There have been several posts here recently asking about 'optional' items like prep sinks and warming drawers, and IMO, whether these items are totally useless or nearly indespensible depends on these three factors:

- location,

- location, and

- location.

Prep Sinks

The typical work flow for food items is from fridge to sink for washing, to cutting board and prep area, to cooktop. The most natural and efficient place to do prep work is right between the sink and the cooktop; anything else is a detour.

So if there is a sink located between fridge and cooktop with adequate counter space to prep and no aisles to cross -- then there is no need for a prep sink. (For many cooks, the cutting-board to cooktop motion is frequent and often time-sensitive, so crossing foot traffic can lead to accidents and spills.)

In some kitchens, even though the main sink is well positioned, a second cook's triangle can be easily created by adding a prep sink -- for example, many island kitchens. Without water, the island is much less useable for most types of prep work, with the exception of baking. Adding a prep sink can make the island into a great prep space if the island is located in that magic fridge-sink-cooktop location and any aisles between the island and cooktop are out of the main traffic path.

A prep sink located anywhere else is just a drinking fountain.

Warming Drawers

Warming drawers or warming ovens are great for pre-warming plates and serving dishes, for holding food while other dishes finish cooking, for keeping refills hot during parties, and for saving meals for errant family members. But most modern ovens can do this task reasonably well, so is there any need for a separate warming drawer?

IMO, if you've got a cooktop and separate wall ovens, and if a warming drawer can be located within one step of the cooktop, I think it can be a great addition. Plates and serving dishes are warm and right there for plating food. Items can go straight from the cooktop to the warming oven for holding. Meals with multi-step finishing processes are a cinch.

But if you've got a range with double ovens, and both ovens aren't always in use, then you've already got a warming oven!

If the warming drawer is further than a step away from the cooktop, then IMO, it's a nuisance to get to and unlikely to see much use. When you're juggling the timing of multiple dishes, the last thing you want to do is walk away from your cooktop to 'park' something in an out-of-the-way place. If it's three steps out of the way, going an extra two or three steps to your wall ovens isn't really much of a work-flow difference.

So there's my mini-rant on kitchen real estate as it pertains to prep sinks and warming drawers... Hope it helps somebody --