Lowering the waste arm height is not nearly as complicated as you think. It would not require reframing or rewiring a darn thing. It would require access to the wall and a bit of drywall repair. It would take a plumber all of about 20 minutes to do and cost you maybe $120 bucks. If it's cast iron waste piping, double that. It still wouldn't be hard for a professional with the right tools. The drywall repair would be on you, but you'd be able to have the sink you want.

Here's an older thread on the subject with a few links to pics

Here is a link that might be useful: Old thread

I don't know if this will help you at all, this sink was made to be installed mounted overlapping the sides of the counter top.

It was the perfect solution to our situation.

Here is a picture showing the sink in the background (digging through my photobucket pictures to find one for you)

Mine is intentionally mounted 5/8" above counter height and proud of the sink cabinet. Additionally, the sink cabinet is bumped out. It's very convenient and comfortable with lots of space behind the faucet. (scroll down).

Here is a link that might be useful: Upmounted, Bumped Out Farm Sink

Get a plumber out to correct the problem with the piping. It isn't a big deal at all for them to do and you won't have to "sell" anything to anyone or "settle" for something that you don't want.

Thanks.

Any thoughts on durability? No worries banging pots onto the sides and such?

In order, the wife is worried about three things:
1) damage from being exposed
2) Caulk to the counter catching crumbs or discoloring
3) Dripping off the front of the cabinet, since there can be no drainboard.

I think I can fit the soapstone tops tight and dark caulk will hide stains much better than the white we had on our last sink.

Thanks again for the help. If there are any more pics, please keep them coming. This solution is much cheaper than a custom sink, which is still in the running.

Believe me, if there was a way to fix this by moving the drain or doing a weird kind of drain/vent, I would have.

Moving the drain down would compromise structure on 2 load bearing studs, which wouldn't be a problem if I could reframe, but that means rewiring, pulling drywall (that won't be hidden), mud, tape, repaint. I can't go down to the basement because of HVAC and the electrical panel are in the way and there is not enough room to install and route the pipe. The walls are up, some cabinets are in, and things are painted -- making any reframing a major hassle/expense.

It's been fighting me on almost every design aspect.

Do you have a pic with the walls open? There should not be any studs in the way of moving a waste arm. The stack should run vertically in between two vertical stud bays, and all that would need to happen is open up the drywall and move the waste arm entry further down the stack by a few inches. It's a fairly simple operation and even DIYable if the DWV system is PVC.

Sink is centered on a window. The drain goes into the wall, turns left for about 18" and then goes vertical to drain/stack. Add in the fact that my exterior wall is only 2x4 and the 2-1/2" wide pipe takes away a lot of structure. I wish it went straight down (I coulda fixed it easily).

Thanks though. We're softenting to the idea of upmounting it and the quotes for soapstone sinks are pretty reasonable (

just wanted to commiserate with you on the plumbing problems. We have an old house were the plumbing was added later. They dug under one end of the house about 10x10 with an exterior entrance, and all the plumbing was put on that corner.

We wanted to put in a bathroom closer to the bedrooms and move the kitchen, so we had to run the pipes under what would be the new bathroom floor. Kitchen sink had to be installed on the same wall as the bathroom sink, with the pipes and drain/venting going through the wall into the bathroom cabinet, then down into the floor. As it was, the distance was almost too long for the drop and to still be able to hook up to the outgoing line. That would have required a lift pump in the cellar, not something we wanted to consider. This is the bathroom side of the wall.

If we ever have problems, our cheapest solution will be to hand dig a trench under the bathroom to access the pipes. Hope that never happens.

I don't think we would have room for a garbage disposal either, as the drain goes into the wall and then down. Since we have a septic system, doing without a disposal was not a hard choice.

We haven't caught the top with a pot. I definitely recommend buying a sink rack for the bottom after several years resisting it. One of those expensive-but-worth-it items which I now consider essential and it helps protect the bottom.

With "upmounted" sinks the thing that must be accepted is caulk. Be sure to have the sink on hand when they template the counters -- if it's a Rohl it is handmade and will have variances so they need it to get a really snug fit.

Mine was done in stainless steel with a genius fabricator. We used clear caulk which took on the coloration of the stainless and has pretty much been invisible. It's 8 y.o. now and still holding. Because the fit is good the caulk is minimal so nothing much catches.

Rarely do I get drips down the front. The beauty of it being proud of the cabinet is that you lean against it. Just be sure the faucet isn't a super splasher.

Do you have a picture of the sink?
We did a flush mount sink. No problems with the counter/sink joint getting moldy. Silicone it once in 5-6 years.

Thanks for all the pics / links.

The wife signed off on upmounting it. I will try to get it as close flush as possible, taking the top curve into account.

We got some quotes for soapstone sinks, but they were $1k delivered and the lead time scared more than anything. Wife wants the kitchen done by the new year (which is already over schedule by two months now).

The pictures went a long way to assuaging her fears of how it would look.

Thanks,
Anthony

I am a little late to the party.
~boxerpups

Don't have pictures of the finished kitchen yet, but here it is with the upmount:

It looks great and the caulking turned out good as well.

Aren't "upmounted" actually called "drop-in" sinks?
"Upmounted" doesn't make any sense to me -- until I saw the pics.

I have plumbing trouble, too. My STBX made the drains horizontal between the two. When I turn on the garbage disposer, everything gushes up into the other sink before draining. I have no idea what to do about that.

Grrr....
Love my sink. Hate the gory details.