****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I just installed two of these Kohler sink strainers (in polished chrome) last week and I really couldn't be more pleased with them! Perhaps it's a bit weird to be so pleased with a lowly sink strainer, but, well, I am, and partly because I've always been DISpleased with sink strainers for as far back as I can remember noticing them. Strainers are typically made mostly of light gauge metal (except for the part of the body with the threads) and just don't work well.There are several standard approaches to strainer design. One is to have a doubled over spring-metal tongue on the bottom of the strainer basket that is pushed down into a slot in the bottom of the strainer body drain hole, this holds a rubber-ringed disc below the main basket against the sides of the body, thus sealing the sink to hold water. There are two main problems with this design: when not pushed down, a gap is present between the basket rim and the strainer body, which allows food to flow down into the drain, bypassing the basket; and, the rubber gasket gets all gunked up with food and is a pain to clean and is integral with the basket and thus can't be replaced separately.Another design is to have a metal disc down below the strainer basket, with a threaded extension. To seal, you just twist a turn-knob on the strainer and this pulls the metal disc down against a sealing surface on the strainer body. Previous to experiencing this Kohler unit, this was my favorite design as the metal disc can be cleaned and the seal was pretty good if you turned it down nice and hard. The draw back is that both the male and female threads get all gunked up with food and all the units I have found based on this design were moderate quality at best.And yet another design--the one used here--is to have a four-way cross piece at the center of the basket. In one orientation, a sealing ring is held up above the sealing surface on the body. Rotate it 90 degrees to the other orientation and that ring is allowed to drop down onto the sealing surface. The problem I have experienced in the past with this design is that the ring would get accidentally knocked down far too often during the process of washing dishes. Otherwise, it seemed like a decent design, I thought.Well, Kohler has proven this beyond a doubt in my opinion. Even after several hours of washing / rinsing dishes and the like, I have not had one case of the sealing ring dropping down unwanted. It STAYS in the locked up position pretty well, probably because it is so substantial. And when you drop it down, that extra mass helps it seal perfectly to the strainer body. It makes a really great seal from everything I have seen so far. Water can stay in the sink for hours if you want, with no leakage. I don't normally do this, so it's not a big deal either way for me, but for others it will be a welcome change from cheap, poorly designed sink strainers.In addition, the sealing is done by an o-ring. To my mind, this is GREAT! Because o-rings are cheap and easy to obtain and easy to change. Even if an o-ring only lasted a year or two before it started to lose performance, it's no big deal. Just replace it! One reviewer here noted the exact size. I will verify this and update this review. But I believe you can buy them in a two-pack at one of the big box stores that sells Kohler. I will verify this as well. Either way, my point stands. Easy and cheap to change. But that's not all! The other advantage in my opinion is that there is a minimal amount of rubber to get all gunked up, so it's easy to clean the sealing ring and to keep it clean.The strainer body itself is a thing of beauty and excellence in design. It's a heavy-weight, well machined piece of metal (brass in my case) and the three-screw tightening ring assembly makes installation of this unit a joy. Normally you need a strainer wrench (to turn this really large locking ring) and a basin wrench (to hold the strainer body), both of which are specialty tools. Cheap, but a pain, and pretty limited to just this one function. With the Kohler, these tools are not needed.Except that you have to remember that REMOVING the OLD strainer body is probably going to be a nightmare. Just assume it will be very difficult, because it probably will be. Something like this that has been in place for 20 or 30 years is just not fun to remove, and you will need some way to hold the strainer body while you turn off the locking ring. It may even take two people. Or a hacksaw if you're really unlucky.And please follow the instructions and put plumbers putty at the top sealing surface (between sink and strainer body) and use the rubber gasket at the bottom one (between bottom of the sink and the washer). One review I read somewhere the person complained about an 1/8th inch of water remaining in the sink because the gasket raised the strainer up that much. Ah . . . yeah, that's because that gasket should have been BELOW!But, once it's installed, all that pain and frustration will have been so worth it. Or at least it was for me. Every time I look at these Kohler Sink Strainers, I get a small dose of satisfaction and joy--the joy of something which works well and looks great and exudes quality. Very nice indeed.
