Yum, one of our favorite woddity features:
Water + electricity. Not.
Thanks 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:
- Youngstown Servi-Center.
- American Standard Midway sink. “No sink is an island. Except when it is.”
- Vintage Magic Queen faucet.
- American Standard Fiesta sink.
- Electro-Sink Center. The creme de la creme.
- American Brand sinks with their built-in faucets are pretty darn cool. Can you believe: You can still get these faucets made today, new. 🙂
- And of course, we cannot forget Dishmasters. Our first luv. Still available today.