Traditionally, such items were manufactured from glazed earthenware, or from metal, and, once installed, provided with the necessary plumbing to enable a supply of water to be introduced into the container and waste plumbing to enable the water to be drained therefrom. In more recent times, various plastics or resin-based compositions have been used, particularly for the manufacture of sinks and shower trays, though less frequently for analogous items.

The use of plastics compositions has made it considerably easier to manufacture such items in a variety of colours, textures and finishes by varying the composition of the material used. The flexibility and variation available has

been used to good effect by interior designers who have sought to enhance the appearance of kitchens and bathrooms and this in turn has led to an increase in demand for such installations to look good as well as serving their intended function.

We have now found that by exploiting one of the inherent properties of many plastics compositions, kitchen and sanitary installations may be designed and installed having enhanced eye appeal as well as other advantages.

According generally to the present invention, there is provided a kitchen or sanitary installation consisting of an open-topped container adapted to be at least partly filled with water and having means for draining water therefrom wherein the container is formed of a material formed into a water-containing vessel, the composition of the material and the wall thickness of the vessel enabling the transmission of light through the wall, and wherein at least part of the underside of the vessel is surrounded by a spaced internally reflective shell, and the installation includes means for illuminating the space between the shell and the underside of the vessel.

In this way, by making the walls and base of kitchen and sanitary fittings such as sinks, basins, shower trays and baths translucent, and providing illumination below them, the installation may be made to glow gently giving an enhanced appearance, but also giving rise to additional practical benefits in addition to the aesthetic. In particular, by making an installation such as a kitchen sink, bathroom hand basin, vanity unit or water closet illuminated, low level illumination may be provided enabling those items to be adequately seen at night without the customary ceiling or wall-mounted illumination of kitchen or bathroom needing to be

switched on. In a development of the invention, the illumination of the item is arranged to be switched on by appropriate circuitry, either a contact operated switch or e. g. a suitable proximity sensor and associated switch circuit. Thus, someone getting up in the night to use the kitchen or bathroom facilities can be provided with a level of illumination sufficient to enable the person to see what they are doing, but without subjecting them to a level of illumination which would destroy their night vision adaptation, or, indeed, wake them up more than they would wish to be.

Within the general scope of the invention as described above, a very wide variety of constructions and installations is possible. Care must, of course, be taken to ensure that electrical safety regulations are observed especially with respect to fixed installations in environments subject to water ingress or splashing.

Appropriate sealed and/or low voltage powered equipment is widely available or can be easily designed to suit particular circumstances as necessary. Preferably the switching on or off of the installation is effected by use of an appropriately placed switch, e. g. set into the surface of the installation and arranged so that bringing a hand or finger into close proximity to the surface or touching it causes the illumination to switch on (if it was previously off) and vice versa.

The material of which the vessel is formed may be a plastics or resin-based composition of appropriate light transmission properties, or other material such as glass. In either case, the vessel may be made simply of the material itself, or it may be made of material which has been coated with a layer of light-transmissive material to secure the desired transmission properties.

In this latter case, the coating may be uniform or non- uniform, either to provide a textured effect or to

provide a pattern. Extending this principle of varying the transmissivity of the vessel and its surroundings such as a draining board, the installation may incorporate a pictorial design or the like. For example, a draining board may appear plain when viewed from above, but when illuminated from below may display a design such as a coat of arms or a welcome message.

Furthermore, parts of the vessel or its surroundings may be blanked off with a relatively opaque material to provide further pattern, legend or other visual effect.

The invention is illustrated by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows schematically a perspective view, part cut away of a domestic sink installation.

Referring to the drawing, this shows a vertical section through a typical domestic kitchen sink installation. A moulded plastics sink unit 1 is set into an appropriate shaped aperture in a worktop 2 set on top of a base unit 4, only the rear half of which is shown. The sink unit has large and small sinks 6,7 respectively and a draining board area 10. The sinks 6 and 7 may be filled from a tap unit 3 and water may be drained via a conventional outlets 8,9 respectively, which are provided with the normal waste plumbing.

In accordance with the invention, located below the moulded sink unit 1 is a tub-shaped housing 11. The interior surface of housing 11 facing the sink unit 1 is diffusely reflective, e. g. coated with high whiteness paint.

Located in the floor of housing 11 are four apertures into each of which is fitted a source of illumination 16, for example a low voltage fluorescent lamp and associated switchgear 17. When switched on, the lamps

flood the interior of the housing with light. Switching on may be effected via a proximity switch 20 shown floating in the drawing but in practice set into the sink unit 1 near the front (i. e. in the part cut away in the drawing).

In accordance with the invention, the sink unit 1 is manufactured from a plastics or resin-based composition which is translucent so that when the illumination devices 16 are switched on, the entire sink unit appears to glow gently. The plastics or resin-based composition may be chosen from a range of materials suitable for such manufacture, e. g. epoxy resin systems, acrylic resin systems, polypropylene and polybutylene terephthalate, for example as described in GB-A-2340062.

As disclosed in that publication, the material may incorporate, if desired, an antibacterial agent.

The sink unit 1 may be made of a plain plastics or resin based composition, or if desired it may include e. g. opaque granules to provide a textured effect when illuminated. Also, graphic designs or wording may be incorporated, for example by applying a mask or lettering to the underside of parts of the unit, e. g. below the draining board area 10.

The illumination unit is indicated in the drawing merely schematically and, wide variation in design, housing shape, type of lamp, and other features is possible. In particular, the spacing and positioning of lamps may be chosen to provide even illumination, and, if necessary, the housing may contain further reflector or diffuser means to assist in spreading out the illumination within the housing.