Some thoughts on sinks...

So many choices...

   I grew up in Northern Ohio around the Amish communities. The most strict, known as Old Order, do not even allow indoor plumbing. I remember as a kid being impressed with how they lived and sometimes imagined living a simple life with little or no electricity, but water in and water out seemed a modest convenience even then.

  Everybody stands at the kitchen sink in our house for some part of everyday. Between The prep, the clean up, the drink of water, washing hands, a lot happens there. It would be hard to imagine my kitchen without a wonderful deep basin, conveniently located with clean water flowing that doesn’t freeze in the winter. Call me spoiled!

too many!

   My wife and I have been looking into buying a new sink and as with everything else in this post scarcity world the options are dizzying. The oldest sinks were large relatively shallow basins that were stand alone on legs or a low table, the oldest often made out of stone. Now, well, a little Google search can send you reeling.

    Our searching got us looking at what are called farmhouse sinks. These are basically a tub sitting on a lower cabinet like a utility sink. These set ups have a lot of wonderful advantages. With the edge right in front of you and not dropped into a counter a couple inches back from the edge of the counter your work is right there in front of you. This also, obviously, widens the space behind the sink, making this area much less crowded then it tends to be with the all the flotsam associated with the back of the sink.

   These sinks also just have a wonderful old timey, utilitarian feel to them. They are of course available in just about any material, and it has seemed to me that the prices have come down and seem more readily available. I just found a soapstone sink locally made for under $600. I think you could get one any style or material and not pay more then that. This is still a lot knowing we get wonderful stainless steel sinks for under $150, but it could be worth the splurge.

    So happy sink searching, and I tell you what we settle on.