Confused by sink + faucet ergonomics

14 years ago

Standing at the sink, I'm always slightly bent forward. Is it the height of the counter, the distance between the edge of the counter and the stream of water, or the reach of the faucet that makes this so? In trying to change all three at the same time, I can't decide if I need to shop for new sinks, new faucets, or what!

Current counters are 36". Distance to stream of water is 13.5 inches. Reach of faucet is 8.5 inches. I'm 5'9", DH is 6'1".

Would like to put in a Ticor stainless farmhouse sink 20.25" front to back. The three faucets I'm looking at, pre-rinse styles, have a reach of 10 to 10 5/8". It seems like this combination would wind up placing the stream of water 12 inches back or so once again.

Any advice?

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Comments (3)

reedrune
14 years ago
Hey there, I always had back problems at my old sink, and don't have them with my new setup. I know my old sink was 36" high, but don't know the other dimensions. My new set up is 36" high, we have a full size vinnata - so the reach is 9.5 inches and the depth of the new sink (ikea farm sink) is 8" (I think). In any case, I'm pretty sure it was the depth of the old sink that made my back hurt, my new sink is shallower by a few inches.
Buehl
14 years ago
It's probably one of two things or maybe even both combined:
The depth of the sink...How deep is your sink? If your sink is undermounted, how thick is your countertop? Believe it or not, deeper sinks are more of a problem for tall people than short people. The deeper the sink, the farther anyone, especially a tall person has to lean down to reach the bottom of the sink.
Distance of sink from front edge of counter...How far back is your sink from the front edge of your countertop? The further back it is, the more you have to lean forward to get to the sink.
This is also a bit of an issue with the faucet, but not usually a major one. The farther back the faucet head is from the front edge of the countertop, the further forward you have to lean to grasp it. However, once you have a pullout/pull down/pre-rinse faucet head in your hand, you no longer have to lean so far forward. Faucet reach can also help or hurt...the longer the reach, the closer the faucet head is to the front of the sink (and it's closer still when it's pointing straight toward you as opposed to off to the side.)
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sweetgumacres
Original Author
14 years ago
Hmmm...

reedrune: Back problems are exactly what I'm hoping to reduce! Glad to hear a change of sink made a difference for you. What is the distance between the front edge of your counter and the stream of water?

buehl: I think it's the leaning forward that is getting me. Our current sink is only 8" deep. Still, I have the sense when standing at the sink that the water is too far away (13.5 inches from edge of counter where I'm standing to the stream of water). But, when combining hypothetical faucets and sinks, I'm not managing to reduce that distance much.

We don't wash dishes by hand much, but mostly prep vegetables, wash kid hands, etc. I want to get a deep sink because I love how it reduces splashing, but I plan to raise the countertops to account for that. I'm more concerned that I need a narrow sink (front to back) to bring the faucet closer, more like 10-12" from the front of the counter (or an enormous faucet with a 13" reach, is that even possible?). Just not sure what is typical...

Thanks for the help!

Confused by sink + faucet ergonomics

Comments (3)

reedrune

Buehl

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Confused by sink + faucet ergonomics

Comments (3)

reedrune

Buehl

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