Do you prep to the left or right of your sink?

13 years ago

And are you right handed or left handed?

I'm left-handed. I'm trying to figure out which design elements make a difference for left or right handers.

I've never had a prep area next to my sink so don't know what I prefer, although it feels like I would want to work to the right of the sink. But I've changed my mind about this a couple of times so maybe it doesn't matter.

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artemis78

13 years ago

I think you'll get used to it whichever side it's on---ours will be backwards from my preferred sides (I'd instinctively like to have prep and dishwasher to the right of wherever I'm standing; I'm right-handed) because our space didn't leave it up to us. I asked about this at the time and heard from lots of people that it turned out not to matter so much, though. So if one side or the other makes more sense for your layout---I'd go with that.

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Comments (14)

rhome410
13 years ago
I prep between stove and sink...most convenient where I can get things to the stove. Nothing to do with right or left handed. In our last house that was to the left of the sink and the right of the stove. Here I prep behind, which is also to the left the prep sink (because it's on the corner of the island) and across from the stove.
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User
13 years ago
I agree with above.... you'll get used to whatever. I've had plenty of kitchens that I didn't design, and I never noticed that things were on the wrong (dominant) side.

I'm left handed. Lefties are used to adapting, right? .... since this world is made for a righty! :) I know this didn't answer your question, but I think you'll be fine either way.
babushka_cat
13 years ago
i am a leftie and prefer to prep to the right of the sink. i am trying to factor this in to my new kitchen design. here is to lefties - lefties unite! :)
John Liu
13 years ago
If you are right handed, you hold the food with your left hand and hold the knife in your right. Slices and dices end up to the right, and butt ends or waste to the left. If your sink is to the left, the waste can be swept off the board into the sink. Therefore I prep to the right of the sink.
Buehl
13 years ago
I do most of my prep b/w the cooktop and prep sink, it has nothing to do with left/right handedness. I'm right handed and...
When prepping & cooking, I prep to the left of the prep sink b/c that's b/w the cooktop & prep sink.
If I prep at the cleanup sink (where the GD is), I prep to the left b/c that's the side that has the GD, trash pullout, and does not have the DW.
If I prep on the peninsula, my preferred spot if I'm not cooking what I'm prepping, I prep to the right of the cleanup sink

Neither side seems "right" or "wrong".
plllog
13 years ago
I agree that you get used to whatever space you have. I'm severely right handed and haven't ever had trouble with either side of the sink. OTOH, If I have equal choice I tend to prep to the left.
rookie_2010
13 years ago
I'm a lefty, in my current kitchen (haven't moved into the new one yet), I've always prepped on the left hand side of the sink or to the left of the range. I'd never thought about this until this thread. It's just where the available space was.
In the new one, other reasons drove the layout in a way that I'll be prepping to the left of the sink again. I hold the knife in my left hand and I guess that means I could scrape veggies into a colander in the sink with the same hand. When washing veggies, I'll grab the colander with my right, switch hands and drip water over the countertop to transfer the food into a pot, bowl or cutting board. Now that I'm thinking about it, if I were prepping to the right of the sink, it might drive me nuts and I'd teeter the cutting board on the edge of the counter to be on the left of the sink. I don't know if it's because I'm a lefty or because I'm used to it and don't like to learn new tricks.
misplacedtxgal
13 years ago
Another lefty here... I prep on the left side of my sink, although I agree with most that you could get used to either one. It is much more important to prep within your work triangle saving steps; which ever side this is on.

The one thing I would have liked to change in my kitchen being a lefty would be the DW location. It's currently on the right and for ease of motion I would prefer it on the left. Alas, it isn't going to change, so I adapted. As someone else mentioned - we lefties are good at adapting!
User
13 years ago
I'm right handed and did and to some extent still prep to the left of the sink, between the sink and cooktop - right over the pull-out trash can.

BUT......I added a peninsula and that's where I do most of my prep now. I love it.
sue36
13 years ago
I am a rightie and prep to the left of the sink. I don't scrape into the sink because I don't have a garbage disposal. When working at the range I work to the right of the range.
Buehl
13 years ago
Correction (minor, I know, but just so it's correct):
If I prep on the peninsula, my preferred spot if I'm not cooking what I'm prepping, I prep to the right of the prep sink
User
13 years ago
Your natural prep space is the spot between the sink and the stove. It doesn't matter what your handedness is. That's the most used spot in any kitchen.

Ideally though, if you were designing a blank slate kitchen, righties would have the range to the right and the prep sink to the left and lefties would reverse that setup. For cleanup, lefties most natural motion is to have the DW to the right of the cleanup sink so that they scrape with their dominant hand and load with the right. Reversed again for righties.
User
13 years ago
I'm right handed and prep to the right of the stove and the left of the sink - even when the bigger/better space is elsewhere. If my layout had sink and stove on the same run I would have the sink on the right and stove on the left. In my small current kitchen, I started the design with 42" counter (minimum requirement)to the left of the prep sink and "some" counter (came to 32") to the right of the stove. The stove is opposite the sink with a narrow aisle.

I found my minimum counter length requirement using my old kitchen. (The new kitchen is a different room). I put a 6' extension ruler across the back of the 8' island. I rarely used more that the same 42" section for prep - in addition to some other small counter sections.

Do you prep to the left or right of your sink?

artemis78

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