they are a dime a dozen in the antique stores. I too love the old colonial style maple and cherry hutches. You should contact the fellow selling the sink; maybe he is nearby and they are selling the furniture to update too! I love that sink and I wouldn’t change a thing if I had it! Guess I am just outdated too! Nothing ever changes in my house!

      • pam kueber says

        Yes, Janet, here in western Mass., these hutches are ubiquitous. I see one at just about every estate sale. Easy to pick up for as little as $75. Beautiful — solid maple — and I don’t think I have ever seen one that wasn’t super well cared for. Lovely pieces of furniture.

        • Stacey says

          Thanks for responding y’all! I’m way down here in metro Atlanta, and I can’t find these hutches anywhere. Phooey. Maybe I need to take a road trip, but buy a truck first.