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FOR KITCHEN SINKS: 20 DO'S & DON'TS by Mark E. Dixon, field editor
Kitchen & Bath Business discussed placement of kitchen sinks and storage arrangements for them with about twenty kitchen and bath designers across the country. They offered the following 20 do's and don'ts. 1 Do put a garbage disposer in your second sink. It is the difference between a complete second working area and half of one, said Sarah Lee Roberts, co-owner, Roberts & Lee, San Anselmo, Calif. "Without it, the second cook has to carry it over to the primary sink," she said. "It's a mess and causes people to get in each other's way." 2 DO encourage the client to choose an alternative to the traditional two-bowl sink. One large bowl -- perhaps with a small side bowl -- is preferable, said Bob Thompson, manager of the kitchen division at Beldon Remodeling, San Antonio, Texas. "The two-bowl sink was designed back before everyone had a dishwasher," said Thompson. "These days, the only things people hand wash are the big pots that won't fit in a dishwasher. Unfortunately, these things are too big to fit in either half of a two-bowl sink." 3 DO put sinks in corners. They salvage work space that would otherwise be wasted, said Thompson. Corner sinks use that space more efficiently than, say, a lazy susan. In addition, they free up that long, straight counter area. "Nobody will stand in a 90° corner to prepare food," he said. "But they will if you place the sink across that corner at a 45° angle." Corners are also the most efficient places to house piping, said Thompson, because they are least convenient for storage. 4 DO include built-in storage around the sink. Possibilities include tilt-out drawer fronts for gloves and tambour doors for detergent bottles. "There's no such thing as an attractive scrub brush," said Gay Fly, CKD, ASID, Gay Fly Interior Designs, Friendswood, Texas. "But people leave them out in full view because they're difficult to reach under the sink." 5 DO put insulation between your dishwasher and the kitchen sink, especially if the sink is metal. It will make for a quieter kitchen, said Arnelle Kase, a designer for Barbara Scavullo Design, San Francisco. "Dishwashers are usually right next to the sink and they make the sink vibrate," she said. "Pad the cabinet wall first and the kitchen will be a lot quieter." 6 DO use the tall, goose-neck faucets. They are especially suited for second, bar-type sinks, which tend to be shallower. "There are a lot of things that people just can't squeeze under the low faucets," said Robert E. Crowl, CKD, owner, Crowl's Kitchens & Baths, Lincoln, Neb. "People have those tall stock pots and, of course, flower vases." 7 DO encourage the use of levered faucets, rather than those with two handles. Levered faucets may be turned on when one's hands are full, said Terry Smith, owner, Kitchens & More, Dallas. And they're less trouble for people with arthritis and other handicaps. "Many people specify the old-fashioned two-handled type because that's what they're used to," said Smith. "I point out that if their hands are dirty, they don't have to get crud all over the handles." 8 DO choose a sink sized in proportion to the amount of kitchen counterspace. Americans love huge sinks, but often don't realize how much room they take, observed designer Nancy Miller of Carruthers Kitchens, Memphis, Tenn. "Don't let the sink cut into the bare minimum of 24" of counter on either side," said Miller. "Our showroom has a 43" wide, three-bowl sink that people just exclaim over because they like the idea of separating the wash bowls from the disposer. But I have to point out to them that it's 10" wider than a standard 33" sink and will leave them with that much less work area." 9 DO show and suggest faucets that are low lustre. "They show fewer spots and people like things that are low maintenance," said Joan F. Viele, CKD, Creative Kitchens, Albuquerque, N.M. 10 DO include at least one drawer base near your second sink, particularly if your client indicates a need for a second work area. "You're going to need some storage there, either for knives and bowls or bar utensils," said designer Terri Murphy, Gallery of Kitchens, Grand Rapids, Mich. "If there is no place for tools, the second cook will have to make repeated trips into the primary work area." 11 DON'T put the disposer in the smaller half of a two-bowl sink. It's a harder target to hit, said Ken Doody, CKD, Kitchen Center of Framingham, Framingham, Mass. "What people end up doing is dumping their garbage in the large bowl as they work, and then transferring it to the smaller bowl and disposer by hand," said Doody. "It's very inconvenient." 12 DON'T presume that a sink must go in a certain spot. On a remodeling job, don't assume that the sink can't be moved just because that's where the pipes are. "The customer's budget will determine this, but habit should not," said Lars Fredriksen, CKD, president, Living Kitchens, Dallas. "If the sink can't be moved, you're limiting your other options because you have to maintain that work triangle." On one job, Fredriksen moved the sink away from the window to an island in what had been a wall between the kitchen and den. That enabled the cook to look into the den while working. 13 DON'T forget, when using DuPont's Corian, Avonite or some other similar countertop to have your fabricator rout out groves around the sink that will act to carry spilled water back into the bowl. "It costs almost nothing and people really appreciate the added touch," said Robert Schafer, CKD, The Kitchen Guild, Washington, D.C. (Doody disagreed: "Those grooves are real hard to clean and, if your water is at all hard, they're going to be stained almost immediately.") 14 DON'T use a sink -- especially a primary sink -- in a color that contrasts with the predominant colors in the kitchen. "It draws the eye to where people usually put their dirty dishes," said Darrell Bryan, owner, The Cabinet Tree, Oklahoma City, Okla. "And that makes the whole kitchen look dirty." 15 DON'T use a self-rimming sink when you can avoid it. If the client wants a Corian countertop, for instance, this is a perfect opportunity to note the benefits of an underhung sink. "The rim on a self-rimming sink is probably the number one dirt catcher in the kitchen," said Bryan. "With a laminate countertop, of course, there's really no choice. But these man-made surfaces give you options that it is a shame to waste." 16 DON'T hesitate to tell your customer what's good and what's not. Florida designer Cal Carstens now includes a short course in "cheap tinny sinks" in his sales program. "I had people coming in with these $19 to $39 sinks for me to install," said Carstens, co-owner of the Galley Kitchen Shoppe, Lake Park, Fla. "They thought they'd found a bargain until I showed them how the things bent when I tightened the clips. A good sink should be $100 and up." 17 DON'T put a dishwasher immediately next to a corner-mounted sink. When opened, it will cut into the standing room in front of the bowl, said Cindy Sporre, sales manager at Creative Kitchens & Baths, Wilmington, N.C. "Now, we always put in at least a 12" tray base," said Sporre. "You don't want to go with anything much larger than that because it will be too long a reach." Sporre said designers at Creative Kitchens learned this the hard way. Workers had to pull out and switch a dishwasher and tray b base after a customer complained about the cramped space. 18 DON'T get stuck thinking you must have a sink to have a faucet. "A long faucet near the stove makes it a lot easier to add water to heavy pots," said Ken Stanley, CKD, Neil Kelly Co., Portland, Ore. "It sounded kind of radical to me, too, but it works." 19 DON'T use porcelain-on-steel models without extra care. They damage easily -- sometimes during installation, said Mike Palkowitsch, CKD, Kitchens by Krengel, St. Paul, Minn. "U.S. manufacturers stopped making them several years ago but, for some reason, the Europeans are bringing them back," said Palkowitsch. "One of our workers was tightening a clip on one of these things on a job and a chip the size of a quarter fell off." (The manufacturer sent a jar of touch-up paint, said Palkowitsch.) 20 DON'T mount a sink in butcher block without special care. Palkowitsch tried it and found out the wood absorbed moisture and warped. "About a year after we did this job, we got a call from the client that the bowl was rising off the counter top," he said, explaining that the swollen wood was shrinking the hole and, thus, pushing the sink out. If the client is determined to use butcher block for a countertop, he said, try to convince him or her to put the cooktop there. K&BB Kitchen & Bath Business / June 1987  Mark
E. Dixon
757 Upper Gulph Road
Wayne, PA 19087-2022
USA
610-971-0649
dixon_mark@verizon.net
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Sinks in corners. Sinks without
dishwashers next to them. Faucets without sinks. These are some of the alternatives to the
two-bowl sink centered under the window that designers are now presenting to
customers.