Kitchen Sink Poll: single, double or triple bowl(s) sink?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m picking out a new sink for a rental home right now and want to see what other people like to use. I’m undecided between the layout of the sink: single, double, or triple bowl sinks. Just wanted to take a poll and see what you prefer, and if you can describe some reasons why you like that type? Thanks in advance!

From what I’ve looked at, there are four types of sinks for me to pick from:

Single Large Sink:
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/62/6226c6e5-4330-4eee-aee8-dba7bd67db1f_300.jpg

Double-sink, equal sized:
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/de/dec309e0-7b96-4f52-a03d-03d2163a7ef0_300.jpg

Double-sink, one larger/one smaller:
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/b7/b730f38d-4511-4ec3-bd13-8e9723391e02_300.jpg

Triple-sink:
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/9d/9d2e1ca6-82fe-444f-8816-cfc81f811a99_300.jpg

For reference, the size of the sink I plan to buy… 30-33" by 22" by 8".
I am using approx 30-33" as the width of the sink, so you can just imagine that’s how much width each layout will share. From back to front, I’m guessing 20-22" (length), and will probably aim for a 8" depth.

2

I have a double, equal-size, but the reason for it is because I’m an Orthodox Jew, and it’s a nice way to keep milk and meat dishes from mixing improperly. It’s obvious to me that there must be a market for multiple-bowl sinks beyond Kosher-observant Jews, but I don’t know what the purpose is for you other folks.

3

Double for this non-orthodox-jew. One for the wash water, one for the rinse. I’d vote the equal size one (in these dishwasher days, what you’re likely to be sink washing are your pots, and you want to be able to fit them in both sides using my method)

I don’t know what anyone would want a triple for.

Someone’s bound to come in here and tell us in a minute though…

4

I’ve always found double-equal to be the best, since you can wash in one and stack soapy dishes in the other, before swapping to rinse them off. When one is smaller than the other, you end up with dishes cluttering the side. I’m not sure what benefits a triple-sink would bring, unless it was proportionally larger.

5

Double-sink : 1 wash, 1 rinse.

There should, IMO, ideally be a completely separate sink for washing lettuce/draining pasta etc., but space is currently limited in my kitchen. Maybe I should get one of those wheeled chopping island thingies…

6

I like the double equal (which is what I have) for the reasons stated above. The disadvantage to it, is trying to soak a large pan or skillet. In that case I wish I had one large so the pan could sit on the bottom of the sink and soak without having to fill the sink full of water.

7

I have a double-equal right now, but would prefer a single. We have a dishwasher for the dishes, save for the big pans and all my cutting knives, which I do by hand, so the undivided area would be handy for the bigger pans.

8

Grew up with a double equal (for the 1 wash, 1 dry reason) and have one now, but when we remodel I’d prefer to have a double unequal, because we mostly use the dishwasher now, and it’d be nice to have a sink big enough to fit the roaster in without it being all kittywampus. I can’t imagine a single sink being of much use except for bathing a dog.

The triple ones just seem ostentatious to me. I’m a midwesterner and a Scandinavian, though, so take that into account.

9

This is the kind I have. Hate it. When I’m able to renovate the kitchen, I’ll have an equal-sized double sink.

10

When we remodeled the kitchen in our last place, we went from a single large bowl to a double but unequal bowl, as I really missed the ability to wash in one sink, and rinse in the other.

Also in a standard “both sides equal” sink (what we have now), you can’t wash a roasting pan or even a standard 9x13 pan without having one end tilting up out of the sink. The unequal-sides sink fixes that.

The problem with unequal-sides is that if you’re washing, say, plates, there’s no room to stack the washed plates in the rinse side. As we own a dishwasher, this is very very rarely an issue (only when we trot out the good china and crystal, which don’t go in the dishwasher). For things like the large baking pans, we would simply wash one at a time in the big half, and rinse in the same side.

What you didn’t ask: where do you put the garbage disposal (if you have one) with unequal sided sinks. When we remodeled, the contractor really wanted to put it in the small side. As in, he argued with me that 99% of people wanted it in the small side. And I do know people who prefer it there. But I insisted I wanted it in the large side - I mean, if you’re scraping plates, who wants to have to aim for a 5-inch-wide side? And if you’re scrubbing gunk out of a large baking dish, who wants to have to grab that glop out of the large side, and either dump it in the trash or dump it into the other side for disposal?

I won the argument, and was really happy with the results. My sister-in-law was talked into having it in the small side and hated it.

A friend of mine, when she redid her kitchen, put a disposal in both sides :slight_smile:

My dream configuration would be an extra-wide sink space (wider than the standard 36 inch cabinet), with one large side, AND one regular side. Best of both worlds.

11

I don’t know anybody that washes their dishes at home in a sink full of soapy water, then rinses them in another sink of clean water.

Is there a dishwasher in the kitchen? If so, the sink will be mainly used for cleaning things too large or fragile for the washer. A single big sink is better suited for this.

If there is no dishwasher, a double sink still only makes sense if you believe the renters are likely use the 2 sink method.

12

Double same size. One for wash, the other for rinse. Fill the wash side with soapy water, and put the dishes into the rinse side and rinse from the tap.

Single sink is a pain for dishes. The different sizes probably would be a problem also. Three sinks might be useful, though I haven’t tried it and think the third sink wouldn’t be needed.

13

Double, equal. If we had a dream kitchen, a third sink for food prep would be cool. And make the two main sinks deeper and wider. I too can’t fit a large pan, baking sheet or pot in them. Of course, we’re in a vintage 1974 double-wide, and everything in here is a bit smaller than standard.

14

I have a double unequal, but a different configuration than the one shown. It’s really like a double equal with extra space for a pan handle. The garbage disposal is on the smaller side, though, and it is a pain.

Next time I will get a giant single. I don’t wash dishes the “old-fashioned” way. I rinse and put everything in the dishwasher. Pots and pans are washed with running water and a soapy dishcloth or scrubber.

One thing not mentioned is the pain of having two drains when your pipes get clogged. You can’t plunge because of the other drain hole. If you try to plug up one side, you don’t have enough hands!

15

I’ve always had double-equals, and liked them just fine. They worked when I was hand-washing dishes and work now that I have a dishwasher.

But my mom has had a couple of triples. The one I remember the best was equal on either side, with a smaller section in the middle with a garbage disposal so you could scrape your plates in there and then set them wherever you’re going to set them. I think her current one is an unequal double, but it works the same way. Scrape into the small side, set and rinse in the large side to put in the dishwasher or handwash.

16

When I redo mine, I’m getting a single sink. Why on earth would I want two, since I have a dishwasher? I hate that one side doesn’t have the garbage disposal - urrrgh, I can’t STAND having to clean out that drain thingey. It’s gross.

17

Double equal here. We don’t have counter space for a drain rack, so we have one that rests on the sides of the second sink. When we need to use both for any reason, we just move the rack out of the way.

We chose the double equal mostly because Ikea sells a cool porcelain double bowl farm sink, and we thought that style worked great with the overall kitchen design.

18

My impression is that the wash-in-one-sink, rinse-in-the-other thing is regional; I’ve never seen anyone do it in NY.

All I really want is a sink deep enough for me to easily wash pots in it. Mine is oddly shallow, and I end up going to the bathtub for anything big.

What would be the point of a triple sink?

19

Single and a dish washer. Without the dishwasher, I had a double.

I’m looking for a stainless single but I can’t find one with the goofy-ass shape. I don’t know how to describe the shape, but it’s like a rectangle but one part swoops a little to the top (I think so you can accommodate a large pan and the handle).

20

[Hijack] In the food-service industry, the Health Department (at least where I worked) required sink 1 to have hot soapy water, sink 2 to have hot clean water, and sink three to have very hot water + sanitizer. The dishes are cleaned in sink 1, dipped in the other 2, then put on a rack to air dry. In reality, there is never enough rack space to keep up, so you dry the dishes with towels and hope the inspector doesn’t walk in. [End Hijack]