I’ve always had a double sink, but now I’m redoing the kitchen and I have to ask, why? All the double sink does is causes my boyfriend to put stuff in the side WITHOUT the garbage disposal so I get to scrape it on out again. If I had a single bowl, the garbage disposal would just be there and voila, right? So what am I missing?
I have a dishwasher, by the way. I do NOT wash dishes.
I mentioned it to the boyfriend and got a “well, wouldn’t you rather have the option? If you get the single one you’ll never have the choice.” But do I want the choice? Am I missing something here? (I did see some cute sinks at Ikea that had much smaller second bowls with cutting boards and strainers that fit the second bowl. That, I can possibly see being useful.)
Also, I’m considering an under counter mount, because I’m tired of the edge of the sink being all grotty. Does that affect choice?
Shouldn’t the question be, why would you want a boyfriend?
Haven’t you ever needed to soak anything in hot soapy water? That’s what the double sink is for: One side for soaking, and one side for being a sink while things are soaking in the other side.
Having had both (single and double sink) I’d much rather have one, large single sink. My personal opinion.
Of course, if I need to soak something I have bowls the size of small bathtubs to function as the “soaking sink” while using the sink itself as a sink.
I grew up handwashing dishes in a single sink, and it’s the worst. If you never handwash your dishes, though, seems like single is the way to go. There’s no point to a double sink otherwise.
Well, I do usually chop stuff by balancing my cutting board on the divider between sink bowls. I’d have to get used to using the countertop with a single sink.
The only time I need to soak things is if I burn something on a pot, or something. Which is really rare, and then I just fill the pot itself with the soapy water.
I’ve had both, and much prefer the single big bowl. Undermount sinks are excellent, but you have to have a solid-surface countertop to get one. No formica. Which sucks, because we have formica in our otherwise terrific kitchen, and such a huge expanse of countertop that it would cost a fortune to get granite or the like.
I want to see before and after pictures of this remodel, Zsofia! Also, are you changing the layout at all? If so, you might want to run the floor plan by the kitchen-obsessed people at gardenweb.com. They will right any wrongs you may have missed. Even if you weren’t planning on changing the layout, that’s a good place to lurk for a while to get ideas.
You can undermount pretty much any sink and I recommend it for the exact reason you state - no buildup on the counter.
Agree with most everyone that if you don’t plan on washing dishes, I don’t really see a need for a double sink. We have a dishwasher, but still hand wash some stuff so one sink for soaking and one sink for rinsing is the way to go. (We have one of those Big Sink/Little Sink ones).
I much prefer the large single sink, too. Occasionally, you have to soak a large pan, or fill up an awkward sized pot, or deal with some other large item. Even before I had a dishwasher I preferred it for washing dishes.
I like the two sections for food prep. For example, if I’m rinsing out a whole chicken I always use the same side, while the other is only for dishes. Obviously I clean it all up after, but I like that extra level of organization and safety, especially if I’m making a big dinner with a lot of dishes and ingredients.
I have a double sink now - roughly equal sizes. Heavy white porcelain that always looks like hell. Neither side is large enough to put a 9x13 Pyrex dish in to clean it. Worst choice in every single way (we did NOT choose it).
At our old house, we originally had one large sink. I hated it. Sure, you could clean large dishes in it… but if you were doing any hand-washing, with a sink full of soapy water, where do you put the stuff to rinse it.
When we remodeled, we got an uneven double sink. Stainless (really, I don’t understand why anyone would choose anything else but different strokes and all that). The contractor tried to talk me into putting the disposal in the smaller side. He insisted that EVERYONE liked it. I stuck to my guns and made him put it in the larger side. Really, if you’re doing pots and pans, you want the crud to be able to go down the disposal right away. Not scoop it into the smaller side. And if you’re peeling veggies, who wants to have to aim for this tiny bowl.
The downside of the asymmetrical style is that, really, the small side isn’t all that useful. Rarely when I was doing things by hand that would be useful for rinsing, especially for utensils.
My dream sink: wider than the standard 33 inches, and asymmetrical. The big side is big enough for a roasting pan. The small side is big enough to stack plates. They do make those, but unless you’re redoing all your cabinetry it’s tough to fit that into a kitchen. And with a disposal on both sides - a friend of mine did a massive kitchen remodel and put disposals under both halves. She LOVES it.
In the OP’s situation, I’d go either for the single large sink or an asymmetrical double sink.
My parents, when they got a new sink, got a double sink but with a lower divider so that large things could be more easily washed. Might be a decent option if you’re stuck getting a double sink.
You single sink fanciers are, not to put too fine a point on it, insane (or you have dishwashers).
The double sink is perfect for doing the dishes by hand. You have your dirty dishes in the one sink, and fill the other with the wash-up water. You keep the spout over the dirty sink to pre-rinse anything particularly gluggy, and to post rinse the soapy water off after washing. The soapy rinse water therefore falls on the still to be washed dishes in the dirty sink, assisting the pre-rinsing process. You only have to handle each item once, dirty sink → washing up water in other sink → rinse → dry on rack.
If you try to wash and rinse in a single sink you either end up diluting and over filling your wash-up water, or you have to do it all in two passes. Or you get a dishwasher, but those fuckers are evil, eeeevilll!
My parents have a nice corner sink, with a large bowl and a teeny tiny bowl off to the side for those occasions when you really need a separate area. I think that’s a great compromise. Now, if only most of us had corner sinks!
When my niece was about to be born, my bro had to go get a single bowl sink to replace their perfectly fine double-bowl, because they needed a sink to wash the baby. Of course the baby was too big for the sink within a few months, but it made a lot of sense.
If you have a dishwasher I think single bowl is fine. But for those without a dishwasher - how could we live without the double sink?
I guess if you never, ever wash a dish, you don’t need a double sink. I’ve had both in apartments over time, and you’ll never take my double sink from me again. I do wash a dish or two by hand just about every day, though - a pot or pan, or some odd shaped things, or all the friggin’ recycling.
