Kitchen sink.....what do I want?

[Ottakee]

We need a new kitchen sink.  The pipes below have fallen apart and we hate the current sink....it is a 25ish year old white sink with weird shaped bowls so that a standard dish drainer does not fit.  I can't get/keep the white clean and I hate that a standard dish drainer doesn't fit.

 

I am looking at a basic 2 equal bowl stainless steel sink.  Our appliances are white and I have no desire/$ to upgrade to black or stainless.

I want something easy to clean with an easy to clean single lever faucet.  I am much more function over looks but if there is something else I should look at now is the time.

 

What type of sink is your favorite?

[Scarlett]

You put a dish drainer in your sink?

 

That makes me not know how to answer.....I have a drainer ext to my sinks...so it drains into one side.

 

I love the sinks with one big bowl.....because it makes cleaning big pans so much easier.....and if you want to wash smaller stuff it is easy to sit a dish pan in the sink and wash and rinse that way. That would even work if you want your drainer in the sink.

[Scarlett]

I will add I don't have the big sink..I have standard two equal sized stainless....and it is ok...but my mom has the one big sink and I love it.

[gardenmom5]

I liked my extra deep 1/4 3/4 sink.  (loved the 3/4, not the 1/4 so much)   it was silgranite - which I don't recommend.  I got it because it was white, but not procelain/cast iron.  pain to clean - and heat cracks.  fortunately , they still offered an unlimited warranty so I replaced it with a 1/3 2/3 stainless. deeper bowls.  I wish I'd just gotten one great big sink.

 

 

for me, no compromise - is depth of bowl (i want deep) and sturdy enough.  some are pretty thin.

 

I do like having two bowls.  one for the disposal, and a larger one.

 

[TechWife]

I have a two sided standard sink. A drainer fits in there perfectly. I also have a single lever faucet but I wish I had two knobs. I have to replace the spring and seal on the lever at least once a year, which annoys me. What I would really love is a faucet with a foot pedal. That would be awesome!

[OneStepAtATime]

I have and love my two sided D shaped extra deep sink that has dish drains that fit perfectly. It is a standard grade stainless steel undermount. Easy to clean, room for deep pots, love having two equal sides.

[JudoMom]

I have a huge, stainless, single bowl sink. I love it.

[kbutton]

I love my equal-sided stainless sink. I think mine is fairly deep.

 

My mother opted for two sides, but one side is small. I feel like I have to waste a lot of water to wash dishes at her house, but at least it still has two sides.

 

In an "emergency," two-sides let you do a yucky task in one side while maintaining a clean side. With no utility sink, this is huge for us!

[Ottakee]

The hive is divided again :-)  I know I want deeper sinks.  I do like the idea of having 2 sides so I can open packages of meat, etc. on the "dirty" side and still have a "clean" side until I can clean the sink after supper.

[Guest]

When we do our kitchen, I will go with one large stainless or porcelain sink.  Same reasons as what Scarlett said up above.  And not a deep one.  I had a deep one in a house 20 years ago and all it gave me was a backache.

 

I also will NEVER again have a faucet that has the single control to one side.  I like the single control but not where I am always having to run my arm through the stream of water to use it.  

 

And I really love the faucets you can pull out and use as sprayers, but some are better than others.  The one we have now has a good switch between spray and stream but it spatters all over the place.  The most expensive one we ever got was the worst for falling apart.  

[kitten18]

My sink looks like this. The small side is 14x15". The big side is big enough to wash big pots and a 9x13 pan fits all the way inside it.

I've had it for almost 14 years and if I had to replace it I would get one just like it

 

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Franke-Regatta-20-5-in-x-31-5-in-Stainless-Steel-Double-Basin-Stainless-Steel-Undermount-Residential-Kitchen-Sink/1000035475

[PeterPan]

The truth is that # of bowls is personal preference. I have 3 sinks in my main kitchen and a large single bowl sink in my downstairs kitchen. I kinda like sinks, lol, but really I think it's all just preference. If you want two bowls, get two bowls. As you go up in price, you get undermount, more insulation, that kind of thing. I got my sinks online on clearance. Sometimes that's a way to get an $$ sink for less! :)

 

Really, I think you're very sensible to put your effort into depth. Figure out if you're doing top mount or undermount. If you have normal formica countertops, you're doing top mount. Then use the search engine where you're buying or looking online and search for all the top mount options. #holes is just preference. Faucet height, again preference. I use a high faucet with a pull DOWN sprayer on my cleanup sink and a low faucet with a pull OUT sprayer on my veg prep sink in my island. Just my preference. I think if you're doing one sink, you're going to want pull down, high faucet, just my guess.

 

Depth be a little OCD on. Remember whether you're top mount or undermount and actually stand there and measure how it will feel. I found I could handle a *bit deeper* than I anticipated, and the depth is really nice to have! In my island I have a single bowl, D shaped, and interestingly because of the depth I can literally wash my biggest cutting board. It's some kind of Boos wood monstrosity, and it fits! So try to make the sink such that it can, in some fashion, fit your largest item for washing, even if it means compromising and maybe making one of the bowls slightly larger than the other. It will make the sinks fit YOU, which is what matters. :)

[PeterPan]

My sink looks like this. The small side is 14x15". The big side is big enough to wash big pots and a 9x13 pan fits all the way inside it.

I've had it for almost 14 years and if I had to replace it I would get one just like it

 

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Franke-Regatta-20-5-in-x-31-5-in-Stainless-Steel-Double-Basin-Stainless-Steel-Undermount-Residential-Kitchen-Sink/1000035475

 

Yes, this is a really great set-up! And see what she's saying, how she picked the largest item she wanted to be able to wash and made sure it fit. So much better than having two equal bowls where nothing fits, leaving water splashing everywhere. I HATED that at our old house.

 

Instead of a dish drainer in the sink, you might consider a microfiber pad on the counter. You can get them for $3 at Walmart. That's what I do. It's so easy to wash your things, throw them on the pad, dry, move on.

[slackermom]

I prefer a large single bowl. Not very deep. I have a dish drainer on the counter to the side of the sink. 

For a faucet, I prefer 2 levers, and ones that I can operate by pushing or pulling instead of twisting a knob. I prefer a separate spray hose on the side. Also, I really dislike MIL's faucet, which has a really long tall neck, and the water ends up everywhere.

[Vintage81]

I have a stainless steel farmhouse apron sink with a 60/40 split. It's deep and I'm able to wash my biggest pan in the larger section. For drying dishes, I also recommmend the microfiber drying mat. I like how they can be easily folded up and stored when I'm not using them.