One large sink or double sink?

YoMom

Sun, Aug 15 2010, 7:40 pm

I am moving from a newer, beautiful apartment to our cute little (older) house! My apartment now has separate sinks (and tons more counter and cabinet space Sad

), but of course, I'm excited to move to the house we own. There is currently one shallow sink - I can either replace it with a double sink or a deeper single sink. I am leaning toward one sink because I cannot imagine washing a large pot in a small double sink. Also, I heard they both get splashed, etc, so I may as well have one LARGE treife sink (with separate racks, of course) than two smaller semi treife sinks. WWYD?? Anyone have one sink and happy with it? How do you keep e/t kosher - I am so nervous. Pelase help. TIA!!!

tziviakayla

Sun, Aug 15 2010, 7:52 pm

I have had both....one large sink and one double sink. I found the large, deep sink to be much easier to deal with! No worrying about splashing or putting something in the wrong one. We do much less dairy than meat, so it worked well for us. I kept a bin for the dirty dairy dishes, baby bottles, etc.

goodmorning

Sun, Aug 15 2010, 9:02 pm

I've also tried both, and there is something to your point of thinking that the sinks are milchig/fleishig when they're actually getting splashed right and left. If you're going with one big sink, though, I recommend dishpans for soaking. (Put it on top of the rack.) In general, be careful not to bang the faucet or side of the (treife) sink with a wet hot pot. Dishpans help prevent this too, if you wash pots in the pans.

Chana Miriam S

Sun, Aug 15 2010, 9:27 pm

wow, this post reminds me how lucky I am. we started keeping kosher with a double sided sink (and covered whatever side was not in use with a huge cutting board which we flipped according to what we were using it for) and this worked very well for us for the six months we lived in our basement as we renovated our house.

when we put in our new kitchen, we put in two double sinks and a single decent sized one, so now kashrut is barely ever an issue unless someone puts something in the wrong sink and it gets washed inadvertently.

by the way, the safest way to keep from messing up your kashrut in a double sink is to not use super hot water. I soap things thoroughly and rinsed carefully to make up for the lack of heat in the water, but rarely was the water hot enough to do damage from a kosher perspective. made things much simpler.

jflower

Wed, Aug 18 2010, 1:12 pm

I vote for one large sink.

I had a double sink in my last apartment and hated it. It was way too small for my large pots and aggravating because of all the water shpritzing all over the place.

PinkFridge

Wed, Aug 18 2010, 1:34 pm

And it's not as if you'll be able to keep one milchig, one fleishig if they're so close. AND if they share the same trap, so if there are backups you don't know what's coming up. I vote for one big sink. Get racks and basins (dollar stores have them in all colors) and you'll do just fine.

saw50st8

Wed, Aug 18 2010, 1:36 pm

Do they still sell those sinks with sliding boards on top? Then you can have a double sink with a cover on the side not in use.

Do you have a dishwasher? Then one sink isn't such a big deal.

And yes, definitely stainless.

Liba

Wed, Aug 18 2010, 1:45 pm

If the don't sell the sliding things I know people with double sinks that put a piece of plexyglass (thick plastic that cane be used in doors and windows in place of glass) over the sink not in use. You can have two or one that has a fleishig side that and a milchig side.

You put the fleishig side down on over the fleishig sink when washing milchig dishes and have some extra milchig counter space and no risk of splashing into the fleishig sink and vice versa when washing the fleishig dishes.

I had only one big fleishig sink for five years. We drained pasta into a dishpan if we wanted it milchigs and washed our milchig dishes in the bathroom sink or in the bathtub if they were too big.

PinkFridge

Wed, Aug 18 2010, 4:10 pm

Liba wrote:

Our sink came with a garbage disposal. I just put in the pareve rack, pareve colander, pour the noodles in with disposal running so the water goes down right away, and use them for whatever.

one

Sun, Jan 14 2018, 11:55 am

I have a double sink and I'm happy with it. I think I prefer that because I have where to put dirty dishes in before washing. I cover whichever side I'm not using.

nicole81

Sun, Jan 14 2018, 12:16 pm

My old house has one, large stainless steel sink. I haven't found it inconveniencing. I have a fleishig dishwasher which helps. I generally stack the dirty milchig stuff until it's ready to go in the sink. As a previous poster mentioned, bins for the dishes would be helpful. But if I had 2 smaller sinks, I wouldn't be able to fit certain items in there which would bother me to no end.

amother

Blush

Sun, Jan 14 2018, 12:31 pm

I have a small split and MUCH prefer it to one large (which I used to have ) I did not like Bins of dishes sitting on my counter. And the Kosher issue was very annoying and I feel like I was perpetually messing up in small ways. When I wash up, I use lots of soap and water that’s not too hot. Both those factors help with the splashing issue. Do you have granite or Formica counter tops? If you have Formica, it can be cut to make room for A larger and deeper double sink.

Rubber Ducky

Sun, Jan 14 2018, 12:49 pm

This is an old thread but the issue is relevant for many. Personally I prefer a double sink. You can cover the unused side with a cookie sheet or you can have a separator made that extends several inches above the counter to divide the 2 basins. The acrylic ones don't work too well but it is possible to have a double sink customized for a stainless one.