I love my sponge tilt out and don't understand your cabinetmaker's reluctance. It's relatively easy to install. No prospective cabmaker ever didn't want to install it.

There's an airspace in the back and everything dries out perfectly well. I keep dishwashing tabs in there, my scrubbie, the disposal cover, old toothbrushes for cleaning, etc.

I even had one in my old pre reno kitchen

95% of the people who ask for them never end up using them. They ARE gross. But then, so are sponges. There are so many more sanitary methods of cleaning your kitchen that don't involve spreading bacteria around.Like paper towels. Or, I switched to the 3 cloth towel method myself this spring. One towel for hand drying dishes which when done with that chore becomes the dry your hands towel and that towel in it's turn becomes the wipe your counter towel which then goes into hamper to be washed. I go through maybe 3 towels a day if I'm busy cooking, but the kitchen is actually cleaner and my laundry load isn't really any worse. I just made sure that I bought enough towels (2 doz.) that I always have a clean one.

Plus, the trays take up space, and with larger sinks being in vogue, you often don't really have room for a sponge tray, a sink, and a faucet in the same cabinet without doing a bumpout.

Ditto what Westsider said. My cabinet maker put in small plastic ones and I had him replace them with stainless steel ones, the widest that would fit in the space.

We use them every day. Absolutely NO problem with damp or grunge.

Sandra

With sinks being so deep these days, I just leave my sponge sitting in the sink on top of the grid in a corner. I do have the tilt out but am just not disciplined enough to put the sponge back every time. I throw the sponge in the DW when I run it. I use paper towels to wipe the counters.

I am with Green Design.

I have never seen one that wasn't gross. I guess YMWV depedning on your habits, as the other posters pointed out.

We have one at the clean up sink and prep sink and only use it to store the black sink stopper thingy. We don't use sponges so have no other use for it. Our cabinet guy assumed we wanted them so included them but had I known, I would have preferred the incremental money.

We didn't have one and put a pair in ourselves - we bought them at Lowe's or HD. We don't use sponges but use them to store a dishscrubber brush, dish scraper, steel wool scrubber, and sink stopper. We usually let the things dry out a bit first before putting them in the tilt out, but there is some air flow. We've had them in use for 2.5 months now and they aren't gross.

We have a couple of plastic ones in place. We don't store our dishrags in them, but use them for the dishscraper, scrubbers and allen wrench for the garbage disposal. Occasionally, DH gets a bit overzealous and overfills the sink and then water gets in the trays. They are easily removable though and can be tossed in the DW or wiped out. Other than that, the only issue I have is that they are shallow and if you try to put a larger scrub pad in, it will either fall out the back into the sink cabinet or the pad gets in the way and you can't close the thing fully. So, it needs to be stuffed in :) They come in handy, but I could live without them too.

I have a tilt-out with a stainless steel holder. It's not grungy or wet. I wash off the scrubbies and scrapers before putting them away, and there is plenty of air circulation to dry them. I suppose if it did get dirty, a quick swipe would clean it, just like everything else in the kitchen.

I installed one myself in the last kitchen. Loved it. Anything left uncleaned gets gross but the tip-out trays are easy to remove to clean or to toss in the dishwasher. I wish I had one in this kitchen but there wasn't enough space in front of the sink to install one.

In my new under-construction kitchen, I've been going back & forth over whether getting an apron front sink is worth giving up on finally having another tip-out.

We have one (full width of the sink in plastic), but we don't store wet things in it. It holds the sink stoppers that we rarely use, which we let dry on the counter before putting away, and it holds microfiber cloths (rolled up) for wiping the counter. It's useful storage; I'm glad we didn't give it up just over worrying about grunge.

I like them so much (but don't have them with an apron sink) that I'm putting two in my bathroom vanities for my tooth and hair brushes. Stuff I'd normally leave out, but hate it when I do!

I think they're gross. Had mine replaced with a fixed panel. I have a white dish for my sponge and scrubber behind the sink. Easy to rinse out.

My DH put two in my last kitchen. He picked the up at Home Depot. Easy to install, and probably much cheaper then Rev a Shelf. Like others here, no problems. Kept sponge, Brillo, toothbrushes, and scrapers and such. Every couple of months I'd simply pop them in the d/w. No big deal. I have apron front sinks now, so I use the plastic bin under the sink. That works too.

good for storage listed above. if they get dirty, clean them.

Loved mine but can't put them in the new build and am sad about that.
I had two and they held a toothbrush, the stopper for the disposal, a couple of those plastic Pampered Chef pot scrapers, a razor blade, a tiny screwdriver, a little holder for rings and a small bottle brush plus a few other tiny things.

I slid them off and ran them through the dw a couple of times a year.

I have them in one kitchen (plastic, so I can wash them) and I'm not using them.

Myu mom had them and loved them.

I guess it's habit.

That's what I do put the plastic things (that slide off of the mounting screws) into the DW. They really are not gross and I kinda like them. I understand that they are not doing them as much now. Mostly because people weren't careful with them and it got the door cover all out of whack. Use good hinges to avoid that happening to you.

Like most above I also love them, and can't understand why they'd be gross. The plastic comes out for cleaning if it gets dirty. To me it's more gross having a wet sponge sitting out on the counter or (worse) in the sink.

We had tip-outs in our old kitchen and spec'd them again in our remodel. This time we asked for two separate ones since it's easier to open a smaller tip-out with one hand. Love them!

I have the tilt out in SS and use it daily, I wipe it out when I clean my sink. If you have an electric cooktop you should also consider a drawer under it, both my tilt out and drawer under cooktop are used daily. Good luck with your kitchen!

I find the tilt out drawer useful for (dry) dishwashing gloves, vegetable scrubber, and steel wool (stored in a container). Like GreenDesigns, I use cloths instead of sponges and wouldn't store anything wet in the tilt out drawer. They don't hold a lot, but are useful for those few things. Definitely worth getting, IMHO.

Thanks to each and everyone of you for all your responses. I was resigned to not having a tilt out but I think I will have another conversation with our cabinet maker about this. Taggie - I like the 2 smaller ones as a option.

Love them! Had them in previous kitchen, and bought a kit at Lowe's for hubbie to install again. Mine have never been gross, are easy to clean, and keep small necessities handy. You won't regret them!

I want one when we build but I also want a farmhouse sink I don't know how to fit a tip out tray

Hi everyone this is a really old post but with a ton of tilt out lovers so wanted to ask if anyone can share a SIDE picture of theirs? I'm curious to see if they all tilt out or if they sit completely flush with the other cabinets. I want to include on in my new kitchen but everyone keeps advising me against it for it doesn't sit flush, they aren't used much anymore, etc. I use ours a LOT (we don't put wet items in there so no issues) and I cannot imagine being without it. Thanks