Have the considered having runnels cut in your countertops?

I looked at that but my goal is not to have the dishes drying on my counter any longer... I wish I were better at washing then drying and putting them away quickly but with kids it never seems to happen so I always have so etching in there.

You could consider a 33" sink that is divided 70/30 with a large and small side. Be sure the grids are available for both sides and the smaller side with a grid on bottom is great for draining washed dishes and pots, lids etc. and you can temporarily pile quite a bit in there and no need for dish drainer. I used one for years and replaced my sink with same concept. Small side also nice to have for washing veggies, hand washing, and draining things off.

Do you use a DW?

Kids grow up fast, a solution for today might not be best for tomorrow.

I love runnels and placing the drying rack in the sink cabinet when done using it.

I still wash my dishes by hand, too ... I forget I even have a dishwasher and have to remind myself to run a load through it now and then. I have the same set-up as OOTM _Mom, large single bowl with the shelf grid on the right hand side. The grid lets the dishes dry out-of-sight in the sink and I don't have to put the grid away when I'm done.

If you have a dishwasher but don't use it much, then you can use that as your drying space that is out of sight. : )

I opted to use a large drying mat and I put it away when not in use. All our "dishes" go in the dw, so its used mostly for pots, large bowls and thermos'. In reality, the mat seldom is put away, but at least once the dried items are put away, the mat blends instead of being an eye catcher.

I prefer a big, single bowl sink. Cutting runnels seems like a great idea, but I just thought it would be a pain to clean.

They also have folding drying racks that are eaier to put away. Would something like that work for you?

If your sink isn't below a window:

I too don't use a dishwasher. I have plastic drain mats in both sinks. I use one side for clean dishes and have small silverware drainer down in sink on clean side. I just use the mats to hold dishes up to drain. The are not solid, but a grid. I throw towel over clean dishes until they're dry, then put them away. Nothing on counter at all. Drying dishes in dishwasher is a good idea too.

Although I use my dishwasher every day for everything except pots and pans, there are times when for example, the dishwasher has been ran and emptied and the kitchen is cleaned up for the night but an ice cream bowl or small plate is used afterwards. Since I like to get up to no dishes in the sink, I will hand wash those and put them in the empty dishwasher to drain. If you never use the dishwasher, it makes a perfect drying rack. You could even hand wash and put the dishes through the "DRY" cycle of the dishwasher if you want to get them put away quickly without hand drying everything.

Regarding runnels. When I finish washing my pots and pans and other items that don't go in the dishwasher I usually either dry them off right away or put them away the next morning. I wipe the water away from the runnels and put the drying rack away under the sink. The runnels stay looking nice and don't get all scuzzy looking like those rubber or plastic mats that went under the rack that stayed out all the time.

I have a really dumb question here but, how do you wash dishes in a single basin sink?

how do you wash dishes in a single basin sink

Under running water. I hate double sinks, and I hate standing water.

Christine,
I too have twin toddlers (2 year old girls!) and often hand wash pots, pans and plastics. I am pretty bad about emptying the drain board as I wash, so I let them air dry and put them away hours later! I currently have a single single (not a super large one) and when we remodel, my husband asked if we could get a double sink to hide the drain board. This is the one I picked is the Blanco performa 1-3/4

The large side is only slightly smaller than my current single sink and i can fit a drain board in the small side. I also like the low divide (so hopefully I won't hit the side of it when washing larger pans)

This post was edited by phillyfeet on Thu, May 8, 14 at 15:11

Washing in a single sink: I wash each piece individually. I squirt a bit of dish soap on the thing to be washed, use my dish cloth to clean the item, then rinse it off. Then I put that item in the dish drying rack (or dry it by hand if it is a knife). Any pans that need to be soaked are left until the end, and filled individually with hot water and dish soap to soak while I do other chores or overnight.

I loathe putting my hands into sink water filled with dirty dishes and bits of food debris, so I wash dishes this way with a double sink too.

OK, that makes sense. It just sounds like it uses a lot of water, something I have to be very conciencous of.

If I do dishes by hand, I have one sink filled with soapy water, one filled with lukewarm rinse water. We never leave water running.

Not really any more water the way I do it, I don't think. I don't leave the water running the whole time I wash. Just turn it on to rinse the dish off. Same as I would do to rinse off after washing in a big sink full of soapy water. Maybe even less water as I don't fill the sink to start with.

Doesn't your wash water get dirty and your rinse water get soapy? My mom does it your way and I find the wash water needs to be changed mid-way if there is any amount of dishes, especially pots and pans.

Bear in mind I don't wash by hand anymore, everything goes in the dishwasher, including pots and pans.

When I did wash by hand though, I started with glasses, then plates and bowls, then silverware, and I did pots and pans last. Basically wash from least soiled to most soiled and anything greasy goes last. I've never had to drain the water to refill.

My drying rack is wedged in to the sink on my left side. They just drip into the sink until air dry. For many years I would put the rack away until it's next use. Now I leave it out all the time.

I want to have a drying rack in one basin and washing going on in the other. But my sink is a behemoth, 42" wide two basins and 14" deep. It will be hidden.

Jen

In my single sink which is 33 X 18 inches I place soapy water in a pot or bowl and wash the already scraped/rinsed off pots, pans and utensils. The soapy bowl is on the right and the washed dishes go on the left side of the sink. When I get too many, I rinse them and place them in the drying rack that sits on the runnels. I use a very minimal amount of water that way.

Thanks everyone for all of your great tips!!

Yes I do use a dishwasher but with little kids we have a ton of plastic items and those I don't put in. I also don't put in pots and pans. Just actual dishes and glasses.

For those of you with a single basin sink and a draining board within that... you don't splash the clean dishes? Maybe I'm a messy dishwasher? I feel like I would be continually rewashing things...

I have the Kohler Irontones Smart Divide. It's a 70/30, I believe. The divider is only 4" high so it easily converts into a large single basin sink with both stoppers in & the water above 4". Large cookie sheets & pots/pans are completely submerged in water in this mode yet I still have the option of a separate sink & access to the disposal by pulling the stopper & draining the small side.

At the old house, we had a double sink so the dish drainer sat in one sink and the other was used for washing. DH liked it so he could stack the dishes in the drainer once washed. I didn't like it as washing anything large meant it wouldn't fit in the sink and left a mess all over the counter and the floor.

In this house, we have a single bowl sink with a built in drain board and it works well for us. Only thing is, the dish drainer is always out and visible. Doesn't bother us at all, but it's what the OP wanted to avoid. We also have a drying mat which we put out for large items or nonstick pans so they won't get scratched on the metal drainer.

I was the type that just left water running the whole time while washing dishes. That was one of the reasons I got a Tapmaster, it's now very easy to turn it off and on while washing and rinsing as needed. I start with cutting boards usually, they lean against left side best. Then frying pans which lean next. Then untensils, knives and any bowls I dont want to put in DW. Sometimes soapy water will splash onto clean side, but not often. Then its just a quick rinse off again. I may try washing most everything and then rinsing all at once with the sprayer. I will place a towel on counter for wine glasses occaisionally. When I get to the big roasting pans and dutch ovens, larger items, I either call in reinforcements to dry and put away to clear outmy sink space, or wait for stuff to dry and put away, usually while stuff is soaking (on counter by coffee pot). I use mainly a wand with the soap dispenser built in to wash dishes. Just have to lay them down properly so all the soap doesnt leak out. You'd think they could solve that problem but I have tried many different kinds, and havent found one that doesnt leak.

Here is my sink full of dirty dishes, I just leaned them where they would be when I wash them...which I havent yet! Its a big sink, interior clearance 31" wide, 15" at bottom, 18" at top, and about 10.5 inches deep at the deepest (it has a slope towards drain). That is a 13" mixing bowl (my largest) and a 12"x19" cutting board, nearly my largest, and there is a lot of space around them. To me at least. Also, I have not noticed any water dripping onto counter from those leaning items. I have a positive reveal, so as long as I lean them almost vertical, they are against the sink, not the counter. And no chips on counter from this yet either.