Kitchen Sinks - Single or Double??

[scubadoo97]

I am in the middle of a kitchen remodel. I have always had a double sink but can't say that I have used the non-disposal side very often. One of the real benefits I would have with one large single bowl is that I could wash a roasting pan with out having to tip it and turn it to clean it. So which do you prefer? What would I be giving up with a single bowl that hasn't yet crossed my mind? What are good brands and gauges for stainless and are there better materials you would recommend? Egullet members always have good suggestions. Help! Thanks

[ScorchedPalate]

I am (vehemently) in the 1-bowl camp for the reasons you describe, but I also think it would be nice to have another smaller sink for those times when you want to, say, chill a pot of stock at the same time as you scrub potatoes.

I guess those sinks with one narrow side and one wide side would be a good compromise. Myself, I would put the disposal on the small side, but there are probably good reasons for doing it either way.

[Kevin72]

I'd go with two, just because you never know. That way you can let those dishes pile up on one side and leave the other spic and span for washing out spinach, rinsing raw poultry, or other food-handling needs.

Not that you're one to let dishes pile up or that I do it either, of course.

Of course.

[Chris Amirault]

Ever have two people using the sink? We are always using both sides simultaneously....

[kiliki]

We just put one huge one in when we remodeled and it is SO NICE to be able to wash cookie sheets and stock pots without banging the sides of the sink and dripping water everywhere. It's big enough so that if I do have something in it there's still lots of room to drain pasta or rinse vegetables or whatever. It's probably my favorite thing about our new kitchen-I HATED having two smaller sinks.

If I had the problem above (two people using the sink simultaneously) I'd have another sink put in an island, if there was room.

Edited October 7, 2005 by kiliki (log)

[lapasterie]

Nothing to think about.....One great big and DEEP SS sink by Franke. Also get the SS grid that they make for the bottom.

[suzilightning]

for washing a TRIPLE sink (rinse, wash, rinse) maybe a second prep sink - in an ideal world. make those trips deep enough you can't bitch

[rooftop1000]

We had the double sink and used one side for a dishdrain...now we have one big one with the off set drain(so if you put plates in they dont cover the drain) and a dishwasher. If I actually hand wash anything I pile the clean stuff on the stove I cant seem to keep dishtowels clean enough to let them touch dishes

T

[Betts]

I cannot help but strongly recommend one bowl - big and deep. I have a Franke and just love it. You can do the sheet pans, big roasters etc, stack loads of rinsed dishes and still work.

The disposer goes on the corner so there is lots of sink "floor space". I did buy an oblong strainer thingy that fits over the top but rarely use it.

Any hand washing - crystal, silver, whatever just goes on a clean dish towel and then dried. I have seen drain slots routed into the countertop (corian or granite) but this isn't really necessary.

Also the really deep sinks conceal those few stray dishes from sight.

[kiliki]

Also the really deep sinks conceal those few stray dishes from sight.

Yes! Another one of my favorite things about it.

[scubadoo97]

Thanks for the replys. I just got back from the showroom and looked at this Franke double.

http://www.frankeksd.com/productdetail.php...&group=65&lvl=3

They didn't have many single bowls. I am planning on getting a goose neck type pull out faucet by Grohe so combined with the 9" depth of the sink, this should give me a nice area to clean stock pots, roasting pans, 9 X 13 baking dishes and cookie sheets. I guess I would use the little sink for washing veggies but still toying with the idea of the single bowl. I see in Franke's catalog they have a 30"X18" that is 11" deep. Now that's a nice big sink.

Edited October 8, 2005 by scubadoo97 (log)

[andiesenji]

I have a two-bowl sink, one is very large, square and very deep, the other (with the garbage disposal) is shallower and smaller, both length and width.

The big one is 20 x 20 x 12 in deep, the smaller is 16 x 12 x 8 in deep. It is made out of some kind of "cultured" stone, i.e. molded from something that is like cement with an epoxy binder. I forget the name of the maker. It was the only sink that fit the space where my old sink (Kohler 3 bowl) used to be. The Kohler was a lovely emerald green but it did not survive having a very large cast iron skillet dropped into it.

[I_call_the_duck]

I'm in favor of the one very deep bowl. Before I moved, my kitchen had two sinks, one of which I used primarily to hold my rinsed recyclables. It always annoyed me that I wasn't able to wash my wok and other large pans properly.

[lcdm]

I'm also in the middle of a kitchen remodel. The 501-113-10 Blanco Magnum along with the Hansgrohe Interaktiv S HighArc 2 Spray Pull-Out faucet are sitting in my dining room.

[Mayhaw Man]

I'm also in the middle of a kitchen remodel. The 501-113-10 Blanco Magnum along with the Hansgrohe Interaktiv S HighArc 2 Spray Pull-Out faucet are sitting in my dining room.

←

I picked this and as we speak it is sitting on my kitchen floor gathering dust as I wait on cabinets and about a million other things to get finished.

Big, Giant Kohler Sink

[therese]

One.

Love it, love everything about it.

[CaliPoutine]

We're about to embark on a major kitchen remodel. I'm having a really hard time deciding on a kitchen sink. I really thought I wanted a single bowl sink, but the Kitchen Designer is trying to convince me we need a double bowl.

We're going with an undermount and we will have a dishwasher. We're also probably getting a reverse osmosis system and we'll have a garbage disposal.

The countertops will be granite.

I'm looking at this company

Specifically, model's 405,405d,s112( although my spouse thinks that one is way too big).

Do you like your sink? What type is it? Do you think I need 2 bowls?

HELP!!!!

[hummingbirdkiss]

for me ..food prep is much easier with a double sink

two bowls gives you two areas for washing and trimming things

it also gives you a clean side and a dirty side

there are just so many reasons I appreciate a big double sink that when I embark on my kitchen build next year I am going to go for the biggest best double sink I can find!

good luck to you and please let us know how you choose!

Edited August 29, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[blackbox]

I hate double bowl sinks. When we remodel I am putting in the biggest single I can find for washing up, and a smaller prep sink in an island. I hate trying to wash big pans in a double sink!

I would love to see your remodel once it is done.

Good luck!

Edited August 29, 2007 by blackbox (log)

[MelissaH]

Think carefully about what you will use your sink for, before committing to the number of bowls.

A good friend chose to put in a double sink with one large bowl and one small shallow bowl. For her, the small bowl was important because she likes to stopper the small bowl, run some cool water into it, and put the cut-off stems of flowers in to soak before they go into a vase. And this friend always, always, always has flowers in the house.

My husband originally wanted a double-bowl sink with both bowls the same size, the exact same kind of sink he'd always had. This is because when he washes dishes, he puts hot soapy water in one bowl to wash, and then has a drainer in the other bowl so the washed but soapy dishes go into the drainer, where they get rinsed and left to dry. However, his argument had a fatal flaw, IMHO: when we redid the kitchen, we put a dishwasher in! Nearly all our dirty dishes go in the dishwasher; the ones that still need to be hand-washed require some form of special handling.

In the end, we went for one giant bowl in our sink. And we're both delighted that we did so. We can put even our largest cutting boards and roasting pans (neither of which go in the dishwasher) FLAT in the sink for washing.

When you go sink-hunting, bring whatever you think you'd want to put in the sink, and see how well it fits. Think carefully about what you will use the sink for (which may be different than how you use your current sink in your current kitchen). And if you choose to go for multiple bowls, be sure that the divider between the bowls is lower than the edge of the sink, so if one bowl fills, water goes into the other bowl rather than on the floor.

MelissaH

[Marlene]

We went for the double bowl, with the right side being smaller than the left. The big sink is big enough to lay my large roaster and my sheet pans flat, while the smaller one houses the garburator. The smaller one is also handy for holding things in cold water or putting washed pans etc in to drain.

[scubadoo97]

When we replaced our sink we did so with a double 70/30 ratio. I really wanted one single bowl but my wife felt like we would be missing something by giving up the smaller side bowl and just didn't want to give it up. I can tell you that we rarely ever use the small side bowl. I can put my roasting pan flat in the large bowl but my cutting board needs to be tipped as well as half sheet pans. The faucet with the pull out spray allows for easy rinsing even though the item is not flat in the sink but I would have liked the one large bowl.

[CaliPoutine]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

We currently have a double sink but NO dishwasher. We have a dishdrainer in the one side, so really, we never use it.

I think I'm going to go with my original thought of a large single bowl. Dont they always say " you're first thought is your best thought". Or maybe that just applies to test taking.

[MSRadell]

We actually just completed changing out our kitchen sink. When we remodeled a few years ago we too thought that a large single sink would be good so that's what we installed. We found over time that many times we wanted a second sink to run water into, drain something into, etc. This was despite the fact that we had a small prep sink elsewhere in the kitchen. We ended up replacing the sink with a double sink that has one large and one small bowl. We also ended up putting a garbage disposal on each side. That way we have a disposal available for items that come out of large pots and pans while we clean them and also have one available for small items in the other sink. We haven't been using this setup very long yet but so far we love it!

Be sure to weigh all your options and make the correct decision upfront. We found that changing it is quite a project due to having to modify the countertop, plumbing and electrical connections!

[Smithy]

When you go sink-hunting, bring whatever you think you'd want to put in the sink, and see how well it fits. Think carefully about what you will use the sink for (which may be different than how you use your current sink in your current kitchen). And if you choose to go for multiple bowls, be sure that the divider between the bowls is lower than the edge of the sink, so if one bowl fills, water goes into the other bowl rather than on the floor.

MelissaH

←

This is really, really good advice. Our double-bowl sink has a divider flush with the sink top. I've never overflowed it yet, but I worry that I may someday.

The rest of the advice is excellent, also. Make sure the items you want to put in the sink will fit in it. I like having a double sink - I prefer having a clean side and a dirty side, or a wash side and a rinse side - but I do wish one or the other side was large enough to accommodate our large roasting pans, cookie sheets, etc. My parents' last house had a sink that I'd have expected to like, because the large side was big enough for large pans and the small side held the garbage disposal. However, the discrepancy between the two sinks was so large that the small bowl was barely usable. Maybe what I'd really like, if I had the space, would be a small prep/rinsing/garbage strainer sink along with a double-bowl sink like our present one - except with the lower divider.