old sink

A water trough is a hand etched piece of a naturally occurring rock that the shepherd from thousands of years ago had found convenient to hollow out and retool into a rectangular shaped blocks, in order to fill up with water at various resting spots along their grazing trails for their cattle to rest and quench their thirst from.

As agrarian lifestyle took shape some 4,000 years ago in Europe and man slowly moved away from a hunter gatherer life style, Cattle breeding has also taken a geometric leap forward. During that period onward limestone Troughs have also taken an added role of enabling farm livestock to be kept well stocked up on drink water allowing for a greater animal population maintained at any given time.

Whether assisting shepherds who were finding a hard time to provide water for their cattle when travelling long distances or servicing a growing flock of farmed animal back home, Limestone troughs offered an ever ready solution to shepherds, ranchers and farmers.

Trough stone is almost always Oolitic in nature which enables it to hold a full body of water without it leaking out at any future point in time. This unique characteristic of Oolitic Stone made those antique troughs perfect candidates for them to be re-purposed into modern day French farmhouse sinks.

Years later after pastures and growing animals started steadily to fall out of favor in the European countryside of France, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain and started becoming restricted to only a few regions, overnight we saw an abundance of antique and unused Limestone troughs fall into disuse.

The owners of these old Stone vessels eventually didn’t see an economic reason to keeping them in their fields. Some went to auctions and others to private dealers such as us at Ancient Surfaces, who were more than happy to purchase them from their estates so that we can converted them into breath taking French farmhouse kitchen sinks.

They are very rough looking from the outside but centuries of usage and exposure to the elements have made them very smooth to the touch so when you touched their surfaces it may feel like a surface of soap or even a smooth as angulating glass; very smooth yet very hard.

The inside surface was cleaned up honed out by our artisans which made them very suitable to be used as sinks, eliminating all crevices on the inside surface reducing any chance of water stagnating inside those trough sinks.

It’s amazing when you actually use a very old limestone through sink that looks very rough in a contemporary looking kitchen. A thick stone trough can also be incorporated in your modern kitchen and can go perfectly along with any ultra-modern steel appliance. This old and new juxtaposition gives an added historical context and value to the whole design of the kitchen.

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Antique Biblical Stone on the backsplash, antique foundation Slabs on the counter tops and a reclaimed 400 years old Italian Farmhouse sink. — Antique Biblical Stone on the back splash, antique foundation slabs on the counter tops surfaces and a reclaimed 400 years old retrofitted French trough plays the role of the limestone farmhouse sink.

Antique Oolitic limestone sinks are possibly the best kitchen sink options one can install in their home. They have stood the test of time and are a living testament to the everlasting beauty and durability of antique limestone. For years we’ve been providing one of kind ancient Oolitic limestone trough that can withstand the harshest ware and tear to them and have been paired with the highest end finishes and European appliances available on the market.

A perfect ergonometrically carved limestone sink reclaimed from a French farmhouse.

Oolitic Limestone is a truly rare and very dense type of limestone only available in a few pockets around the globe. It is know by many expert geologists to be the best of all Limestone types. only about 5% of known limestone in the world fits that geological classification. All the other types of limestone are much softer and are classified as Dolomites.

Antique Salvaged Limestone Troughs by Ancient Surfaces

hand carved, deep, double Oolitic Limestone sinks are ideal in any style of kitchens and are suitable for all types of modern day food preparation.

Antique Double Limestone Sinks by Ancient Surfaces

Now image having your kitchen sink carved out and hollowed by hand out of a solid chunk of custom carved Oolitic Limestone exactly fitting your architectural renderings and specs.

Oolitic Limestone can be barely scratched even with the constant banging of stainless steel pots and pans.

Both architects and designers have an affinity to French farmhouse limestone or marble sinks. They tend to design them into their projects as long as the client is able to visualize the historic beauty that each piece can bring into their kitchens.

Limestone Trough Sink in an Italian Farmhouse remodel

On the ‘Mohs Hardness Scale’ of our jet black basalt is comparable to obsidian black’s hardness also known as volcanic glass. Its density is 3.3gm/cc or only 0.2g/cc less dense than Diamonds. Not to shabby for a non-metallic rock.

Custom carved Marble preparation table with corbeled legs by Ancient Surfaces.

Having a jet black basalt sink in your kitchen is definitely considered a high-end luxury item by all means.

Antique Reclaimed Limestone Sink by Ancient Surfaces-3

The hardness of this type of basalt and the difficulty involved in carving it makes it a very uncommon item while compared to other types of hand carved stone sinks such as limestone marble sinks.