If that's how you/he wash dishes, then you probably want a divided sink. We don't wash dishes by filling up the sink, we just scrape and rinse and put them in the dishwasher.

Your other alternative is to get some kind of bin that you could fill up with soapy water. The advantage to the large sink (for me) is that I can fit just about anything I own in there if I need to scrub it. That includes cookie sheets & big skillets with long handles.

When I had a two bowl sink, I almost never filled it up with soapy water. On the few occasions that I need to do that now, I use a very large plastic bowl that I bought at the dollar store years ago. And I love that the big ol' thing fits in my big ol' one bowl sink! LOL

Congratulations on having a dishwashing husband.

I scrape into the trash. Sometimes I let the dog lick the dishes. We are on septic so I send very little down the disposer-- just odds and ends that come loose in the sink, really, or liquid stuff like half-finished cereal.

My DH used to be the same way, but he loves the big single bowl. He wasn't sure he could adjust, but he wouldn't go back to a divideed sink now.

You can also use one of those scrubbers with the soap in the handle for hand washing. Most of my stuff goes in the DW, but for pots and pans that don't, I have a scrubber, a sponge and soap dispenser, or can use one of my pots or bowls for soapy water -- all depends on what needs to be washed. I wouldn't give up my big single bowl for anything though.

I generally use a plastic tub when I wash. This creates a double bowl sink when needed yet gives the option of having one large single bowl the rest of the time. Or if I have a large bowl or pot I need to wash along with the other stuff I put sudsy water in that and use it as a basin. If I have just a few things I put soap on a wet dish rag and soap items up without any standing water, put them down on the bottom of the sink and then rinse everything at once.

We don't have a disposal (scrape into the compost bucket) but the drain is always free anyway. In fact I swapped out the drain plug for a simple strainer that can't stop up the sink (the original is nearby if I need it but I think I use it about once every couple of months.)

All my life, until our remodel 3+ years ago, I washed in one bowl of a double bowl sink. There was no adjustment period needed when switching to the single bowl. I like it much better (and I appreciate the forgiving nature of the plastic sides of the washtub--much better than clanking the sides of our old cast iron sink.)

Ditto what everyone said above. You can always turn a single bowl sink into a double (with a basin) but you can never turn your double sink into a single!

Eks6426...my DH also does the dishes and his biggest requirement was a 2-bowl (large/small bowls) sink for very similar reasons. He soaks the flatware & utensils in the small bowl, soaks pans (if needed) in the large bowl, and also scrapes dishes into the large bowl (where the GD is...also at his request). If anything has to be washed by hand, it's usually washed by itself. The smaller bowl, though, is big enough to wash smaller things in it if need be.

Since he does the dishes, the sink and DW were what he wanted, not me. (I really like the sink, dislike the DW...but they were his choice.)

We have the S405D Ticor sink, btw.

Here is a link that might be useful: S405D Ticor Sink @ Galaxy Tool Supply

We have a large single sink . We scrape most things into the trash, and small stuff in the garbage disposal. Then we rinse off dishes and place in dishwasher. For hand wash, we don't fill a basin w/soapy water; instead, we rinse off dishes, then use a soapy sponge (green abrasive on one side, sponge on other) and wash the dish, then rinse w/water out of the faucet. For anything that needs to soak, we just fill it w/water and set it in the sink to soak.

I have a single bowl rectangular sink, and scrape into the disposal and then put almost everything into the DW with very little rinsing. In fact, I have read several threads on the Gardenweb that it is actually better not to rinse the dishes very thoroughly before putting them into the DW, given the way the detergents and DW's work now. And, after all, I paid The Big Bucks for that dishwasher, and by gosh, I am going to use it! On the few things I have to hand wash, I wash under running water. It's not that wasteful of running water since I handwash so little, and my faucet is a low-flow.

I very rarely fill my sink with water; it's just never been my style of doing dishes because I always felt the sitting water got dirty very quickly and either needed to be changed a lot (wasteful of both water and time) or left a film on the dishes.

Also, I've had a double bowl sink before, and would never go back. I love my single bowl sink. And I love that it's rectangular, because everything fits with plenty of room left over.

No need for a separate wash basin in our house. I always have a large pot or serving bowl from dinner that serves as a wash basin in my single bowl sink. For instance, if we had rice I'll have a large pot that I fill with soapy water and place all the big and dirty utensils in while I scrape and rinse plates on the other side of the sink. I can't remember any dinner in years where we haven't had something big that is useful in this way for clean up. If I have more than one big pot or bowl the soapy water gets dumped successively to the next one as the first is washed and rinsed. Hope this makes sense.

I am also considering a single sink and wash the few dishes by hand without filling either of the sides of my current one, but my question is where do you put the washed dishes? I have a dish drainer in the other side of my double sink to put any silverware that I wash, pots & pans, large dishes or whatever. I don't want to start putting them on the counter to air dry.

Also I think I'd want the drain to be situated side right. I could wash there and maybe put the dish drainer on the left side? Does anyone do that? If so what kind of sink do you have with this configuration (I don't want SS).
Thanks.

Conserve water; use the dishwasher. For the few things like knives or non-stick or the odds and ends now & again you don't really need the scrape-soak-scrub cycle. And for things like roasters or cookie sheets etc. which are a royal nuisance to wash in a double sink, you wouldn't wash them that way anyhow.

So, by and large, we scrape and load the dishwasher. No rinsing either.

I have a large single bowl sink and I love it. I scrape into the trash can. I have a disposal, but since I have a septic system, I don't scrape a lot of food into the sink. I will rinse a few things but I usually just stack them in the dishpan sitting in one side of the sink, or load directly into the DW. I live alone, so I don't run the DW every night, but I will run a "rinse and hold" between cycles.

I don't wash by hand, except on very rare occasions. Almost everything I have fits into the DW, thus it goes into the DW. The few things I might wash by hand drain and dry on a towel on the counter.

I love my sink and wouldn't want a double bowl ever again. My DD has one in a house they are renting and she, and I, hate it.

Good luck with your remodel.

Another handy accessory to the big rectangular sink is the sink grate which fits in the bottom. This raises the floor of the sink above any dirty, run-off water and debris. It's helpful when I'm hand washing, as items can dry in the bottom of the sink, I just give them another spray rinse if they get soapy water on them.HTH

We scrape into the trash & load the dishwasher, no rinsing. The only time we rinse or soak is for really gunky dishes.

A Miele service rep told me that they see problems with people not just rinsing but pre-washing--even with rinsing afterwards it's not enough to get rid of the soap film, which builds into a massive volume of soap bubbles that the dishwasher cannot get rid of. So, if you use any dishwashing soap not intended for a dishwasher on an item, it should not then go into the dishwasher.

We changed how we hand wash (items that don't go into the dishwasher) with our new big single. Before, with the divided sink we always had, we filled one side to wash, used the other side to rinse, & a dish drainer to dry. I was always grossed out at how quickly the water became dirty & we used a lot of water rinsing. Items like glassware & china broke too easily getting knocked against other items or the faucet that was too low. Now we use a soap-filled wand to scrub each item, rinse, & lay on a towel. It is so much easier to wash big pots & pans in the single.

eks6426 - your husband just needs to scrape the dishes "before" he starts to wash them. Then fill the one side with soapy water and the other side can then be used to rinse. I've had both single and double bowl sinks. I hated the single. Always felt like my dishes weren't clean until they were rinsed with very hot water.

With a double bowl sink,, rinsing is a breeze.

I guess I'm also a minority here. We went from a single to a double 30 years ago and never looked back. The newer deeper double Silgranit sinks have just a skinny divider so there is much more room compared to the previous cast iron doubles. It is our only sink (no prep sink)so I need to have that one side always clear for washing veggies, etc. We wash knives, pots and pans, and weird stuff by hand. Glasses, silverware, plates and a few bowls go into the dishwasher, which only runs when full.

It all boils down to your lifestyle and how YOU like to wash dishes.

-Babka

I have a single sink. I scrape the dishes down the disposal, put everything possible in the diswasher and wash whatevers left with a soapy sponge. I have a grate at the bottom of the sink which keeps the clean dishes a couple inches above the sink bottom. After washing I rinse and let the dishes sit on the grate, or set them on the counter on a dish towel. I don't fill the sink with water to wash the dishes.

For us, I LOVE my big, single Rohl farmhouse sink--we scrape almost everything into the disposal, and then it goes right into the DW. I cook for 10-12 people two to three times a week, so I'm used to LOTS of dishes/pans.

On a big cooking night, I know it's going to be a two-load night. First load (right after scraping) is all the silverware/plates/glasses and anything small. Second load before bed is the big pots/pans/etc. Cookie sheets (which are usually almost spotless--thank you, Parchment Paper inventor!!), I just wash by hand...AND they fit in my sink without spray going all over.

I guess if you're one of those people who has to have ALL the dishes done and out of the way PRONTO, this system may not work for you.

Oh, and we do use a black drainboard & rack that was only supposed to occasionally be out, but now is ALWAYS out just to the left of the big sink. So anything that has to get handwashed dries in there. My mom is MORTIFIED that we have that out--she hates our single sink for that reason and just got herself a big, deep double sink. And she's thrilled. So don't hate yourself if you really do want a double sink--there are positives and negatives to both!

Good luck!!

-sarah from Albany, NY