Kitchen Sinks Seek Undivided Attention
Even if you only make a cup of coffee in your kitchen, chances are there’s one place you interact with in your kitchen more than any other. That place is the kitchen sink. The lowly kitchen sink is now being recognized for its daily contribution to living. The style of sinks is also changing with the times – and it’s no longer the ubiquitous double-sink variety, either.
No longer divided
One of the key changes in kitchen sinks has been the move away from the double bowl. Once the standard for dishwashing, the double bowl sink in today’s kitchen looks almost as old-fashioned as the ice boxes of yesteryear. Over the past ten years, sinks have moved to the one bowl style. The standards include the farmhouse or apron style sink and the single bowl stainless sink. These work the way people cook and clean today.
The double bowl was originally designed to allow for filling the individual bowls with soapy and clean water respectively. Few, if any, people do dishes this way anymore. Most dishwashing falls to pots and pans and pre-rinsing before putting the dishes in the dishwasher. Small saucepans would fit in the double bowl sink but few large pots would.
Short on space
The problem with the double bowl sink is that there’s not enough room to wash large pans well. And because of that, it’s easy to bang, scratch, and nick your sink. The idea of updating double sinks was just to make them deeper. That really didn’t help, either. It just meant more bending over to wash the dishes at ever-deeper levels. No, the need was for width. Unlike the double style sink, a large, one bowl can easily handle large cookie sheets, frying pans, and cutting boards without all the scratching and with room to spare.
To the trough
The farmhouse and one bowl sink has now made even more headway in the kitchen with the recent trough-style sinks. These longer, narrower sinks allow more than one person to clean dishes side by side. Some select trough sinks for tandem dishwashing, some for cleaning crafts and cleaning side by side, others just for their unique appearance. Many of the trough sinks look like sinks from the turn of the century – you may have even seen them in older homes. Will you see more of these? Probably. They’re interesting and if you do a lot of dishes, you might just need one.
More than dishes
A sink now does more than clean up after cooking. A sink can become a focal point in the kitchen. Put in an interesting-looking sink and it can make a statement. If a single bowl would work for you and you want to update your kitchen, a kitchen sink is an easy and affordable improvement. Most home centers carry single bowl sinks in the $200-$400 range. If style is the key concern, try a hand-hewn stone single sink for about $1,700 at Sinksgallery.com. They have copper, stone, and stainless sinks with beautiful detailing.
But never choose a sink based just on looks – or what you’re used to. A client of mine wanted a one bowl apron-style sink for her kitchen renovation (which would be a great choice design-wise), but her friends insisted she go with the double bowl because that’s what they had. We discussed the pros and cons of both sink styles. That’s how you should choose, too, because the sink needs to work the way you wash not what the styles dictate. I chose a one bowl style for my home and I’ve never been happier doing the dishes.
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Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Real Home E-Zine, the Internet newsletter with real home advice, tips, and ideas for cooking, gardening, cleaning, and decorating for real families. Subscribers receive this FREE report, The 10 Habits that Help You Keep Your House Cleaner. For more information log on to www.kathryn-weber.com.
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