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pumpkinhouse

Why do trough sinks exist?

pumpkinhouse
10 years ago

Anyone have a trough sink in their bar or prep area? I saw this one at the Kohler showroom. The only use I can think of would be to dump out ice from empty drinks. It was installed towards the back of the countertop, so you had to reach to get to it. It wasn't deep or wide enough to really do any food prep. Am I missing some awesome reason these sinks exist?

Here is a link that might be useful: Kohler trough sink

Comments (18)

  • oldbat2be
    10 years ago

    I remember seeing one in an island. Think of a wonderful serving area for beverages, nicely iced down.

  • Fori
    10 years ago

    Counter ponies?

    They're kinda nice in a greenhouse/potting shed but that one looks too small.

  • kitchendetective
    10 years ago

    ROTFLOL.

  • Circus Peanut
    10 years ago

    Forum member Pilllog has one and is a very accomplished cook, so they must work well for someone's workflow -- although they wouldn't work for me, either.

    Counter ponies? I think I may have one of those:

  • nhbaskets
    10 years ago

    If I had the room (and the budget) I'd consider one. Would be great for entertaining.

  • CEFreeman
    10 years ago

    Circuspeanut, I gotta get a picture of my Waylon drinking of of the bathroom faucet. Not the motion sensor, BTW. I use that.
    Anyway, he stands in the sink and drinks from his bowl I put on the counter. If I turn the water on, his butt is on the edge of the sink, and his two front paws splay out so he doesn't get them wet while he drinks.

    I think a trough would be a very nice addition for my counter cats, er, ponies.

    I thought they were for people who made a big mess, but that installed so far back defeats that purpose.
    Don't know...

  • breezygirl
    10 years ago

    They also look like built-in ice buckets to me. I always wonder how those things can be functional as prep. I know they would most certainly not work for the way I cook. Plllog's fondness for hers told me that I must be missing something. Although I'm still not sure what.

    Not to be dense, but what's a counter pony?

  • pumpkinhouse
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Good, seems like I am not missing some good reason to get one. As an ice bucket, it really wouldn't hold that many cans or bottles. The (casual) get-togethers I have been to always just have drinks in a cooler. If I was hosting an event, I would not want to be bothered constantly filling up the little trough sink with drinks. And besides, how would a square or rectangular sink not be able to serve as a built in ice bucket?

  • annkh_nd
    10 years ago

    Horses drink from a trough, but are too big to live on your counter...

  • Bunny
    10 years ago

    $800 for that?!! Agree with pumpkin, what can that little slit of a sink do that any other can't?

  • lazy_gardens
    10 years ago

    Widely used in bars for dumping stale drinks, and usually has the ice water dispenser mounted on it.

    I can't think of a real use for it in a home kitchen: it's too small for handwashing, probably couldn't support a disposal, too small for rinsing anything.

    AHAH! Bathing your pet snake!

  • nosoccermom
    10 years ago

    Hm, and then there are these trough sinks, which actually make way more sense.

    Here is a link that might be useful: [Trough sinks[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/8-ways-to-love-trough-sinks-stsetivw-vs~638285)

  • oldbat2be
    10 years ago

    lazygardens - good one!

  • angela12345
    10 years ago

    LOL @ counter ponies and at bathing the pet snake. Haha !

  • beekeeperswife
    10 years ago

    Fori....you always make me laugh...

  • nosoccermom
    10 years ago

    Oh, I want one!

  • plllog
    10 years ago

    Did I hear my name? (Thanks for the kind words!) I never understood the ice in the trough sink thing either, or the one far back from the counter. One assumes that the latter is for pushing all the mess into, assuming there's a disposer, but reaching over to use the water and to clean it would be a drag.

    Mine is on the edge of my island, and I got it mostly because my island is small and I love big sinks. There is a 16" bowl at the far end, which is a good workstation if one is standing on that short end of the island. From the middle of the long side, the main prep area, there's the end of the trough. I keep my colander in the bowl, standing on a grate. I lift it to the front to use in main prep, and it straddles the trough. The trough itself is great for cleaning veg because it's quite shallow, so there's no reach down backache.

    Having the long trough is great for when I want to dump the flour from my baking board or pastry sheet, or to dump the carving board, or whatever. If the clean-up sink is clear, it's easy enough to turn and take the two steps, but when does that happen when you're baking or serving? So the long trough gives me the illusion of a big sink, while remaining compact, and the deep bowl is great for soaking sand out of cress, etc.

    The only issue I've had is that I got a Karbon faucet for its versatility in angle and direction, given the dual nature of my particular sink. It works great for that, but isn't a prep sink sized faucet and has rather too strong a flow. I can adjust it just right, but then people move the handle. So there's more overspray than I'd really like. I suppose I could ask the plumber for a limiter, but it's not *that* bad. I just have to mind what I'm doing.

    That's why *I* have a trough sink. Because I can have a sink suited to bigger tasks than the weensy sink that would other wise fit. Why they exist in existential terms, I couldn't hazard a guess.

    Or...maybe the rest of them are for people who don't cook and only use their prep sinks as ice buckets anyway? To look cooler while they're cooling?