What is the largest undermount sink I can get for a small cabinet?

Question

I'm doing a renovation of my tiny washroom and don't have a lot of space. I have a small cabinet with drawers that is offset from the wall to the left. What is the largest undermount sink I can place in this cabinet?

I've drawn up a visual aid where grey = wall, green = cabinet, purple = panel which offsets the cabinet, and blue is the countertop which I made see-through to help with the visualisation.

My question is more general, but in my particular case the cabinet is 18" wide, with an internal width of 16.5", and the wall offset is 2".

Most of the small sinks I find have a internal basin width of 16" which is perfect, but the lip surpasses the inner cabinet width, usually at 18" or a little over.

Is it possible to have the lip rest on top of the cabinet? Or can I cut into the cabinet such that the top of the sink is flush with the top of the cabinet?

Answer 1

Yes you can hide the lip between the counter top bottom and the top of cabinet. You'll need to cut out a bit of the cabinet top, of course, to accommodate the thickness of the sink lip.

The sink can rest on the cabinet, but it may be easier to cut out just a bit more to let it float above the cabinet, allowing you to adjust its position without being encumbered by where it contacts the cabinet.

Should the cutout cause the sink to still protrude past the finished outer side of the cabinet, or crumble or crack the finish at that spot, you could plan for a separate finishing side panel, or plan to offset the sink towards the wall side, by perhaps 1/4in to 1/2in.