I think I might have mentioned my sink on your first thread--it's a 33" stainless single bowl, apron sink. I converted a standard sink cabinet to an apron style. Love it!! Even my oven racks fit! I usually put the wash water in the largest dirty bowl or pan, and rinse in the sink. If I'm doing a lot of dishes or silverware, I put the vessel on a cooling rack, to bring it a little closer--I find that's easier on my back.

I am probably the exception but hate my single sink! I can never get the dishes washed and rinsed in time without it getting to the overflow point, so I have to drain and then fill with soap and race to rinse. In my new kitchen, I am adding 2 garbage disposals so that both sides of my 60/40 split can handle food waste just in case!

You'll find a lot of support here for big single bowl sinks, and that convinced me to go that route. I'm VERY happy with our Kohler Whitehaven. It's so nice to be able to set a cookie sheet flat in the sink, wash (or soak) big pots and skillets, etc., and I know that people have kept small tubs nearby in case they ever need a second basin of some sort. I'd also recommend getting a sink with an offset drain (i.e. in one of the rear corners), since that'll put the drain and disposal on one side leaving the other side entirely open for trash or storage. I've found that the sink is big enough that I can have stuff drying on one side while I use the water on the other, and there are racks that make that even easier.

I will never have anything again other than a single bowl sink!!! LOVE it! It's perfect for everything, including a quick hosing off of the dog if she comes in muddy.

I prefer my Corian integrated sink. It matches my white Corian countertops perfectly and is SO easy to keep clean. I love it being integrated - no nasty places for smelly stuff to accumulate.

Thanks everyone! This is reinforcing my thought that I want a single sink. Next question though, what are the best materials? I have seen stainless, granite and acrylic. What do people recommend and why? I have always had stainless and it is fine, but I might like the look of a white sink. We are doing either granite or quartz counters. Cherry cabinets, medium warm wood floor.

If you decide to go with stainless, please take a look at the Ruvati kitchen sinks on amazon.com. The cost is lower than some popular brands, but the quality is amazing. We bought one for ourselves and one for our lower flat.

AvatarWalt and others who use a single bowl sink and dry dishes in the sink -- how does this work. I have always had two bowls and like that I can have my drying rack in the sink as I wash and leave stuff to dry on a daily bases. If you put a drying rack in single bowl sink, doesn't everything get wet when you wash?

I prefer a double bowl sink only when the bowls are huge, or one is huge and the other is merely large. I can't ever seem to find the space for that so I put in big dingles.

I've never tried drying things in one bowl of the sink though. That could be cool.

I replace a lot of sinks. Overwhelmingly, I remove a double and install a single, maybe a low divide now and then:

If this lady hadn't had two cutting boards, she'd had to have a new island or at least a new border on the old one. I gotta have color match.

Here's a 16-year-old Silegranite, untouched:

And a 19-year-old Corian, untouched also:

Hey Jan, you see any stains? Yeah, me neither.

I love my single bowl sink. I will never go back to a double bowl of any kind. I have a Silgranit sink, which is fantastic. But I'd happily have a SS sink.

I also love my Whitehaven. I have a drying rack on the counter, but must admit I also have one in the sink to the left because I rinse lots of recyclables.

When I want it to look pretty:

My pics -work in progress: · More Info

Thanks for posting those pics, jhmarie. We've ordered the Whitehaven, and though I'm SO looking forward to it, I've been having minor panic attacks because we're also putting in butcher block countertops, and I've always done a towel beside the sink for drying. I've been worried about how to have a drying rack IN the sink without a double-bowl. Your solution is perfect!

So, what is the difference in the different materials for the sink? Stainless steel vs corian vs whatever is out there? Is there a "best" mid price (or low price!) material to get the sink in?

backyardfeast - that one is made by Simplehuman. I picked it because it has one side that is solid to help keep the dishes from getting splashed.

https://smile.amazon.com/simplehuman-Compact-Dish-Rack-Plastic/dp/B001PMHQGS/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1490672491&sr=8-6&keywords=simple%2Bhuman%2Bdish%2Bdrying%2Brack&th=1

Some people get the grid for the bottom of the sink and set things on the grid to the far right to dry. I use the dish rack to give them a better chance at staying dry.

For drying in our Whitehaven I do one of three things: just set items on the left side of the bottom grid (daily coffee pot cleaning, for example) and then somewhat carefully use the faucet on the right (there can be a little splashing, but no big deal); set this roll-up drying rack over the sink (less likely to get splashed); or set a drying mat on the counter next to the sink.

We don't wash all that much by hand, but I found that we always had knives out drying, so I decided to get several of the flat blade and serrated paring knives, bread knife, and chef's knife that Cook's Illustrated recommends. They're pretty inexpensive (except for the $45 chef's knife) and have plastic handles, so now we can just toss them in the dishwasher and still have one or two in the drawer, so there's even less hand washing.

As for materials, kitchen style plays a significant role too. We wanted something more vintage looking, and the apron front cast iron Whitehaven provided that. Very easy to clean. With stainless, you need to consider the thickness of the steel and also want to keep in mind the corner radius (i.e. how square or rounded it is)--very sharp corners can be hard to get into to clean.

another vote for single bowl whitehaven. I adore mine. Check out the sea salt color, divine.

Yes to single bowl. We have the Kohler Prolific which is a 33" stainless steel sink with 3 ledges and integrated accessories. I first heard of this sink on these forums and once I saw it I could not get it out of my head. It was 3 times the price of what I thought I would pay for a sink, but I have never regretted this splurge.

It is wide enough that we can drain the dishes on one side of the sink and do work on the other side without getting the draining dishes wet. The ledges make things very flexible. You can set pans or glasses up high when filling with water. You can hide things under top ledges when they are being used, and more. The bowl is nice for soaking things when needed (however it is too small for pans.) I use the cutting board all the time.

The only flaw in the design is the that the cutting board sits a little bit low for comfort when it sits on the top ledge. I solved this problem by buying an extra drain rack and I usually just set the board on top of that when I'm cutting things and then it is close to being level with the countertop.

The sink is my most used "appliance" in the new kitchen and it was well worth spending the time to find the right one.

Single, deep Stainless Franke. Love it.

When we went to the granite place to pick out our counter slab, they told us they included a SS sink in the price for free. I thought wow, that is cool. Fortunately I discovered before it was too late that this was not as cool as I thought it would be. The promo sink that the granite places give away usually do not have any sound dampening materials on the underside, so when you put things in the sink it can sound like you are banging on a metal mixing bowl. Water hitting it with alot of force can kind of reverberate as well. SS will also scratch, and drive you nuts until the whole surface becomes dull with scratches.

The wife and I were picking out faucets, and the lady helping us asked about our sink choice. We said we were using the free SS sink, and we wanted an oil rubbed bronze faucet. She talked us out of using the SS sink because of clashing with the ORB, and instead got a cafe brown single bowl D shaped silgranit sink. We've had it five months, and love it so far. It has a matte type finish that does not scratch, is deep, and will fit our largest pots, pans, and cookie sheets with ease.

"So, what is the difference in the different materials for the sink? Stainless steel vs corian vs whatever is out there? Is there a "best" mid price (or low price!) material to get the sink in?"

strob06:

There are always tradeoffs; you have to pic yours. Stainless scratches, but is easily refinished. Corian can "bruise" but some can be abraded away, fireclay is tough and pretty, but one chip and you're done, Silegranite is very tough, but is virtually unrepairable.

The Whitehaven is cast iron. I had a cast iron sink for 18 years before switching it out for the Whitehaven. The 18 year old sink still looked good enough to move to he basement kitchenette.

There are those who love one material, but dislike another, of every sink material out there:)

You have a very large sink base. If you don't have a separate prep sink, I would maximize the space by purchasing a multifunctional sink. There are many brands that have great accessories like cutting boards, colanders or built in drain boards. Here's one brand that has larger sinks that would fill your base.

https://www.creategoodsinks.com/collections/ledge-sinks

Until our remodel, I had only double bowl sinks. I love a single bowl now and would not go back.

However, if I could have a do-over, I would get a different single bowl sink.

I bought the Ruvati stainless steel undermount with accessories, and it's quite the pain. Tight corners that are hard to clean. Flatter bottom where you have to chase food particles around to get them down the drain. The sink grid has large openings where silverware gets thru to scratch the sink and catches all the food particles. I don't use it now.

You'll get alot of info about others sinks here to help you make a good decision.

Can only say I wish I had done more research.

My 2 cents. I suggest a large single bowl workstation sink.

"I am leaning toward Silgranit"

I think that's a great choice, but color choice is key to the level of maintenance needed on a Silgranit sink. I have a Silgranit sink in anthracite (black). It's actually my second one in my second kitchen. I loved it so much, I bought it twice! It is easy care and shows nothing. The black is dramatic too, and looks great with my faucet and counters.

Because I think it's the easiest sink I've ever had, I recommended it to my friend. She heard my enthusiasm, and bought one for her kitchen, but she bought it in the white color. She finds it very hard to keep looking clean. She showed me how easily it stains from coffee and wine, and also how difficult it is to keep looking clean and get those stains out. I feel terribly guilty. I had no idea the white color would behave so differently from the anthracite. After seeing first-hand my friend demonstrate the easy staining and the difficult cleaning of the white color, I cannot recommend it. I would absolutely though buy another in anthracite, or one of the other darker colors like café brown or gray, without hesitation.

Single bowl sink gets my vote. And what's more, love that the BlancoDiamond Silgranit has the corner drain. Corner drain allows you to set pans down in the sink without covering the drain, and to have a disposal that is in the corner so doesn't crowd storage in cabinet under the sink.

As to sinks with accessories - you have to look at your personal style in the kitchen. I love my large thick cutting board on my counter. I prefer my separate RSVP Precision Colander to drain pasta and wash veggies. I have no use for other accessories, and don't need those two accessories I mentioned to be part of my sink. But that is how I operate in the kitchen, and everyone is different. Consider this carefully before you decide what sink you want.

I went with a Kohler Stages 45. I've had a 36" double bowl and hated it for 18 yrs as useless. We could never get anything in the smaller side. It was simply used to scrape food into the disposal.

I was ready to buy a silgranit super single with the offset drain and then checked them out in person. I too didn't like the white and was really turned off by the texture/feel of the silgranit surface.

I ended up with a Kohler Riverby, but in the drop in version; I've had an undernmount before, but I"m just as happy with a more affordable drop in. https://www.lowes.com/pd/KOHLER-Riverby-22-in-x-33-in-White-Single-Basin-Cast-Iron-Drop-in-4-Hole-Commercial-Residential-Kitchen-Sink/3547006

Noise dampening? Is that really a concern? I love how if I dump a pot of boiling water in my large stainless sink, it sometimes pops as it expands. Makes me laugh every time! BAM!

Fori, some stainless steel sinks in a thinner gauge have a tinny sound that jangles on some people's nerves, like when dropping a fork into the sink--not from boiling water. It's an individual thing. It can be solved with a thicker gauge stainless steel and sound dampening.

Every sink material has its pros and cons. I have a single bowl 14-gauge stainless steel sink with corner drain (custom). I mostly like it, but am a bit bothered by the water spots and dull film that are part of stainless steel sinks. You clean them, but as soon as you run the water the sink is spotted again. But there are certainly worse things in life. You also have to be OK with the scratches that eventually blend into a patina.

In my next kitchen I would like to try an apron front sink, either in stainless steel or the Kohler cast iron. Fireclay has had too many reports on this forum of crazing. I want an apron front because I like the idea of my body being directly up against the sink, rather than having to bend slightly over the 3-4" counter strip in front of an undermount. Supposed to prevent the back strain that can occur at the sink. You have to be careful though to avoid the apron front sinks which have very thick front lips, which defeats the idea of not having a thick piece in front of your body.

I have had double bowl sinks and did not like them. Only single bowl for me. If I can't lay my roasting pan flat in the sink to soak, then I don't have a sink that is fully usable, and not a good use of my money.