We have the Shaws 3018 for our main sink and the round Elkay hammered prep undermount sink. I love them both and so glad we did different finishes. We use the prep sink for filling and dumping the largest stock pot we have and it works like a charm!

Also that hammered finish doesn't show water spots between wipe downs!

{{!gwi}}

Stock pots come in a lot of different sizes. It would be best for you to measure the diameter and make sure the inside dimensions of the sink you choose are large enough. The inside dimensions of our prep sink are 13" wide by 18" deep (front to back) by 10" high. It was our only sink for a couple of months before the main sink was hooked up. I found the size perfect for us (it fit our stock pot)--large enough for any task I needed it for but small enough to fit in our cabinet and not take up too much counter space. The 18" depth was difficult to fit into a standard 24" base cabinet along with a faucet behind it but it was doable.

{{gwi:1579548}}

It seems to me, the best solution is to make sure that you choose a sink big enough to accommodate your favorite pasta pot. As for the look of two taps on one sink -- seems like it would be fine to me, as long as you don't go with a sink too small to be practical, anyway.

That being said, why would you want to use the "instahot" tap to fill a pasta pot? It seems to me that it would take far longer to fill the pot from one of those little mini-faucets, than the time it would take to simply fill the pot quickly with hot water from the main faucet, and get it boiling on the stove. I'd far rather a couple of extra minutes on the stove, than standing there holding the little lever to run water from an instant hot water tap.

There are several manufacturers of small sinks that are close to 12" deep but there are more that are 10". You'll get another 3/4" from the undermount so if your pasta pot is less than 11" tall, it should fit in a 10" deep sink under your instahot faucet.

Here is a link that might be useful: deep prep sink

Most instahot faucets are petite aren't they? So you'll need a really really deep sink to get a decent-sized stockpot under the wee little spout. I think I agree with Wa8b about just filling from a regular faucet. You could even get a small prep sink and a faucet with a pullout/pulldown for filling an oversized pot on the counter next to the sink.

I do think 2 faucets will look fine on a prep sink...even 2 faucets and a soap dispenser provided it's not a tiny itty bitty bar sink!

I have two faucets at the sink at the wet bar. You can take a look at some pictures here (http://www.kitchenandbathbuilders.com/gallery.htm) under "Galleria" project. One faucet is for chilled and room temp water, and the other is for insta-hot water.

The faucets I have can be turned on and will run without holding a lever down. (Mind you, I don't have children so the lack of this safety feature is not an issue.)

I have an 18in diameter sink that is about 7in deep or so. I can get a good sized pot in the sink and under the spout. The spout does swivel out of the way so you can lift the pot out of the sink easily.

One thing to think about: The insta-hot tank only holds about 2.5 quarts of water. So if your favorite pasta pot is really big, you'll still end up with a pot of cold water.

Best of luck.

Thank you so much for giving me some things to think about. I didn't even ponder the possibility that the instahot wouldn't have enough capacity to fill my pot appropriately. I want to use it so that I can get to a boil quickly. It seems like it always takes forever for some reason. I also like the idea of using the filtered water rather than the tap water, but I definitely need to think about what is realistic.

Also, thanks for pointing out that depth will matter depending on the height of the instahot faucet. Again, why I didn't think of that... :)

Mindimoo, my DH and I were actually pondering the exact sink you have for your prep sink (your kitchen and Zelmar's kitchen are both GORGEOUS BTW!) so thanks for giving us a good review. I love the idea that it doesn't need to be wiped down a ton! With 4 little kiddos, I appreciate the items that like "patina" and don't require a lot of work :) !

When considering your prep sink, pay attention to size & depth. One that's too small or too shallow may look pretty, but it may not be very useful.

My KD steered me away from one less than 12" in each direction, telling me that anything smaller would not have enough room for your hands to work in the sink along with whatever you're doing (peeling potatos, etc.) We ended up with one that's 15-3/4" square x 7-1/2" deep....and she was absolutely right! Anything much smaller would definitely not have been very useful!

I just posted this the other day, but will do so again here. I have used our prep sink to fill a large stock pot although we don't have an insta-hot... The dimensions are about 16" wide by about 10" deep. We put a garbage grinder in (which is what the button is off to the side).

{{!gwi}}

This size sink works perfectly for everything we do with it and I wouldn't change a thing. Also - make sure your faucet has a sprayer!

I put a link to the actual sink below. ...or click on the photo if you want to see the details of the photo or go to the gallery that shows photos of the rest of our kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Copper prep sink

Do you really need the hot water dispenser? We bought the large capacity insta-hot dispenser for our previous home thinking we would save time filling the pasta pots--boy were we wrong! Not only did it take forever, but my hand would get tired from holding the spring-loaded faucet open for such a long time.

We stumbled upon a solution later, though. We simply boiled water in our 1.5 liter electric teakettle. It was much faster than our electric burner. When we needed a larger amount of water, I would also put some water in the pot and get that started the same time as the kettle. While it's a bit more effort, it is a solution for when you're rushed.

If you can live without the dispenser and you need to fill a large pot in your prep sink, why don't you buy a faucet with a pull-out or pull-down feature and just set your pot on the counter? Then it won't matter as much what size sink you get.

Not to belabor a point posited in my earlier posting -- but I'm completely baffled by the need to have nearly instantly boiling water for cooking pasta.

When starting preparation for a meal, haven't you already figured out that you're going to be serving boiled pasta? If that's the case, why wouldn't you just put on a pot of water to boil first thing? By the time that you've set the table, pulled items from the fridge that you'll need to prepare the meal, opened the wine, washed the salad greens, chopped, washed or measured the various ingredients for your pasta sauce or side dish (not to mention, preparation), put the bread in the oven to warm, and gotten organized --- the water should be boiling!

Now all you have to do is assemble the salad and finish your sauce while the pasta is boiling to al dente perfection. How can it get any simpler? If the water boiled any sooner -- I wouldn't be ready -- so what's the all-fired rush?

wa8b,

Because not all of us go through all the prep work you have listed. Think about a quick meal for one:

1. Fill a smallish pot with 190deg water. Set on cooktop to bring to boiling.
2. Chop up a couple of mushrooms, a clove of garlic and a shallot. Saute in small fry pan.
3. Water is now boiling. Add pasta. Set timer for 4min.
4. Add some bottled (gasp!) pasta sauce to fry pan. Reduce heat to simmer.
5. Pour a glass of wine or open a bottle of beer.
6. Sip beverage while everything finished cooking over the next 2min or so. Get grated parmesan out of freezer.
7. Drain pasta, put it in a bowl, add sauce, toss, add parmesan.
8. Sit, eat and drink.

That near boiling water can save some time at the end of a long day.

I appreciate everyone's continued help in this. I think the discussion is very helpful.

Obviously, the insta-hot is not life or death and if I can't realistically make it work for pasta, I can't. (I'm sure it will still be fabulous for the tons of oatmeal that my kiddos go through, etc.) Mooring Girl did nail my situation, though. I work outside the home part-time and am now pregnant with my 4th child. I try to plan my meals, but there are many times when I pull a jar of sauce out of the pantry or some of my homemade sauce out of the freezer and need to make it into a meal almost instantly. Those extra minutes are precious to me (and to those very hungry little kids). I'm the person you probably wonder about who buys the pre-chopped onions and mushrooms, bagged lettuce, etc. My kids are setting the table as I'm putting everything together(pretty good for a 5 and 3 year old!). For me, all these little shortcuts help me get a relatively nutritious meal on the table faster, and time is precious in our household. I'm always looking for something to shorten the time out of prep work.

I may end up getting an electric kettle and saving the dilemna altogether-- thanks for the rec :)!