Emuca Recover Under-Sink Tray: Draining a 120-Millimetre Waste Bend Without Losing Storage

A 600-millimetre frameless sink carcass has an internal width of about 564 millimetres after two 18-millimetre side panels are deducted. The Emuca Recover tray is supplied in widths from 400 to 900 millimetres and sits on the cabinet base panel, lining the floor so leaks collect in the tray area. In the 600 version, its footprint leaves only a rear strip for the waste connection. A 120-millimetre space-saving bottle trap, measured across the widest part of its body, will usually foul the tray perimeter unless the outlet position is shifted.

The clash comes from height as well as width. The tray raises the effective cabinet floor by 12 to 15 millimetres and carries a perimeter lip. Any trap body hanging below the sink outlet has to clear the lip height and the tray edge before the pipe can travel back to the wall stub. Keeping the storage tray in place depends on moving the trap outlet and selecting a bend geometry that stays close to the rear wall.

Where the 120-millimetre trap collides

Locate the sink outlet centre before choosing the trap position. On a single-bowl stainless unit, the outlet commonly sits 250 to 300 millimetres in from one side of the carcass and about 200 millimetres forward of the rear panel. A McAlpine or Wirquin bottle trap fixed straight to that outlet drops vertically by 90 to 110 millimetres before the horizontal run begins. That drop places the trap body inside the Emuca tray footprint.

The lip on the 600 model is about 40 millimetres high around the enclosed area. At full 120-millimetre width, the trap body sits low enough to overlap the lip line. Repeated contact between the wet trap and the plastic tray edge can abrade the tray coating, and the trap seal can be pushed slightly out of line, creating the slow weep the tray was fitted to contain.

Measure the gap with the tray dry-fitted. Drop a plumb line from the sink outlet to the tray surface and mark the point. Then measure from that mark to the nearest tray lip. Clearance under 60 millimetres leaves too little room for a full-diameter bottle trap to seat cleanly. An offset-outlet space-saving trap, such as the McAlpine HC26 pattern, reduces the horizontal footprint and can recover 20 to 30 millimetres.

Routing the bend to the wall stub

The wall waste stub normally enters the cabinet at 400 to 450 millimetres above the floor. Because the tray floor now sits 12 to 15 millimetres higher, the available fall from trap outlet to stub is slightly reduced. Building regulations in most jurisdictions call for a minimum fall of around 18 millimetres per metre on a 40-millimetre waste run. Across a 500-millimetre run behind the tray, that means a drop of about 9 millimetres, which still fits within the compressed height.

Run the horizontal pipe along the rear tray lip. A 40-millimetre pushfit bend held against the back panel with one clip 100 millimetres from the wall stub keeps the run outside the tray catch area. Most bottle-trap outlets swivel through a full 360 degrees, so the outlet can be turned toward the rear corner where the stub sits. That rotation is often enough to clear the tray without trimming it.

When the stub and sink outlet sit on opposite sides of the cabinet, the run crosses the full 564-millimetre internal width. The pipe must pass over the tray. Fix two clips to the rear panel at 200-millimetre spacing so the pipe stays raised from the tray surface. A pipe lying on the tray blocks the drainage channel moulded into the Emuca base.

Now take a 600 cabinet with the sink outlet 280 millimetres from the left side and 200 millimetres from the rear. The Emuca Recover 600 tray leaves a rear strip of 90 millimetres before its lip. The wall stub sits 320 millimetres from the left side and 40 millimetres from the rear.

In that arrangement, the trap outlet has to travel 40 millimetres left and forward from the sink outlet to reach a line clear of the lip, then continue left toward the stub. A McAlpine HC26 offset trap rotated to 45 degrees places the pipe entry at about 60 millimetres from the rear. That sits inside the 90-millimetre strip with 30 millimetres spare. The remaining horizontal run uses 40-millimetre pushfit pipe back to the stub, with one clip. The measured gap between trap body and tray lip comes to 22 millimetres, leaving the tray uncut.

The bin question

An under-sink waste bin has very little room in a 600 cabinet once the Emuca tray and a full-width bottle trap are fitted. A pull-out bin frame such as the Emuca Recycle occupies the front 350 millimetres of depth, while the trap and tray take the rear zone, so a single 15-litre bin fits and a twin-compartment frame is too large.

Runners, reveals, and handle clearance

A sink drawer needs a box planned around the waste trap and the tray. Both occupy the rear third of the cabinet, so a full-extension runner that assumes a clear box cannot use the full cabinet depth. Blum Tandembox and Legrabox both offer U-shaped sink-drawer inserts that notch around the trap. The runner length is selected so the drawer box stops short of the pipework. On a 500-millimetre-deep cabinet, the drawer box is cut to 400 millimetres and paired with a 400-millimetre Tandembox runner rated to 30 kilograms.

Soft-close hinges have no role on the drawer-fronted sink base described here. If the cabinet retains a hinged door, a Blum Clip top Blumotion hinge with the crank suited to an 18-millimetre frameless carcass gives the door clearance over the tray lip during the swing. The 110-degree hinge is the usual choice. A 155-degree wide-angle hinge is unnecessary on a single sink door, and its larger arm sweep risks touching the tray.

Handleless drawer adapters also change the geometry at the top reveal of the sink drawer. A Blum Tip-on or a gola-profile handleless system removes the pull. That matters because a conventional handle rail can foul the underside of the sink bowl on the top drawer of a sink base. The gola profile sits in the horizontal joint and clears the bowl entirely, so the handleless setup solves a physical interference as well as changing the appearance.

Frameless carcass alignment determines whether the tray sits flat. Before the tray is fitted, check the base panel with a 600-millimetre spirit level from front to back and from side to side. A shim under one corner of the carcass corrects a racked box more reliably than pressure on the tray itself. The awkward detail is that the waste pipe can clear the lip while a bowed base still leaves the moulded drainage channel fighting the cabinet.