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sink size vs cabinet size vs room size

13 years ago

After lots of reading I'm still confused about what size sink to get for a 33" cabinet. Would I be able to use a 23" undermount sink? Which measurement is more important for the sink...the width (front-to-back) or the length (side-to-side)? I know I could put a 31" sink in the cabinet but my kitchen is fairly small and I think a sink that size would be out-of-sync (lol) with the overall kitchen space. Are there any design "rules" ( guidelines) for sink size in relation to room size?

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Comments (3)

Britt
13 years ago
I'm no expert but I can tell you that I find a sink that's significantly smaller than the sink cabinet to be unattractive. Plus, if you have a smaller sink and can do a smaller base cabinet, that seems to make more sense to me in terms of storage. Let's say a 23" sink can go in a 27" cabinet - I'd do that and have an extra 6" to use for other base cabinets. That's more valuable real estate to me.

There are quite a few pictures of sinks on the FKB and on Houzz where the base cabinet looks big. I think it's probably a personal preference. I like the sink to look like it's just right for the cabinet. But if you find it just as attractive to have a smaller sink in a large cabinet then I think that's fine too.
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lascatx
13 years ago
I think that big a difference could look a bit odd and make the cabinet look too big for the sink and the room -- in other words, it might accentuate the scale issues. I agree that you will almost always get better use of more room in a a base cabinet or drawers than more room in a sink base, so that would be important to me also.

Are you trying to use existing cabinets? Perhaps a carpenter could divide the sink base to give you a tray or cookie sheet cabinet to the side of the sink base and rework fthe doors to fit a narrower sink base size.

Another thing to consider is whether you cook using any large pots and pans. A 23" sink would feel pretty tight for me.
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limom_2bts
Original Author
13 years ago
Lascatx: I cook 'gravy' and pasta on Sundays so yes, I use big pots! LOL Funny thing, tho, is that I've had a double sink for 25 years, each sink being 14" so 23" to me would be an improvement!
brittu: I fully understand your issue about real estate. However my sink needs to be centered with the window and I think it would bother me more to not have the sink also centered in the cabinet. My setup is so tight that I really can't move things around much so going into a 27" base would only give me 3" on each side. Not sure if I can work out the other cabinets to abdosrb that 3"...might be doable tho. Something to work on. Thanks!
I guess if I can't work that out then I'll just have to get another double sink, maybe 70/30. I don't think that would look as out-of-place as a single 31" sink.
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