I'm a two bowler. So many times I have to dump stuff while I am washing dishes.

I have never had a one sink, and I know people use dish pans inside them, so you can still dump stuff I guess, but dish pans just dont seem big enough to me.

I am not an expert on design or what's in style, but seems to me like farmhouse sinks have been around for a long time? Or maybe they are just becoming popular again? But either way, who cares :-) Do what you like :-) Even if it is out in 10 years, that is 10 years to enjoy it :-)

I havent had one before but found a great buy on a 42" Empire Everest Double Bowl Farm Sink and I am looking forward to it :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1576381}}

I'd always had two bowls and hated washing large pots and pans in them. DH was favoring a larger/smaller two bowl combination at first, but said okay and now we have a single bowl sink. We both love it.

I went through similar issues with the farmhouse style. My kitchen isn't that large and I wasn't sure I wanted that hunk out of the cabinet run, wasn't sure I'd love it always, and DH was not keen on them. We went with an undermount. We could have avoided a seam in the marble with an apron front, so that might be a consideration. Also, the apron fronts allow you to stand closer to your work area than one mounted with a 3-4" piece of counter between you and the bowl. If you have any back issues or are short, less reaching might be easier for working -- regardless of how trendy it is down the road.

Thanks to both of you. We're just embarking on our total kitchen renovation and I'm amazed at how many decisions we're going to have to make!

Gopintos: that's either an enormous sink or you have very small (and cute) kids. =)

I have a single bowl sink and I love it. I use a dishpan on one side - for the dishes - which keeps the other side free for all the other kitchen sink activities. I always had a double bowl sink before but I found them too restricting, so when I remodeled, a big single bowl sink was non-negotiable.

Good luck with your remodel.

I'm a double-bowler. It's just the way I do things. There are many 'big single' people here though. I don't regret my decision for an instant. I can pile up dirty dishes in one side to keep them off the counter if I'm waiting for a load to finish in the dishwasher, and still have the other side for whatever sink activities may take place. I don't hand-wash dishes often, but if I do I like to have the one side for soapy water and then the other side to rinse off the dishes. I think it's definitely a personal preference type decision.

Thanks to info on this forum, I decided single bowl would be best for us. Our sink is used for so much more than just washing dishes. I love having flexibility!

Like momj47, I actually wash dishes in a dishpan (or I use the largest bowl or pot that needs to be washed.) While I'm cooking, I throw things into the dishpan with just a little bit of water to soak. If I need more of the sink, I lift the dishpan out and put it on a nearby counter (where I can still throw dirty things into it.)

I love not having barriers. I love being able to divide up the sink the way I want it, depending on the task(s), rather than having it predetermined for me. I can use the sink for 1 function (using the entire sink for washing large items such as parts from my range), 2 functions (washing and rinsing), or more functions (i.e colander draining, dishes soaking and center drain still available for rinsing/peeling veggies or rinsing hands.) The items in the sink---colander, bowls, pots, and sometimes dishpan--are the dividers. All of these can be arranged so that the drain is still available.

Another thing is that I was able to put a lot of sink into a 36" cabinet. I think if I went double bowl I would have had to use a bigger cabinet (which, to me, would have been a poor use of cabinetry space.) Since we only have one drain (and no disposer or instant hot), we don't have a lot of clutter in the sink cabinet. I'm trying to maximize our use of the cabinet.

I do quite a bit of handwashing and I don't mind the look of things in a dishdrainer. Ours is on the counter rather than in the sink.

I have a single bowl Franke fireclay farm sink. I love it. All those cookie sheets and baking pans go right in to soak and wash with no problem. I always hated the double bowl. Nothing would fit. I have a grid in the bottom, so you can drain things after rinsing. It's great. I'd never go back to double.

I love, love, love our huge single-bowl sink. I will say, though, that there are four factors that probably influence the depth of my adoration...

One is that I have a separate prep sink that I use for all my veggie washing, etc., so there's never any competition between that work and dirty dishes.

Two is that I have a double drawer dishwasher. Donka mentioned above that dishes can pile up while waiting for a load in the DW. I never have to wait with two dishwashers.

Three is that I have a sink grid that keeps things off the bottom of the sink. If needed, I can rinse things over to one side without even getting other things wet.

Four is that I have runnels in my counter. I don't like dish drainers on the counter, especially when they aren't in use, and in my old double sink I kept the drainer in one side. With runnels, I just set hand-washed things right on that part of the counter to dry.

I think I would still prefer a single bowl sink even without all those things, but those things do make the "system" work more efficiently.

How big are your largest pans and cookie sheets?

Having to hold the sheets standing up in the sink, or rest the pans on the edge if they do not fit is a major PITA when cleaning up.

I'm convinced... I'm going with a single. The washing of our half sheet pans and big casseroles etc is worth it. Our current double is only 24 in wide (yes, 12 in each) and 8 in deep!

As a result of hanging out on this forum, we went with a big single bowl sink. I had always had 2 before that. We both *love* the single bowl so much more  this has truly been an unexpected surprise. We recently moved to a new home with a 48" triple bowl sink  the middle being a very small raised area with the garbage disposal. This sink is HUGE, but I canÂt do as much as I could with my single and we both *hate* this sink. We will definitely be replacing it with a big single - the Kohler Stages 45 has caught my eye :-)

Single all the way!

Jeri

I'm so happy I found this site. Funny I just googled this question on Friday and now see your post on this website. There is so much info on here, very helpful. After much debate I'm going with a single deep sink. I don't like the idea of trying to clean large pot and pans with a double.\\

I am in the process of making this same decision, and came over here to look for a thread that I once saw about what goes behind a sink decision - I can't find it.

I am leaning towards one bowl, and a prep sink (if the kitchen designer says there is enough room). Another option I am considering is the Kohler Stages, which is quite large but looks amazing.

Dredpir8,

The age old question? Which came first the chicken or
the egg? and Single or Double??? That is the question.

I would ask yourself...

Do you need two sinks for cleaning? rinsing?
Do you like to soak large turkey pans or lasagna pans?
Do you have a prep sink?
Do you like deep or shallow sinks? Are you tall or short
which can mean back issues for the depth of your sink?

Everyone is different and loves what they love.
I love my single bowl sink and would be very sad if I had
to go back to a double. I like the space it offers,
the way I cook and clean is suited to a single bowl.
Find out what you prefer because your going to be
using it and you want to be happy.

And as for the chicken or the egg I say lets Eat!
~boxerpups

Here is a link that might be useful: Double sink vs single sink which do you prefer

Love my single bowl sink, and wouldn't go back to a double. I have never used a dishpan though - hey, I paid The Big Hardearned Bucks for my Miele dishwasher, and by golly I'm going to use it! So it never comes up for me that I need a side for "rinsing" or a side for "sudsing". I do love though that I can lay my roasting pan in the sink to soak, and still have plenty of sink space left over. I do handwash a few things - large pots, my good knives, and the like. But I just rinse them under running water, and then lay them on a towel, and put them away in an hour when they're dry. Since it's only a few things, I don't think it looks that messy.

While you're shopping for sinks, a nice feature to look for is an "offset drain" (which you can find in both single and double bowl sinks). An offset drain is a drain that is not centered in the sink, but instead is placed rear center or rear right. That way, when you have roasting pans or cookie sheets in the sink, the drain is not covered. Also, it allows more room under your sink for a disposal and storage because the plumbing isn't stuck in the middle of your cabinet, but is toward the back. It's really a nice feature. HTH.

I put in a large single bowl sink in my new kitchen and just LOVE it! I use a dish drainer similer to the one I have linked to. They come in larger sizes, but this one is perfect for me. I wash my dishes in a dish pan so this drainer allows me to wash and dry and still keep my countertops clutter-free.

Here is a link that might be useful: hanging dish drainer

A month ago I went from a double to a single stainless sink and added a prep sink in the island. I still haven't found a sink grid (I have one for the shelf but it is plastic coated)- they just started making the stainless (without plastic) so I don't use the sink much - don't want to scratch it. I also want it nice and shinny. I'm starting to think I should not have gotten stainless. I use to teach Home Ec and I made the kids wipe them out at the end of class.

And I wanted a really small prep sink in the island. Several posts said don't get a really small one - they were RIGHT. Mine is 13 X 11 1/2 and although it is much easier to clean than my big one, it is hard to wash the one pot that doesn't fit into the dishwasher.

akchicago brings up a good topic---drain position! This is something I didn't think about when shopping for sinks.

Luckily, I ended up with a sink with a drain in the middle (left to right.) It works really well for the way I use the sink. When there are multi functions going on in the sink, it's often important to have the drain accessible to all of them---it's usually the divider between tasks (i.e. sudsy water on right, draining colander on left, drain still free for rinsing hands or veggies or for draining a pot.) When I wash really large items, I usually have the drain stopped up anyway so that the items can soak a bit (and then rinse water ends up running into the sudsy water and hots it up.) A drain positioned off to the side would have been a huge annoyance for me.

Our drain happens to be positioned toward the back. A lot of people think it's important to have the drain positioned under the stream of water from the faucet. I haven't found a need for this, maybe not having a disposer has something to do with it. I like having our undersink cabinet as open as possible so having all the plumbing toward the back works for me.

Hopefully, this will give you food for thought. Anybody thinking about a sink should think about the way they will use it and choose drain location accordingly. Good arguments can be made for any of the positions but having it in the wrong position (for the way you use the sink) could be an unnecessary annoyance.

Mariofo, what size sink cabinet do you have for the 33" sink you purchased. I think my sink cabinet is 33" and I don't think it would work. or Would it?

I have been thinking about writing a sink blog post, and after reading this, I went ahead and did it - there are lots of great opinions in the comments section, although I am loving reading this thread too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen sink post

I would strongly recommend to any folks thinking of a dual bowl - get two disposals (unless you want none!).

I am a single-bowl fan. More room for big stuff. My last remodel I put in a single deep stainless model and that is now my standard.

During my current remodel, we have rented a place that has a dual sink. It has a disposal on the small basin, and just a trap on the larger. It always clogs and you have to reach in and clean it out. It is infuriating.

I can't seem to find the situation where the dual bowl has been better. I have soaked dishes, and I guess it is nice to be able to drain pasta in the small sink while the big one is full. But filling an entire sink to soak is a lot of water to use when your dishwasher is much more efficient.

If I need to soak a pot, I fill the pot, not the sink.

In my last kitchen I had a 3 hole sink - 2 separate ones on the side with a smaller one in the middle with a disposal. I loved it. I washed dishes in one, put the dish drainer in the other and still had the small sink for other uses. Unfortunately in my current kitchen that I plan to remodel, I can't find a 3-holer that will fit in the available space. I think I will have to go with one large sink.