Sink Reglazing in Oakland, CA

Bathroom, kitchen, vintage

The sinks we reglaze in Oakland

Sink reglazing restores the surface of a basin you already have — without disconnecting plumbing, damaging the counter, or hauling out a heavy fixture.

The most common job is a chipped or stained porcelain bathroom sink. A dropped jar, a knocked faucet handle or years of a dripping tap leaves a chip at the basin edge or a rust ring at the drain. We fill the chip with a hard polyester filler, sand it dead level, then etch, prime and spray the whole basin so the repair vanishes under a uniform white finish. The fixture stays mounted; only the surface changes.

Cast-iron kitchen sinks are the second big category. The heavy enameled sinks in Oakland's older flats around Grand Lake, Temescal and West Oakland are built to last, but the enamel wears through at the bottom and rusts where pots and the disposal flange sit. We grind that rust back to clean metal, treat and seal it, then refinish so it can't bleed through again. Cast iron is one of the best surfaces there is for reglazing because the substrate underneath is so sound.

Then there are the vintage pieces — pedestal and wall-hung porcelain sinks original to pre-war bathrooms. These are exactly the fixtures worth saving, because a true period sink is hard to match in a store and a replacement often means cutting into original tile. Reglazing keeps the piece that fits the room and brings back a clean white basin.

Two different jobs

Is reglazing a kitchen sink different from a bathroom sink?

Same coating, different wear. A kitchen sink takes pots, knives, hot pans and a disposal, so it is prepped harder and cures longer before heavy use; a bathroom basin mainly fights soap film, toothpaste and a slow drip at the drain.

A bathroom sink is the lighter job. It is usually porcelain or a cultured-marble vanity bowl, the damage is a chip at the edge or a rust ring at the drain, and the basin sees gentle daily use. We fill, etch, prime and spray it in 2–3 hours, and it is ready for light use in 24–48 hours. A kitchen sink is a tougher customer. Cast-iron kitchen sinks in Oakland's older flats take direct hits from cast-iron pans, knife edges, boiling water and the constant scour around a disposal flange, so we treat any worn-through rust at the bottom, lay the bond coat thicker, and ask you to give it the full cure window before stacking dishes on it. The finish on both is the same acrylic-urethane; the difference is in how hard the kitchen surface gets abused day to day.

• Bathroom basin: porcelain or cultured marble · chips and drain rust · 2–3 hr · $425–$480.
• Kitchen sink: cast iron or composite · worn enamel and disposal rust · harder prep · $465–$500.
• Care difference: a kitchen sink needs the full 24–48 hr cure before hot pans and heavy dishes.

New color, same basin

Can you change the color of a sink, not just restore white?

Yes. A reglaze is a fresh sprayed coat, so the color is whatever you pick. Most Oakland customers go to a clean white, but a dated almond, avocado or pink basin can be re-sprayed to white, off-white or a soft gray to match an updated bathroom.

Because reglazing bonds a new finish over the old one, the original color underneath does not limit you. The most common request by far is taking a 1960s or 1970s colored fixture — the almond, avocado and powder-blue basins still common in Glenview, the Laurel and Dimond bathrooms — to a current white so the sink stops dating the room. We can also match a basin to a tub or surround we are reglazing in the same visit, so the whole bathroom reads as one color instead of a patchwork. A color change costs the same as a standard reglaze; it is the same spray, just a different tint loaded into the gun.

The Oakland question

Reglaze or replace your Oakland sink?

For a heavy cast-iron or a built-in vanity sink, the math usually favors reglazing — and the hidden costs of a swap are easy to miss.

Replacing a sink sounds simple until you price the whole job. A plumber has to disconnect the supply lines, trap and faucet, the old fixture has to come out and get hauled away, the new one has to drop in level, and on a built-in or under-mount basin the surrounding counter or tile often takes damage during removal. For a cast-iron kitchen sink, you're also lifting a fixture that can weigh well over a hundred pounds. Reglazing skips all of that — it costs $425–$500, the sink never leaves the counter, and the job is done in 2–3 hours.

There are limits, and we're straight about them. A sink with a crack all the way through the basin, or a composite top so degraded it crumbles, is a replacement. But a sink whose only problems are chips, surface rust, crazing or a dated color reglazes cleanly. If the issue is one isolated chip rather than a whole worn basin, see chip & crack repair; for a worn vanity top under the sink, see countertop refinishing.