What about raising your counter height?

I'm 6'4 and I do all the dishes. The worst part of doing dishes is actually doing dishes and not necessarily having to reach 2 inches for the next plate to wash. I really won't use height as a criteria for selecting a sink.

So yes I think you are definitely over thinking it.

Aren't you going to have a dishwasher (automatic)?

I have a 36" Shaw's sink, which is undermounted, and I'm 5'7". When I'm canning, I'm working at the sink for long periods of time and I've never had a problem. My six foot tall daughter has no problems, unless she's wearing 4" heels.

He'll be fine.

I'm 5'10" & my back always hurt when I washed dishes. When I put in a drop in cast iron sink I raised the counter height 2" to compensate & now my back doesn't bother me. If his back bothers him now it might be worth raising it, if it doesn't then maybe it's not an issue. Everyone including all my shorter friends loved my taller counters.

I'm 5'9" and the deeper sink does hurt my back. Same counter height as before, but the sink used to be 7.5" deep and is now nearer 10".

I'm not sure whether I would have chosen to raise the counter height, though, because that throws off the alignment of tall cabinets with regular uppers. (Does that makes sense?)

Age probably has something to do with it, too. I'm 52, though I don't have a bad back.

I'm 5'11" and DH is 6'3". We have a deep sink but we raised the counter height to 39" so it probably averages out. The higher counters are noticeably more comfortable for us. Any space lost on the uppers is compensated by having deeper drawers on the lowers. (We have custom cabinets; I don't know what is available with stock cabinets.) We raised the bathroom counters to 39" too, which was a big improvement for us.

If you want to keep your counters the same height, you could look for grids for your sink. Most aren't very deep, maybe 3/4", but maybe you could find a deeper one.

Question: if you do most of your dishes in the sink, isn't it easier to have a second bowl with a drainer for rinsing and draining? (I've never had a single bowl kitchen sink; I got a double bowl just because that's what I'd always had and didn't think about it. I can see advantages to both single and double bowls, so just wondering about the rinsing/draining issue.)

Thanks everyone!
Our current sink is only about 7", so a new undermounted 10" sink would be quite a change. We have talked about raising the counter, but not very seriously as we've bought a stand alone stove, and don't want to mess too much with matching that height up. We certainly wouldn't put it up 4"!!

Something at my parents house always bothered my back doing dishes (and still does, it wasn't just the fact I was a kid being asked to do them!!), that I've never encountered since. I'd love to know what it is... hate to make a bad choice in a quartz counter...

I'm 6'3" and have a 9.5in deep undermount.

Dishes can sit on the counter to get rinsed for the DW. Depth of bowl doesn't matter.

Dishes can be down in the sink soaking, or just waiting, and I have to reach down to get them but I can stand back up straight to sponge/scrub/rinse them.

It's only when there's a large pot that is washed while sitting in the sink that I actually have to stay bent over, which is the only time my back bothers me (if it's already bothering me.) And for big pots, having the deeper sink means less splashing.

Since it's the staying-in a leaned over position that bothers me, I'd (like someone else said) check that the sink was as close to the front edge as was allowable and also that the height of the faucet would allow him to rinse the dishes while standing upright.

Someone else mentioned a double sink; I have the Silgranit 1 3/4. I use the smaller side with a grid in the bottom as a dish drainer. I really really like that setup.

Chigacoans... we usually drain in a rack on the counter, and would likely to continue to do so, to keep that second sink available, should we go that route. The pros and cons of both are killing me!

Cawaps... I've always thought that might be it, but really want to get to the bottom of it now I'm designing a kitchen.

Excellent point mondragon about not having to lean while actually washing. Doh!

Thanks again!

Too deep a sink bothers both me and DH (and we're both under 6 feet tall). We tried washing dishes in all of our friends and family members' lovely farmhouse sinks and we just didn't like it. So, I'd recommend that you both try it out -- go and wash some dishes for a friend! After we made this decision, we started looking at custom sink depths (because you are right, there aren't many options for the in between range) and we went with a Julien sink at a custom depth. I think that it was an extra $300 for the custom depth. DH's parents just got one of those raised inserts and that helped us a little, but we still like our custom depth sink.

I do not have the height issue, but a bit of a back issue and was concerned about going from a rather shallow old sink to a deeper sink which would also set further back. I found a sink made by Franke, which has this inner lip and can hold a rack on one side of the sink. I love it, because it allows me to set my hand wash dishes on it to give it more height. The sink also has other extras which you can buy to work with the sink like a cutting board that fits on the top.
Here is a link to a picture of the sink I have...

Here is a link that might be useful: Franke sink

Sink/Bowl Depth

We are a tall family and have a fairly deep sink...9" on one side, 7" on the other. We also have grids on the bottom of our sink bowls that raise the floor of the sink a bit. I haven't had any issues w/back pain, but I don't usually do the dishes (I cook; my DH & kids, homework permitting, cleanup). My 6'5" DH has never complained about the sink (nor has my 6'6" & still growing DS!) But, we just use the sink for soaking/rinsing, not actually washing dishes (we use the DW for 99% of our dishes.)

Deep sinks are great not just for cleaning pots, but also do a better job at hiding dirty dishes than a raised countertop!

The grids that we have and that came included with my sink, raise the bottom of the sink a bit, but can be removed if/when you want the full depth. To me, though, the biggest advantage of a grid is that the dishes are lifted off the bottom of the sink so the sink can be rinsed w/o anything in the way, drain things w/o dishes blocking the drain hole, and when you drain pasta in a colander...no backwash into the colander! (The last is my #1 favorite about a grid!) Additionally, they protect the bottom of your sink from scratches, if you care. Oh, and they can act as a dish drainer when needed...not just to let air flow around the dishes, but also allow you to stack some things upright using the space b/w the grid lines for propping them up.

One note about sink/bowl depth...if your sink is undermounted, the actual depth of the sink is the sink depth plus the thickness of your countertop & any underlayment. So, my sink is really 9" + 3cm deep = ~10-1/8"

As was noted by others, it's not always the sink depth that causes back pain, but also how far back the sink is set from the counter edge. The further back, the greater the risk of back pain. The faucet distance can also play a part, albeit not as great, usually. The reason the sink placement can cause problems is that the farther back the sink is, the farther you have to lean in for an extended length of time to use the sink. Try for a setback of no more than 3" or 4" from the front edge of the counter (the smaller the better).

You can look at elkay, Some of their sinks are pricey and some aren't, but most of the undermounts have a "deep" version that is 10" deep and a not deep version at 8".

I bought my deep sink, thinking it would be great to wash my small dog in it. Unfortunately, I kills my back, when I spend a lot of time at the sink. Deep sinks are definitely a problem for tall people. I get a bad back problem every time I entertain, because I'm leaning over my deep sink too much. My guests who help me at the sink also complain that it makes their backs sore. I'm looking into some kind of insert to put into the deep sink, to raise up the bottom surface level on a daily basis, and them remove it if I want to occasionally bathe my dog....... Don't buy the deep sink!

I remain skeptical of the deep sink/sore back correlation.

I have a deep sink, and a sore back if I do a lot of dishes by hand. Joseph, it's happened too many times to be coincidence.

linnymc, I've found that setting whichever vessel I'm using for washing on one of the Pampered Chef cooling racks really helps. They are a coated grid with folding legs, so when not in use as a sink booster or cooling rack, they fold flat to slide in beside my baking sheets. There is enough room on one, in addition to the bowl for wash water, to lay silverware or other utensils on the the grid to drain, and they make a good drainboard in the sink, or over the runnels in my counter.

They are inexpensive, and they stack, for cooling more baked goods in the same space. Images of PC cooling racks

"Joseph, it's happened too many times to be coincidence."

Correlation is not causation. There is a direct positive correlation between rising ice cream sales and increased drownings in summertime, but eating ice cream does not cause one to drown.

I'm 5'6". I get a sore back washing dishes by hand because of the angle I have to bend to scrub a pot/plate in the sink. If I stand straight while doing so, not enough of the item is in the sink or submerged in the water. I have a 8" deep double bowl stainless steel sink.

I'm ALSO looking to either raise the height of the counter tops, or replace my sink with something that sits higher than the surrounding countertop.

Washing in a cheap plastic tub defeats the whole purpose of having a sink in the first place. Using the grills just means more water and mess.

I've seen expensive mechanized counters to adjust sink height for wheelchair users; you'd really think there'd be something on the market for the rest of us.

Love my brand new kitchen but my my undermounted sink is too low- : So far, all I could think about was raising the grid that fits perfectly in my sink (elevated grids on Amazon are never the perfect size so I used mine.) I placed 4 glasses 4 3/4 high, 1 glass under each corner- it works for me (could be glass, stainless steel, porcelain) - Using the gargage disposal and also keeping my dishes separate on the grid until I put them in the dishwasher. Simple solution ! Hope it helps !

"Correlation is not causation. There is a direct positive correlation between rising ice cream sales and increased drownings in summertime, but eating ice cream does not cause one to drown."

During PT following back surgery this year, one of the explicit printed pieces of advice I received for extended work at a kitchen sink was to open the cupboard door below and prop one foot on the raised cupboard bottom - to relieve pressure on the back.

I think a little more humility might be in order on matters outside of one's direct expertise.

Other causes of backache at the sink (the depth of the sink is easy-blame for all, but there are other causes):

- The undermount sink is set back several inches from the edge of the counter, causing the user to bend forward at the sink, regardless of the depth of the sink. This is mentioned a couple times above. It explains why not just tall people can feel backache at the sink. Some sinks we have seen on this forum are 6" set back, so it's really hard on the back. But even the standard 3-4" strip in front of the sink can be hard for people with back problems. An apron front sink - one that does not have a thick curved front but instead has a thin straight front (the Elkay Crosstown is an example) - is helpful to alleviate this issue.

- the kitchen faucet does not have a long enough spout reach causing the user to have to stretch more to rinse things. Even an inch or two on the reach makes a difference. This is particularly seen in high-arch faucets that have short reaches so that the water stream is practically at the back of the sink. Many websites that sell faucets allow you to sort for spout reach length - you want about 9" reach or more.

- a tile or stone floor can make the back ache when standing for longer periods at the sink. This is easily solved by an anti-fatigue mat like the Gelpro.

"I think a little more humility might be in order on matters outside of one's direct expertise."

course411:

Your reply is the logical fallacy of relevance, ad hominem circumstantial. You must address my argument, that there is little scientific evidence of a causetive effect of deeper sinks creating backaches, not my circumstances as a sink replacement contractor.

I like that idea of a rack on legs on which to put things to wash for a deep bowl sink, yet still having the deep sink bowl for big pots and pans and vases.

I learn so much here!

I do try to spend as little time as possible at the sink, but some things are just too big for my dishwasher and silver and cast iron and good knives and the vases cannot go into the dishwasher either. Here's a tip for cleaning vases I read somewhere- denture tablets, they work like a charm, gets off the ick from the stems and then you don't have to use any implements to clean the inside, not even rice, and the insides of delicate glass stays as beautiful as new. Also, I use bottled water for the flowers and to wash the vase not tap water, so I don't get any etching on the glass.

I have a 9" deep x 36" wide sink, and I love it. I also have a rack that fits in the bottom that raises it to about 8" - it makes the cleaning surface completely flat, keeps the bottom of a pan out of the soap suds, and makes it easy to reach things, but if for some reason I needed a deeper sink, I could remove it. I think having the faucet up high gives you most of the benefit of a deep sink without the downsides of having to stretch to reach the bottom - I've never come anywhere close to needing to take out the rack to wash even the large water bath canner (shout out to Zuhne as the manufacturer if you're having trouble finding sinks like this).