My prep sink:

Garbage Disposal...I would put one in both. However, if you only have one, I recommend putting it in the Prep Sink.

Note: A Prep Sink is a secondary sink and usually isn't used for cleanup. It's usually used for prepping food and the Main/Cleanup Sink is used for cleaning up... The Main/Cleanup sink is usually larger than the Prep Sink, but it doesn't have to be.

Of course, you can use them however you want to, but I thought I'd clarify how they're generally used.

buehl, I understand what you mean about the prep sink being different than the clean-up sink. I think how we'll end up using the prep sink is as a prep/scraping sink and the main sink for dishwashing/counter-wiping since the dishwasher and prep sink are MUCH closer to the kitchen-table and are out of the cook-zone. I'm having delightful daydreams of my girls scraping dinner plates on one side of the kitchen and me, in my funky new apron, washing up the cooking area. I really need to get my layout drawings scanned!!! Then I can properly pick your collectiove brains. ;)

Here is my prep sink, I love it. I have never in my life even seen a garbage disposal, so I can't comment (I guess they aren't popular in my neck of the woods).

Here's mine. It's copper, and it does have a garbage disposer. I am very glad we decided to put a disposer on the prep sink, as well as the main sink. It has served us well to have it in both sinks.

I had to look up the word garberator--I guess you're Canadian? I also recommend putting one in each sink. If I hadn't I would probably avoid the sink without. Here's mine. Pretty basic.

Here is ours

RE: Show me your prepsinks!

• Posted by: zelmar (My Page) on Thu, Apr 29, 10 at 9:54

mikomum,

We set up our prep sink just as you describe--it's close to our table and is the sink we put our dw at. Very little sink space is needed to scrape/rinse dishes for the dw and it seems a shame to tie up the larger sink for this task. The larger sink is used for prep more often since it's in the prep/cooking area. It's convenient to throw things into a tub of sudsy water on one side of it as I prep and is convenient for the larger pots and pans I like to handwash.

To me, using both sinks for both prep and clean up makes a lot of sense and it has functioned very well for the last 5 years. I like having separate counters where dirty handwashables and dirty dw'ables are placed instead of having everything crammed into one small counter space.

We have a 3rd "clean up" zone where the food storage dishes are kept so that a theoretical 3rd person can be putting leftovers away while the other 2 are handwashing and loading the dw.

Here' our prep sink"

{{gwi:1579548}}

The other thing I like about the prep sink is that it's next to the baking area. I hadn't thought about it until I started actually using the space, but having the baking zone next to a water source and dw is wonderful. I rinse my gooey hands a lot while baking and the nearby water comes in handy for washing off the messy counter. I tend to use a lot of bowls and it's great that the dw is right there.

Here's our main sink on the opposite side of the kitchen:

{{gwi:1570742}}

RE: Show me your prepsinks!

• Posted by: mikomum (My Page) on Thu, Apr 29, 10 at 10:56

This is so helpful! It's nice to show DH too since he isn't 100% sold on a 2nd sink yet (maybe I should have HIM make cookies with the kids this weekend). Zelmar I LOVE your kitchen! I think it's the closest one to my vision that I've found on the boards! Any more pics/specs?

Kitchenredo08, may I ask what your granite is?

RE: Show me your prepsinks!

• Posted by: cotehele (My Page) on Thu, Apr 29, 10 at 11:16

This is my kitchen set-up. (Sorry for the mess. DH has no sense of aesthetics!) The prep sink (24'') is in the island and the clean-up sink (30'') and DW are on the far wall. The refrigerator is at the end of the island (out of the picture)and the cooktop is opposite the prep-sink (also out of the picture). Depending upon how the food is prepared (cooked or raw) and how many cooks/helpers are in the kitchen, efficient prep can be done on all three sides of the island as well as at the clean-up sink and the far end of the island. The layout works well for as many as 7 people working at a time. Lots of chopping for a full Korean meal!

The one GD is in the clean-up sink. I use a colander in the prep sink and compost nearly all food waste. The prep sink is handy near the cooktop for hot pots and water source. The pull down prep faucet swivels 360 degrees making water accessible from all sides of the sink.

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mikomum,

We set up our prep sink just as you describe--it's close to our table and is the sink we put our dw at. Very little sink space is needed to scrape/rinse dishes for the dw and it seems a shame to tie up the larger sink for this task. The larger sink is used for prep more often since it's in the prep/cooking area. It's convenient to throw things into a tub of sudsy water on one side of it as I prep and is convenient for the larger pots and pans I like to handwash.

To me, using both sinks for both prep and clean up makes a lot of sense and it has functioned very well for the last 5 years. I like having separate counters where dirty handwashables and dirty dw'ables are placed instead of having everything crammed into one small counter space.

We have a 3rd "clean up" zone where the food storage dishes are kept so that a theoretical 3rd person can be putting leftovers away while the other 2 are handwashing and loading the dw.

Here' our prep sink"

{{gwi:1579548}}

The other thing I like about the prep sink is that it's next to the baking area. I hadn't thought about it until I started actually using the space, but having the baking zone next to a water source and dw is wonderful. I rinse my gooey hands a lot while baking and the nearby water comes in handy for washing off the messy counter. I tend to use a lot of bowls and it's great that the dw is right there.

Here's our main sink on the opposite side of the kitchen:

{{gwi:1570742}}

This is so helpful! It's nice to show DH too since he isn't 100% sold on a 2nd sink yet (maybe I should have HIM make cookies with the kids this weekend). Zelmar I LOVE your kitchen! I think it's the closest one to my vision that I've found on the boards! Any more pics/specs?

Kitchenredo08, may I ask what your granite is?

This is my kitchen set-up. (Sorry for the mess. DH has no sense of aesthetics!) The prep sink (24'') is in the island and the clean-up sink (30'') and DW are on the far wall. The refrigerator is at the end of the island (out of the picture)and the cooktop is opposite the prep-sink (also out of the picture). Depending upon how the food is prepared (cooked or raw) and how many cooks/helpers are in the kitchen, efficient prep can be done on all three sides of the island as well as at the clean-up sink and the far end of the island. The layout works well for as many as 7 people working at a time. Lots of chopping for a full Korean meal!

The one GD is in the clean-up sink. I use a colander in the prep sink and compost nearly all food waste. The prep sink is handy near the cooktop for hot pots and water source. The pull down prep faucet swivels 360 degrees making water accessible from all sides of the sink.