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honeychurch and others- do you still love your runnels?

amarantha
13 years ago

Hi Honeychurch and anyone else with runnels in their counters - how are you liking them? I know there was a big thread about this not too too long ago but can't find that one. There are some posts I found here with a search of runnels but wanted a little more input.

There is the issue of cleaning them but since I want them for the purpose to drain dishes on the counter and keep them from sitting in a puddle of water I'm not so worried about that, but would like the input. We've got that now with a plastic drainboard in our temporary setup(it's not even a real drainboard but a large lid from a plastic bin) and the water that the glasses sit on really bothers me.

So how do you all love them (or not)?

Getting soapstone fabricated tomorrow so I need to let him know today.

Thanks!

Comments (15)

  • honeychurch
    13 years ago

    Yes, I do love them but I think my husband loves them even more--he loathed that tray the drainboard used to sit on with a passion! We got runnels because we didn't want to have a drainboard sitting out and are not the sort to take one out and put it away as needed.

    I have not noticed any issues cleaning them; a little water may sit in them but it's easily wiped away. Besides using them for drying dishes/pots--if my sink is otherwise occupied---I have used them as a place to put my colander when washing and draining veggies/fruit.

    When I am too lazy to dry things immediately it can make my counter look cluttered with all that stuff next to the sink, but then when it is dry and put away--clean pretty counter!

    If you like the way they look (and not everyone does), I think you will find them useful. Just make sure they have a decent slant to the sink, or most of the water will stand, not run off.

    Good luck, can't wait to see photos of your new counters! :-)

  • palimpsest
    13 years ago

    Like the runnels and don't find a problem cleaning them. It takes a cloth wrapped around a finger on occasion.

  • sabjimata
    13 years ago

    This is my second kitchen with runnels and I always love them.

    The first kitchen--3 drainboards done in soapstone by M. Teiexeira. Perfect. Wonderful. Love.

    This time--3 drainboards done in marble by a local company who never did them before, did not do them to my specifications and I have to clean them periodically w/ q-tips because they are deep and narrow as opposed to shallow and wide. Nonetheless, I love them! Even done imperfectly they still function well and I wouldn't give them up.

  • amarantha
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    thanks all for the replies. I think I am going to go for them. Glad to hear that you still like them as much.

    sabjimata - shallow and wide is a good descriptive. Thanks.
    How many do you have? I thought 5 would be a good number. Then there is the colonial versus "standard" configuration. With colonial I think the middle runnel would be longest and progressing to short on the outside runnels.

  • sabjimata
    13 years ago

    Found it! Has Rm's drainboard pics on there...and some other good ones!

    Here is a link that might be useful: integrated drainboards / runnels link on forum

  • amarantha
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks for photos and more info sabjimata. very helpful.
    any dimensions to offer on the width and depth? Fabrication is happening soon. :)

    honeychurch, good to note the degree of slant. and I like the thought of the fruit and veggies draining out on counter and then just wiping water away into th sink.
    palimpsest, sounds like an easy job of cleaning - I can handle that.

    Now I just hope our fabricator is able to keep us on his schedule. snow is on its way... we have plumber coming on Saturday to finish the kitchen plumbing. I so wanted to be in before Christmas. ((crossing fingers))

  • sabjimata
    13 years ago

    Well...the house with the perfect runnels is 15 hours away from us so i don't have any real specs to go off of. I think if you called M. Teixeira or Bucks County Soapstone, they could probably tell you what they do as standard. Both do a lot of drainboards and do them well. Then again, as with my fabrication, they only had it in there head one way to do it--and it was based on the bit they were going to use.

    Have you seen runnels your fabricator has done? I would, offhand, say that the runnels should be a finger width each (I have smaller hands), 5 seems like a good number, centered on the sink and evenly spaced. How long is up to you. I think 15-18 inches is a good size and the counterspace is still usable even with the runnels there.

  • amarantha
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    great idea to call another fabricator about the size. I'll try to do that. Maybe will email or send a message to Florida Joshua.

    I have confidence in my fabricator but no I didn't see a sample of his runnels because I was initialy planning a drainboard and the runnels are a change. He did think going with 5 was a good idea and he suggested 14" for the 2 outer ones, then 2-15" going in and 16" for the center one (this is the colonial configuration) He talked about ~1/2" but also talked about the bit to use- so we are going to talk more after he does some a sample. Problem is he is a few hours from me so I don't think I'll be able to see it in person.

    If you don't mind me asking how wide and deep are your's that you have now?

    Thanks again for this help.

  • amarantha
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Fabricator suggested 5/8" (normally does 3/8") . Seems like a good size. He tapers the height down also.

  • holligator
    13 years ago

    I LOVE my runnels! Florida Joshua did mine and they work beautifully, so if you follow specs from him, you'll be pleased. One thing that I've noticed about mine compared with others not done by him is that the slope is steeper on mine.

  • amarantha
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks holligator! For the picture and info. My fabricator suggested 5/8" width and he will taper the depth of them (from 1/4" tapered to 3/8")

    Would you mind taking some measurements of your's? It looks like they taper both in depth and in width?

    Thanks :)

  • florida_joshua
    13 years ago

    I base the runnels off the sink that is used. The size of the kitchen, the size of the sink, and the home owner's opinion has a lot to do with the look that we go for. I typically make them as I see fit, but if the home owner asks I'll do what they prefer. The way the runnels are fabricated will have a lot to do with the "look" of the runnels. The fixture I made will allow me to get a good deep taper to make the runnels as functional as they can be. Mine usually taper almost a 1/2 inch, form 3/8 to 1/2 is a good bet. The longer I make them the deeper the taper . . . you get the idea. Here are some pictures that shows our runnels well.

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

  • sabjimata
    13 years ago

    Ugh. It pains me to see everyone's beautiful runnels! Not really. But maybe.

    Mine are seriously as wide as a tip of a q-tip (that's not wide at all!) and I have no idea how deep....but unnecessarily deep. It works. I have to clean with q-tips, which is kind of crazy, but honestly in this area it seems that nobody (hardly anybody?) is experienced with runnels. Other fabricators tried to talk me out of them so *at least* this one did them. I tried to get him to come and rework them on site but he was not into that.

    I got my stone for what I thought was a great price, so I can accept my functionally dysfunctional runnels :) Yours will be better!

  • igloochic
    13 years ago

    Mine are a little different than the norm, but I much MUCH prefer them to the norm (after having used sinks like the ones above which I find have a bit of spill over, and are more of a hassle to clean). My runnels are raised in a sloped drain board area of the counter. I have this in stainless, but am doing the same thing in zinc and marbles (two different marble counters) in the victorian house. I took the design from a 1914 home I toured a few years ago.

    Even without the marine edge on the stainless this design is way more effective IMO than standard runnels. I love the way it drains every single drop of water, then just takes an easy wipe to clean.

    By the way, DH set the drain dish on the back edge to show how deep the front edge was when we took the pic...the shadows made it hard to photograph otherwise but normally it fits right in the space.