Wood around a sink??? What is it there for?

Question

I am in the process of finding a house to rent. We found one we really liked yesterday, but it is pretty old and needs some TLC, which we don't mind.

The only thing I don't understand, is there is wood around the sink? The counters are normal counters, but just around the sink there is wood panel I guess?

Why would this be? And is there any way I can make this look nicer, like using a celent and painting it?

Answer 1

Do you mean that part of the counter top has been replaced with wood?  It may be that there was a larger sink at one time, and the hole it was placed into was too large for a newer, small (and cheaper) sink.  So they patched the hole with wood and cut the new hole smaller.  Lousy way to run an airline...

Answer 2

The wood was probably placed there as a quick and cheap fix. Yes if you seal the wood and paint, that should do the trick. It will also keep the wood from rotting because it's so close to so much water. Hope that helps!