In your case, I think a double-bowl (at least) sink is a must...that means a sink at least 36" wide (wider, if possible) to give both sides room for their "task". Use one for dirty dishes & one for prepping. (If you have a garbage disposal, put it on the prep side.) You might look into the Kohler Stages sink.

Do not put the DW on the same side of the sink as the Prep Zone.

Try to keep the Prep & Cooking Zones together on one side of the sink and the DW & dish storage on the other side.

Separation of the Cleanup Zone from the Prep & Cooking Zones is really a matter of placing the items & storage for each zone appropriately and not in each others zone.

Also, try to minimize zone-crossing. For example, try to place the refrigerator so it's accessible from the Prep & Cooking Zones w/o crossing the Cleanup Zone.

Oh...in my old kitchen w/one sink...we corralled the dirty dishes on one side of the sink to keep the other side clear for prepping. But I only had 24" for prepping...that was a big issue for me!

However, I did fight the battle of dirty dishes in the sink, even with 2 bowls...I also hate prepping w/dirty dishes in the way. Oh, and I wash my hands a lot as well...it's not weird! :-)

I will put more thought into my plan keeping in mind your suggestions Buehl. Maybe I CAN make a single sink work if I layout everything else around that with the zones appropriately placed. I did look at the Kohler stages sink, but I thought it was a single bowl.

Designing this kitchen layout is so hard. I can see why people spend years doing this before they even pick up a hammer. I've been killing myself over this for about 10 months now, and I still feel like I'm never going to get there. Getting this right to fit all the "rules" is frustrating.

More late-night thinking to be done tonight when the kids are in bed....

I try to get the dishes on one side of the sink now too, but I feel like I'm swimming upstream. Yeah, prep space is another issue for me in the current kitchen.

I'm glad to know my hand cleanliness is not uncommon!

In my current (not remodeled) kitchen I have a very similar problem. I end up using the space next to my range for prep and constantly turn around across the relatively wide aisle to wash my hands or rinse vegetables. I only have counter space (well, usable counter space) on one side of my sink). If you have a double bowl sink and space on either side, maybe you can designate one side (counter and sink) for dishes/cleanup and one side (counter and sink) for prep. Have the dishwasher on the cleanup side and knives, chopping boards, measuring spoons/cups, etc in drawers on the other side.

Thanks ppc. Separate zones on either side of the sink seems to be the answer. I'm beginning to open myself up to the idea that I can find a way to make do with one sink.

My triple bowl serves us well, left side holds dirty dishes, cutting board fits over that, clean dishes on the right and the middle is free for the hand washing.

Kayl--which sink do you have? What's the overall length?

I have always had a single bowl sink. My husband really wanted a prep area and we ruled out the prep sink (I wanted a more open island) so we purchased a double bowl. Our is a pretty nice design for an under mount, the large side is large enough to fit my large fry pan and the small side is not tiny. We try to keep the smaller bowl on the right empty at all times for hand washing and prep, the larger for dish washing. The dishwasher is on the left and we are starting to stage dirty dishes on the left, so the right remains clear for prep. However the only trick is things we hand wash often end up on the right - so it can be tricky. Of course in the new kitchen I am even willing to hand dry things to keep beloved counters clean :)

Overall I would say it is an improvement, especially if two people are working at once. We have uppers on both sides of the sink so there is some cross over when unloading the dishes BUT I rarely find myself unloading dishes, washing dishes and doing prep at the same time ;)

Here is my sink. The shape is a little funky, but it is very functional.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kraus two bowl undermount sink.

Sparkle--it must be amazing how a new kitchen makes us change our ways! Thanks for another double sink vote. I like your sink, but I REALLY want granite. Your kitchen is goregous BTW!

We went with a 45 in stages sink from Kohler and have loved it (probably my favorite thing in the whole kitchen). It can hold loads of dirty dishes and I can set the (huge) cutting board right over and prep away. We went with 2 faucets so kids can use one while I am prepping with the other. I was hesitant to give up real estate for a separate prep sink (I have always had older non remodeled kitchens and honestly did not know if and how I would use one, although many folks on here use them and love them). The larger single sink has been a great solution for us.

I do love that Stages sink, but I don't think I could do a single bowl with only one sink. Clean food in a colander next to dirty dishes in the sink creeps me out. But, as I've noted many times, I have some odd germ/cleanliness issues! Did you use the same faucets on both ends?

It never seems to work for me-trying to keep a prep zone and a dish zone from colliding. The dishes multiply when you turn your back it seems. And I really dislike prepping/cooking when there are dirty dishes around. I decided the only solution that I have a prayer of making work, is to have a separate prep sink on my island and my big farm sink on the perimeter counter. We are in the remodel process right now, but my idea is that no dirty dishes will be allowed in the prep sink. That should leave my island free for prep. We will see how that works, but it seems like it should.

Assuming all one countertop with prep and cleanup, If you can have a change in countertop surface, that would make a demarcation between the two--a butcherblock area for the prep perhaps? or a marble inset in a laminate countertop? or a height change? or a color change? or a pull-out breadboard for prep?

Simplest solution: use a removable plastic dishpan or two. Fill with dirty dishes, then set elsewhere. On a chair? In the next room? On the floor? You can move them back into position once you're ready to add water and work with them, and without handling the dirty dishes twice before washing. Meanwhile, they're away from that sink that you just scrubbed out so it could receive the veg, or whatever.

--Florantha, who lived in an 8 x 10 corridor kitchen for 40 years.

P.S.
I understand the need to get this pile out of the sink and drainer before you begin another task. _Visually_ it's important to me--less line-of-sight distraction while I'm thinking about that next task. I'm not making fun of you; the yuck and cleanliness issues are important to me also. In my old kitchen I did a lot of dishwashing BEFORE food prep and the meal. And with a two-basin sink, I was able to keep sudsy water on one side of sink while the veg was soaking in the other side so that used items went into the dishwater immediately. I also liked putting the cleaned fresh veg into bowls or such so that the countertop was not a cleanliness issue, preventing a second rinsing.

If someone needed to dump the dregs of a coffee cup or whatever, they could just wait OR just dump it into the compost bin OR walk elsewhere to dump. I was at the throne.