The average American spends hours in the kitchen cooking, eating, and cleaning each week. When your kitchen looks like a dingy cafeteria or has outdated style, it’s hard to feel good about doing these tasks. Inefficient and malfunctioning kitchen appliances add injury to insult.
Painting the walls, redoing cabinets, and replacing floors and counters are massive renovations. It’s often not practical to shut the entire kitchen down and make those changes. Replacing electrical appliances is a less imposing task, but there’s no sense in it when the fixtures aren’t worn out.
Exploring different types of sinks is a path towards an easy update. Many are affordable and replacing your kitchen sink boosts both aesthetic and function. Take a look at these options and find the best type of kitchen sink for you.
1. Get Organized:Â Double-Basin Sinks
Don’t you hate when you’re washing dishes and have to scrub and rinse one plate at a time to avoid plunking them back into the dishwater? If this is a nagging problem, a double-basin sink is perfect for you.
These sinks have two side-by-side basins, usually rectangular. They come in many sizes: Commercial and utility double-basin sinks have enough room for large pots, clothes, and even for tasks like bathing dogs.
Some double-basin sinks have symmetric sides. Others have one small compartment and one large compartment. Sinks’ small compartments sometimes house garbage disposals.
There’s no limit to what you can do with two sink basins.
Separating dirty dishes from soapy ones helps speed up the process. Another way to make dishwashing easier and save water at the same time is by keeping one basin full of clean water. You can dip sudsy dishes to rinse them rather than running the tap.
Double-basin kitchen sinks also make staying organized while you cook easy. You can scrub and peel veggies in one basin and pile used dishes in the other.
These sinks are primed for function, but you won’t have any trouble achieving your aesthetic goals. The classic material is stainless steel, but you can find bronze double-basin sinks, ceramic styles in a wide range of colors, and more.
2. Embrace Country Style:Â Farmhouse Sinks
Rustic chic has been a top style for several decades and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. It harkens back to a simpler time but enhances it with a kind of modern glitz. In the kitchen, farmhouse sinks epitomize the aesthetic.
This stile leaves the front of the sink, called the apron, exposed. The straightforward, sort of utilitarian design is in line with the no-nonsense country mentality. You can install a farmhouse sink as either under-mount or over-mount, and they come in both single- and double-basin varieties.
Modern styles take advantage of the exposed apron and reinvent the age-old farmhouse sink as a fashion statement. They use creative materials, textures, and colors to infuse the sinks with unique styles. With these modifications, farmhouse sinks have become popular in all settings, from commercial kitchens to mansions.
3. Trendy and Functional: Under-Mount Sinks
If you pay any attention to home design trends, you’ve seen the granite and marble kitchen countertop crazes. You’ve seen “waterfall” style stone countertops that extend the material to the floor because homeowners want to highlight it so much. The popularity of high-class countertops is part of why under-mount sinks are all the rage these days.
One installs an under-mount sink, as the name implies, under the countertop. No part of the sink shows above the countertop, unlike over-mount sinks that have a lip that rests on the counter. For that reason, these are the best kitchen sinks for anyone who wants to draw attention to their counters.
Style, first and foremost, drives the under-mount sink trend. Yet, there are also some functional benefits to under-mount sinks.
Grime can’t build up under the sink lip like it often does with over-mount sinks. Water can’t pool around the sink and spill onto your shirt as you wash dishes and seep through the under-sink cabinet doors. Water can’t seep under the lip and cause mold problems.
That’s not to say that there’s no place for over-mount sinks. Some people do prefer the traditional look. You can rest utensils and cleaning implements on the lip. Plus, leaks and spills are only an issue with lower-quality sinks and those not installed well, for the most part.
4. Stick to Basics: Single-Basin Sinks
As much as many homeowners swear by double-basin sinks, some stay true to the basic single-basin variety. There’s an endless variety of reasons for this preference.
From an aesthetic perspective, some people don’t like the look of a divider bisecting their sinks. Others want a shape or style of sink that only comes in a single-basin variety. Imagine how strange a seashell-shaped sink or even a simple oval would look with a divider!
On the functional side, single-basin sinks put space first. If you have laundry to do in your sink or an infant to bathe in your kitchen sink, most double-basin sinks aren’t ideal. The only situation where you can get the best of both worlds is if your kitchen is large enough to house a commercial-sized sink.
Single-basin sinks can also be more sanitary unless you’re a very diligent cleaner. Germs from dirty dishes or the garbage disposal in one compartment could make their way to the other side if you’re not careful. This poses an issue if you use your sink for washing produce or bathing a child or pet.
The single-basin sink is a broad category with many accompanying styles. Farmhouse sinks, steel over-mount sinks, ceramic under-mount sinks, and more all have single-basin variants.
Types of Sinks and Other Valuable Info
Choosing one of these types of sinks for your next kitchen remodel will make your home life more enjoyable and can put equity in your pocket. If you want other home living tips and more handy information, you’re on the right site.
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