what kind of sink would you get?

[auroraloo]

We need to choose between a equally divided sink, one bowl only, or one side small and the other extra large. What would you do? Bonus points for explaining reasoning. All are undermount and the small bowl of the unequal can go on either side. 
TIA.

[samanthamkm]

I have always had 2 evenly divided sinks. I don't understand anything else nor would I know how to use the other options.

[bina]

I love deep single bowl sinks. Its so much easier to wash biggerb.pots and pans in.

[lilac05]

Double, even. One side is for washing dishes, one is for drying dishes.

If I was a better housekeeper and would wash, dry, and put away dishes after every meal, I would get a single bowl. But I'm not. And I always end up using the "drying" side to throw plastic dishes that don't dry in the dishwasher.

[munkii]

Really, it depends on the width of the sink. We have a 36"W sink with unevenly divided bowls, and it's great for us. The smaller side is large enough to hold a drying rack; the larger side is large enough to wash large jelly roll sheets (as in, they can lay in the sink without issue). If the sink were smaller, I would probably go with evenly divided bowls.

[mcmel]

My parents have one big sink, no divide and I love it.

[TBM]

What bina said.

We don't normally have a sink full of dishes to wash, and when we do have big baking sheets or roasters, it is great to have them fit flat in the sink. It does seem to make us better about washing the things that don't go in the dishwasher as we go rather than letting them pile up like we used to with a double sink.

Even when we have had double sinks, we never used one for drying dishes (or for anything that using a dishpan in our single sink won't take care of). We jumped at the chance to have one decent sized sink instead of two too small sinks,since our sink is only 32" or so. It has been over 4 1/2 yrs since we did the kitchen, and I don't think I have ever once thought that it would be nice to have a second sink. I guess we made the right decision for our needs.

[dragon's breath]

I hate single bowl sinks, so that would be out for me.

For the other two... I have equally divided, both are fairly large bowls, and it's nice. I can easily wash a large pot. I can a lot, and it can be nice to have one side for washing fruit/vegetables, and the other side available for any dish-related stuff, or a bucket for scraps, stems, whatever I'm removing from the fruit/vegetable.

My parents have an unequally divided sink. Also great for canning, excellent for large pots. However, the large, deep sink is too deep for me to wash dishes comfortably without killing my back (counters are too short for me in general, when I build, I'm going to place counters higher than standard). So, I'll wash stuff in the less-deep, smaller side, and stack things to rinse in the larger side when doing dishes.

If I did more canning at my own house, I'd probably go with unequally divided (we do most canning at my parent's house), but for my use, equally divided is more functional.

[pumpkin]

I hate 2 equal sides. It's what I have now and I can't wait to replace it.

I've never had one big sink, but have used others' and been happy with it. I grew up with a sink that had a smaller, less deep side and so that seems normal to me. I like being able to place a 9x13" pan flat in the sink and can't do that with an equal sides sink.

[msn06]

Evenly divided 9" deep sink. All of the things lilac05 listed. My additional reason is because. I can stick hand wash only items in the wash side to soak. The other side I can rinse dishes and use the garbage disposal while I load the dishwasher.

[hbomdiggity]

For the first time ever, I have a single (farmhouse) sink. I really like it.

I gre up with and have always had double sinks (50-50 and 60-40). Growing up, one side for washing and one for drying. I still handwash a lot, but I've started drying on the counter. I'm not one of those people with empty counters so it doesn't bother me.

I wash large pots and pans and I do like the extra room I have with the single sink.

I also have a bar sink in a butlers pantry, so I can use that if I need to soak something while still using my main sink. That would be an important consideration for me.

[mrsukyankee]

I had a divided bowl before and now have one big one. OMG. I LOVE THE BIG ONE. I can now fit an entire baking sheet in my bowl and let it soak w/o worrying about spilling water. I can have all sorts of pots and pans in there soaking during dinner and they aren't visible to anyone. I LOVE IT. If I want to soak silverware or something smaller, I can put a small plastic bucket in and use that, while having the space to wash other things. Though we do have a small sink on our island that we can use for that purpose as well.

If you do get a large single sink, do get a pull-out tap so you can rinse every area of the sink easiily.

[momin2013]

I think it largely depends on how you prefer to use your sink/how you do dishes. I prefer an evenly sized double sink, always have. For me, a single sink would kill me because I use one side of the sink to wash dishes, and have a dish rack in the other side where I leave the dishes to dry. My DH had a single sink in his apartment, and kept the drying rack out on the counter, which was really irritating because it took up valuable counter space, and also looked terrible, IMO.

I think the one case where I'd prefer a single sink is if I used large trays/sheet pans/pots often, and also if I preferred to dry everything and put it away after washing right away, rather than leaving it in a drying rack.

[auroraloo]

Jul 24, 2017 2:38:30 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I had a divided bowl before and now have one big one. OMG. I LOVE THE BIG ONE. I can now fit an entire baking sheet in my bowl and let it soak w/o worrying about spilling water. I can have all sorts of pots and pans in there soaking during dinner and they aren't visible to anyone. I LOVE IT. If I want to soak silverware or something smaller, I can put a small plastic bucket in and use that, while having the space to wash other things. Though we do have a small sink on our island that we can use for that purpose as well.

If you do get a large single sink, do get a pull-out tap so you can rinse every area of the sink easiily.

We already picked out out faucet and it's a single with a pull out tap so there's only one hole in my new counters  

[nicolewi]

I have a farmhouse sink (single bowl) and love it. I thought I would want divided, but after having single bowl I don't miss the divider at all. If I DID get divided, I would definitely do unequal division.

I like ours b/c it's easy to wash big pans or cutting boards, and the high chair tray.

[pooh8402]

2 bowls, preferably uneven but not a requirement. I wash my dishes on one side (the larger one), rinse on the other, then place on drying mat. I just got my new sink and it's a 2 bowl farmhouse sink with the Kohler smart divide, and it's uneven bowls. The smart divide means I can still have 2 bowls, but also can fit large pots and pans and cookie sheets in the sink. It's 35.5 inches wide, so the 2 bowls are still large. I'm in love.

[froggy76]

One big bowl is awesome. Huge pots can fit flat in there and you can hide a lot of dirty dishes in there until you can get to them.

I never realized people dry dishes in the sink. To me, that's what a dish drying mat on the counter is for.

[mrs.jacinthe]

One big bowl. I *hate* having to maneuver a pan or cookie sheet to get all the sides in my current double-equal scenario.
Second choice would be double unequal.

I'd throw a brand new sink away before I'd willingly install another double-equal.

[ssmjlm]

One big bowl. I can set a ginormous Pyrex in the sink and no one is wiser. We have a Blanco sink with offset drain and it's amazing.

[mrspez07]

We're bad about unloading the dishwasher in a timely fashion, so the dirty dishes pile up in a nearly equal 2-sided sink. It's a pretty big sink and I can get cookie sheets and big pots in it, just not flat on the sheets.
I can't do the dirty dish thing on a single bowl.

[kellikans]

I have a 36" single sink and I LOVE it. It's nice to be able to fit large sheet pans or pots in it. We had a double sink before we did our remodel where I would use the smaller side to let dishes air dry, and I was so worried I was going to miss having it and having to wash/dry everything right away, but I haven't missed it at all. And it keeps my kitchen cleaner.

[libbygrl109]

I have a single. It was our only choice because our kitchen is so small. It's extra deep, which is what I like best.

My parents just redid their kitchen and my mom chose an unequal two bowl sink, but the divider only goes about halfway up so that you can large skillet or pan flat if you needed to. And it's super deep. I love it.

[lys]

One large deep bowl - offers the most flexibility for how I use my kitchen.

[whattheheck]

Jul 24, 2017 19:27:09 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

One big bowl. I can set a ginormous Pyrex in the sink and no one is wiser. We have a Blanco sink with offset drain and it's amazing.

Serious question - what's the benefit/advantage of an off-set drain?

[caddywompus]

I would like double, uneven sinks. When I wash dishes I like to fill one side with soapy water, then rinse the dishes in the other side. How do you rinse off the soap if you only have 1 sink? D

[mcmel]

Jul 25, 2017 20:57:12 GMT -5 caddywompus said:

I would like double, uneven sinks. When I wash dishes I like to fill one side with soapy water, then rinse the dishes in the other side. How do you rinse off the soap if you only have 1 sink? D

Use the dishwasher.

[MrsAxilla]

I voted wrong and couldn't change it. My vote is for evenly divided, which is what I have. We were just as SIL's and she has a single farmhouse sink. I liked it at first because it looks cool, but after being there a week I hated it. At her house, they dump their dishes in the sink as is. When I loaded the dishwasher, there were so many dishes and debris that the sink would back up until I cleared enough to run the disposal. I couldn't just shift things as I went. I also had to fish out several items that didn't belong down the drain. Gross!

My mom has uneven sinks, with the disposal side smaller and set higher than the other. HATE!!! Again with the food debris - because it's small and higher up, most dishes go into the larger sink and/or debris gets washed overboard. Then you have to clean it out by hand instead of chopping it up and washing it down.

I prefer equal or uneven IF the disposal's on the lower, bigger side - because of laziness and gravity.

[ssmjlm]

Jul 25, 2017 17:51:06 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

Jul 24, 2017 19:27:09 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

One big bowl. I can set a ginormous Pyrex in the sink and no one is wiser. We have a Blanco sink with offset drain and it's amazing.

Serious question - what's the benefit/advantage of an off-set drain?

Well honestly it was preference for us, but now that I have had it for a year, I love that the drain doesn't get plugged by the plates/pans.  So I can set a big pan on the left side and the drain is still clear for rinsing and the sink doesn't fill up with water.

[TBM]

Jul 26, 2017 6:46:44 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Jul 25, 2017 17:51:06 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

Serious question - what's the benefit/advantage of an off-set drain?

Well honestly it was preference for us, but now that I have had it for a year, I love that the drain doesn't get plugged by the plates/pans.  So I can set a big pan on the left side and the drain is still clear for rinsing and the sink doesn't fill up with water.

This is exactly why I love our offset drain.

[OscarQ]

It all depends on how you use your sink. We rarely have fished sitting in our sink. Everything goes straight into the dishwasher. I hate our unequally divided sink. Partly because the garbage disposal is in the smaller side. It doesn't make any sense. It's so much easier to rinse things in the larger side so the disposal should be on that side. Argh. I can't wait to rip out our kitchen and do it my way.

But really think about how you and your family use your sink.