Drilling a sprayer hole in a stainless kitchen sink?

So we have been slowly chipping away at remodeling the kitchen in our little Cape Cod-style house. Last fall I got so tired of washing dishes by hand that I tore out all of the old Formica and cut up some cabinets, put in a dishwasher, and installed a huge single-bowl Kohler sink with some butcher block tops. For a full, cheap DIY job it turned out pretty good.

We got the sink on sale for a song but it only came with two holes, well one is being occupied by the faucet and the other is used by the dishwasher air gap. After a few months of use it is clear that I need to hook up a sprayer to make it much easier to clear out the corners of the sink when needed. (We didn’t go with a pull-down sprayer faucet because past experiences have showed me they all fall apart and don’t work right after a year.)

So, the easy thing to do is just drill a hole and install the sprayer that came with the faucet.

Being a car guy I’m not afraid to drill holes in metal, but some Googling indicates various levels of difficulty/paranoia/frustration ahead of me. Before I looked it up I was just planning on marking the center really well and hitting it with a stepped drill bit.

What is the best way to go about this? Seems like a lot of people are worried about discoloration or the steel being very hard to drill through?

I gave it zero thought and used a step bit. It's been bueno for years.

By the time you get up around .75 inch diameter start slowing the drill way down

We installed our Delta pull-down sprayer faucet in 2011 and it still works fine.

Link

In reply to jstein77 :

We have that same faucet. Not sure when it was installed, it was in the house when we bought it about 6 years ago.

In reply to jstein77 :

Before buying the house I had two prior rentals with pull-downs. One was admittedly already well-used when we moved in but the other kitchen had been remodeled with a new faucet before we arrived. Both had issues with the sprayer staying in place and the stream/spray switch-over getting sticky and just sort of puking water everywhere.

That said, hindsight is 50/50 and those faucets were probably just cheap crap, but I bought a wonderful Moen for this current kitchen at nearly $200 that we otherwise like so I'm not too jazzed about buying another faucet. It came with a matching sprayer so if I can drill a hole easily I'm just gonna do that.

Good to know that not all of the pull-downs suck though. Next time...

The pull down is the best functionality for a sink faucet hands down. 

But I wouldn't be worried about drilling the hole. I also think the faucet might have come with a fascia plate you could use to cover up any errors.

I'll second/third/whatever the idea that the pull down, at least on quality faucets, is the way to go, bar none. Less to break too. 

In this situation? Don't overthink it. Drill the hole. Put it in. If, later, you want a pull down, it'll be fine, just put the cover like Robbie was suggestiong.

Departure, what's that cylinder 10" to the right of the faucet?  When the faucets like JStein77 posted got popular, people filled their sink holes with hand pump soap dispensers.  Could that be a plug for a sprayer?

Dan

Stepped bit would be a good approach. Lube as you go even water to keep it cool will work.  Hole saws struggle with stainless. The last hole saw I bought to drill SS cost like $50 and it still had a fair bit of run-out meaning the 1" hole I wanted was like 1- 1/16". The other option is a punch.  Can you rent a Greenlee punch tool?

How big of a hole are you needing?

Pete

Huh.  Not aware that an air gap is required in conjunction with a disposer.  I know mine doesn't have one and works fine.  Maybe a local code issue?

Do you have a disposer?

Do you want one?

Easier to install a disposer or drill hole in sink?

If it's not wired for a disposer, I'd drill the hole.

914Driver said:

Departure, what's that cylinder 10" to the right of the faucet?  When the faucets like JStein77 posted got popular, people filled their sink holes with hand pump soap dispensers.  Could that be a plug for a sprayer?

Dan

1988RedT2 said:

Huh.  Not aware that an air gap is required in conjunction with a disposer.  I know mine doesn't have one and works fine.  Maybe a local code issue?

Do you have a disposer?

Do you want one?

Easier to install a disposer or drill hole in sink?

If it's not wired for a disposer, I'd drill the hole.

It's a dishwasher air gap. Required by code in Wisconsin. I don't have (nor really want) a disposal. Current plan is to just attack the sink with a stepped bit.

We'll be here another 3-5 years tops, but it's not the "forever" house, so as long as it doesn't end up looking like total garbo I won't lose sleep.

Step bit, but a Dremmel to polish-deburr the edges.  Nothing worse than nicking your hose.

My dishwasher doesnt have an air gap, just the hose runs up to the bottom of the sink-ish and back down.

Gotta give a shout out to my top end pull-down faucet.  Installed in 2007, still works like the day it was made.

Before I went buying a sprayer, knocking a hole in my sink, farting around installing it, etc....  Just buy a new faucet and be done.

What I do love in my sink is a built in hand soap dispenser.  I am sort of mental with washing my hands and its the tits.  

It would be easy to heat and discolor that. Normal step drills aren’t big enough. 

See if you can borrow a Greenlee punch from an electrician. 

Plenty of people here with no issue pull downs. Get a quality one and be done. 

How about removing the air gap, and install it up high under the sink?

Or leave it off. The building code is for houses being built. It’s not applicable to residents maintaining their stuff. That would be the property maintenance code. 

I appreciate all of the input, however I already have the Moen sprayer that came with this (very nice, $200) faucet, really don't want to buy another $200 faucet to solve the problem.  This is GRM, I came here hoping to get an answer that isn't "go spend more money!"

The dishwasher did not exist in this house until I installed it and I wasn't too keen on pulling a bunch of permits to add one so I made sure everything met code with the electrical and plumbing. We're planning on selling the house in a few years.

I wish I could just drill the sink without it discoloring as that is the quick & cheap option.

I might just plumb in a standpipe for discharge under the sink since that, too meets WI plumbing code. PITA but not expensive to do at least.

Comm 82.33(9)(d)1. 
1. `Residential type.' The indirect waste piping from a residential-type dishwashing machine shall not exceed a developed length of 10 feet. The indirect waste piping from a residential-type dishwashing machine shall be installed in accordance with one of the following methods:

Comm 82.33(9)(d)1.a. 
a. Where an air-gap or air-break is located below the countertop, the indirect waste piping from the dishwashing machine shall discharge to a standpipe. The standpipe shall be at least 1 ½ inches in diameter and shall extend at least 15 inches above the trap weir.

Comm 82.33(9)(d)1.b. 
b. Where an air-gap or air-break is located above the countertop, the indirect waste piping from the dishwashing machine shall discharge to local waste piping. The local waste piping shall connect to the kitchen sink branch tailpiece above the trap inlet, the standpipe or to the dishwashing machine connection of a food waste grinder. When the local waste piping discharges to a standpipe, the standpipe shall be at least 1 ½ inches in diameter and shall extend at least 15 inches above the trap weir. Where a hose is used for local waste piping, the developed length shall not exceed 18 inches.
 

I'm an electrician who works with stainless a bunch, and I would centerpunch, drill a 1/4" pilot hole, and then hit it with a hole saw.  If you don't go too fast, and use a good lubricant (I swear by G-771 Anchorlube) you shouldn't have any problems, even with a bimetal saw (but carbide tipped hole saws are The Bomb.)   I would never loan out any of my hole saws to someone looking to pull them through stainless steel.

I'm also in the "pull-down" camp. My house was completely redone (the paperwork said they spent nearly $85k on the Reno for a house I paid $155k for).

I've never missed the sprayer with the pull-down.

I'd like to add a fancy water purifier, but we have a farmhouse sink set under the granite counter, so that won't be happening.

Well. I have a sprayer now!

Being almost 90* and humid as hell here in Wisconsin, I decided it was a great day for inside projects and dragged out the faucet box with the sprayer parts.

I was happy to find that the shank for the sprayer base was much smaller than I expected, and matched up well with the mid section of a stepped bit I had laying around.

I carefully measured and punched a spot 4” off the air gap hole and drilled a pilot (honestly the hardest part). I used lots of oil and stopped frequently to let the surface cool. Once I was through, I put the stepped bit into the drill, slowed it down, and blasted away, stopping with each step to cool the steel with a cold wet rag and re-oil the surface.

Made it all the way through with no discoloration. Cleaned up the shavings, hooked up the sprayer, and voila!

Cost me nothing but my time 

To anyone else who needs to do this, a stepped bit is just fine as long as you keep it oiled and TAKE YOUR TIME!