Back in the day, one side of a double bowl was for scrubbing and the other for rinsing. Now everything goes into the DW, so get whichever you prefer. I personally hated the double bowl, equal size, because it wasn't big enough for my big pots, and I love the farmhouse apron front, hence a Shaw's sink...but that is my preference.

I believe it depends on your "style" of dishwashing! As my kids have gotten older and left home (I'm down to 1 and a half now!) I have fewer dirty dishes and prefer to wash them by hand. When I rinse a dish I like to rinse it under running water. Maybe I would dip it into a double bowl, but I don't have a double bowl. I have a one and 3/4 but am also in the market for a new sink.

What I think you should do is imagine how you would takle your chore the next time you are rinsing or washing at your current sink. How would you do it at a single sink?

A person can always take an extra plastic tub for rinsing and put it along side a single sink. Or rinse under running water right into the single sink. Or you may be like the majority (I believe) who just rinse and put everything into the dishwasher.

I have a single sink up at our lake cabin and ironically I have more dishes up there because of frequent company. I put a plastic basin in the sink for washing and rinse under running water. I am not a fan of paper plates but then again I really don't mind washing by hand.

I had a single bowl put in our kitchen in the las house we lived in. It was nice because I could soak the broiler pan & other large items. what I did not like about it was the fact that if I was soaking something, I couldn't use the sink. I now have a standard, equal side, double bowl...don't like it because I can't soak large pans.
My mom has a double bowl with one side larger than the other. It takes as much space as a standard sink. I love it, you can soak large pans on one side & use the other side to rinse dishes, use the disposal, rinse fruit etc.
I use it a lot when we visit & it really makes the sink more usable....Hope this helps! :-)

I would never get a double bowl again. I've always had one and I thought the whole world had one. Next time I'll either get the one with a small side and a large side or one single bowl. I never handwash so the left side for me is wasted space.

We're frequently thawing meat and stuff in the sink so having a second bowl means that it can stay on it's own side and I can still wash/rinse stuff on the other side.

But I think this one really depends on how you use your sink(s).

The big kitchen sinks are really nice, but remember, if you have a disposal, its more convenient to have a separate bowl for that (so utensils can be thrown in and won't end up down the disposal). So I have a Kohler sink with two bowls, and the divider between the two bowls is very low, so handles of pans won't stick out of the sink as much.

Double bowl all the way for me. Last house I had one of those sinks with the itty bitty secondary sink so I essentially had a single sink. Hated it. Was not at all functional for how I do things in the kitchen.

With this remodel we wound up with the Blanco Double Equal (Hubby insisted both sides be symmetrical). It's a huge beast but designed well enough to (just) fit in our standard sink cabinet. I love it.