UPDATE: This company seems to be no longer operational. The links to its website are broken…. I will leave this story up for historical purposes.
Do you want a kitchen or bathroom sink in a real color, made new? Whyte & Company makes 16 bathroom sink designs and eight kitchen sink designs in 30 different colors. Colors include 1950s retro favorites like blush pink, mint, and what looks on screen to be an aqua and a heron blue. There also are 1970s kapow colors like tangerine and red, and I would call that kelly green a 1980s color.
2020 update: This company’s website is no longer functional. As such, I am discontinuing all links. For now, I will leave this story up for historical reference.
I am not a materials expert, but these seem to be made of ‘stone composite’ — stone suspended in resin, like quartz countertops, etc. From the company’s website:
Our products are made with the highest quality liquid pigments that permeate throughout our proprietary WhytestoneTM substrate. Whytestone is a blend of stone minerals and resin that makes the product colorfast throughout while being incredibly strong. Meaning scratches merely sand away with a few swipes.
For a Retro Renovation, I would favor the countertop-style sinks and especially the Betsy, which has its faucet holes designed into the sink itself. Sinks with faucets set into the countertop (rather than on the sink itself) were not common until the 1990s or so, when solid surface materials like Corian and then granite came on the scene. Up until then, laminate countertops were ubiquitious. And they require the faucet be a part of the sink.
Whyte & Company also says that it will design custom sinks — illustrated by the pink sink above designed to include that deck-mounted faucet (and your laminate countertops. Now we’re talking! Hey — I wonder how that pink sink would look with Retro Renovation® by Wilsonart®First Lady Pink!
UPDATE Nov. 13: The owner of the company wrote to tell me that indeed, they are about to introduce a kitchen sink with a deck faucet. Responding to some comments also about color choices readers said they would love to see, she said:
We can do those colors! And we are introducing an authentic drop in with a deck mounted faucet this month. I would love to have the Retro Renovation readers help us name our new unit! Thanks for this write up and sharing our love of color!
Hooray!
Link love: