The Newmatic Journal

At the Sink: Designing a Prep and Washing Zone That Works

The sink is where most kitchen work actually happens. Plan the space around it for the way you move, with the measurements that make rinsing, chopping and clearing up feel easy.

Living with your kitchen

Follow anyone through an evening in the kitchen and you will notice they keep coming back to the same spot. Potatoes get scrubbed there. Hands get washed there, again and again. The rice is rinsed, the colander drained, the roasting tin left to soak, and at ten o’clock someone is still there with a tea towel. The hob gets the attention in the brochures. The sink does the overtime.

So it is odd how often the sink is chosen last, by colour or by the number of bowls. A better approach is to think of it as a workstation: a bowl, a tap and the stretch of worktop on either side, with the dishwasher, bin and a good light close at hand. Get the arrangement right and the whole kitchen feels calmer. Get it wrong and you will be balancing a chopping board across the bowl for years.

The starting point

Plan the sink as a workstation, not an object. Leave clear worktop either side, set it at a comfortable height, keep the dishwasher and bin close, and light it properly.

In this article

  1. Watch an evening at your current sink
  2. One bowl or two depends on how you wash up
  3. Height and depth are about your back
  4. The sink and the worktop are one decision
  5. Where the water lands
  6. Accessories that make a small worktop bigger
  7. Room to put things down
  8. Five minutes a day keeps it looking new
  9. Take the evening to the showroom

Watch an evening at your current sink

Before you look at a single product, spend one evening watching what happens around your current sink. Where do dirty pans pile up while you cook? Where do washed vegetables go? Is the chopping board always perched across the bowl because there is nowhere else to put it? Does the big stockpot slosh water across the counter when you try to turn it under the tap?

Write the problems down. They are your brief. A bigger bowl might solve the stockpot but eat the preparation space you are short of. A second bowl might keep soaking pans apart but leave neither bowl big enough for a baking tray. You are not looking for the most impressive sink. You are looking for the best balance across the whole zone.

Ask everyone who uses the kitchen. One person may wash everything by hand, another may load the dishwasher straight from the table, and a third may just want a place to fill the kettle without queueing. Those habits explain why sensible people give completely opposite advice about sinks.

One bowl or two depends on how you wash up

A big single bowl is the cook’s choice. A roasting tin lies flat, a wok can be turned without hitting a divider and the largest pot fits under the tap. A removable washing-up bowl can give you a temporary second compartment, though it is not quite the same as two bowls that drain separately.

A double bowl suits people who like to keep jobs apart: soaking on one side, rinsing or preparing on the other. The catch is that a wide sink split in two may leave neither half big enough for your largest tray. Always check the inside dimensions of each bowl, not the overall width.

Here is a quick test. Measure your largest pan and baking tray, including handles, and take the numbers with you. Then picture a Sunday lunch: the tin soaking, the vegetables waiting to be rinsed, the glasses that cannot go in the dishwasher. If one bowl handles all of that, you may not need two. If you keep wishing for a second space, you probably do.

Newmatic’s sinks and taps collection includes single and double bowls, stainless steel and quartz options, and models with compatible accessories. Shortlist by the job you most want to improve, then compare the bowl sizes, mounting method and cabinet requirements of the few models that remain.

Height and depth are about your back

Most back strain at the sink comes from leaning, not lifting. The sink maker Blanco suggests a simple test: bend your arm as if stirring a pot, measure from the floor to your elbow, and take off 10 to 15 cm. That is roughly the right working height for most kitchen tasks. Because you reach down into a bowl, it suggests the sink itself can sit 10 to 15 cm higher than the general worktop.

Few kitchens can raise one section of worktop, but the principle still helps. A very deep bowl on a standard-height counter makes you stoop to reach the bottom, which is fine for a tall person and tiring for a short one. Stand at a display sink with your hands where they would be while washing up, and notice whether your shoulders start to round.

Depth also costs space underneath. The bowl, waste pipes and tap hoses all take room in the base cabinet, and a deep sink can squeeze out a bin or a pull-out organiser. Ask the cabinet maker to draw the sink, plumbing and storage together, and make sure the waste trap can be reached when it needs clearing.

The sink and the worktop are one decision

An undermount sink sits beneath the worktop, so crumbs and water can be wiped straight into the bowl. A top-mounted, or inset, sink drops in from above and rests on a rim. Each needs its own support and sealing, and not every worktop suits both. Settle the sink and worktop together, with the fabricator and installer in the same conversation.

With an undermount sink, the cut edge of the worktop becomes part of the sink. You will wipe it daily and knock pans against it. Ask how that edge will be finished and how it should be cared for, especially if you are choosing between quartz and sintered stone. The countertop guide explains why edges deserve as much thought as the pattern on top.

Never cut a worktop from a sink size you found online. Use the template or installation drawing for the exact model, and mark the tap hole and any accessory holes at the same time. Moving a line on a drawing costs nothing. A hole in the wrong place in a stone worktop is a very expensive lesson.

Where the water lands

A tall, arching tap looks generous, but height is only half the story. What matters is where the stream lands. Ideally it falls near the centre of the main bowl, high enough to fill a stockpot and not so high that rinsing a teaspoon sprays the window. Picture both jobs before you choose.

A pull-out spray is the most useful upgrade for many cooks, especially with a big single bowl. Try the action in the showroom: pull it out, let it go and check it returns cleanly. Underneath, the hose and its counterweight need clear room to move, so keep the bin and the bottles out of its way. Above, check the spout clears any shelf or window sill.

Water flow is worth a thought too. In the United States, kitchen taps are limited by federal rules to 2.2 gallons, about 8.3 litres, a minute, and some local codes ask for less. Aerators help by mixing air into the stream so it feels fuller than it is. If your home runs on a tank or pump, check the tap’s pressure requirements with the installer before you commit.

Match the finish to the room, but do not let it decide everything. A tap in a complementary finish that reaches the right spot will satisfy you far longer than a perfect colour match that splashes. If several people use the sink, ask each of them to try the lever.

Accessories that make a small worktop bigger

Fitted accessories are the cheapest way to gain worktop. A chopping board that slides across the bowl, a colander that sits on the rim or a roll-up drainer turns the sink itself into preparation or drying space. They need to fit the model you choose, though. Bowls that look alike do not always take the same accessories.

Buy for what you do every day. If you rinse vegetables most evenings, a fitted colander will earn its keep. A huge board that is awkward to wash will spend its life leaning behind the tap. Before you buy each piece, decide where it lives when it is not in use.

A built-in soap dispenser clears a bottle off the counter, but check how it is refilled. A drainer clears the worktop but needs cleaning itself. Add pieces that fix a specific problem from your evening of watching, and skip the rest.

Room to put things down

The single most useful thing near a sink is empty worktop. Planning guidelines from the US National Kitchen and Bath Association call for at least 60 cm of clear counter on one side of the main sink and about 7.5 cm on the other. That gives dirty dishes somewhere to wait and clean ingredients somewhere to go.

The same guidelines put the dishwasher within about 90 cm of the sink, so plates go from rinse to rack without dripping across the floor. Check that the dishwasher door and the bin can open without blocking each other or the only preparation spot. The dishwasher planning article has more on getting those movements right before the layout is fixed.

Then look at the light. Stand at the sink after dark and you will often find your own shadow on the chopping board, because the ceiling light is behind you. A strip of under-cabinet lighting, suitable for a damp location and installed by an electrician, solves it. Plan it with the cabinets rather than taping a light up later.

Five minutes a day keeps it looking new

Every sink shows wear eventually. Brushed stainless steel picks up fine scratches that soften into an even patina over time. A dark quartz bowl can show the white bloom of hard-water marks. Look at real, used samples where you can, and ask what the cleaning routine really involves, not just how the display model looks.

For stainless steel, the routine is simple: rinse, wipe with a mild cleaner, dry with a soft cloth. Drying is the step most people skip and the one that prevents most water spots. Follow Newmatic’s care advice for the finish and the tap, and avoid harsh scourers and bleach-based cleaners unless the instructions say they are safe.

Give the cleaning things a proper home. A wet cloth draped over the tap is not a system. A small caddy in the sink cupboard for a brush, a cloth and the right cleaner makes the five-minute wipe a habit rather than a chore. If there are small children in the house, keep that cupboard latched.

On installation day, ask the fitter to run the taps, check the waste for leaks and show you how any removable parts come out. Look for a clean, continuous seal around the sink. Then write down the model numbers of the sink and tap and keep them with the manuals, so you can order the right parts years from now.

Take the evening to the showroom

Bring the notes from your evening of watching, the width of the sink cabinet, your worktop choice and the measurements of your largest pan and tray. Tell the showroom team whether you mostly wash by hand or by machine, and whether two people often work at the sink together. With that, a long catalogue quickly becomes a short list.

Is it worth hand-washing everything to save water?

Usually not. Research at the University of Bonn found people used about 100 litres on average to wash by hand a load that a full dishwasher handled with roughly 13. Hand-washing still has its place, but a sink planned to work alongside a dishwasher tends to save water as well as time.

Does a single bowl suit a family kitchen?

Often, yes, especially if you cook with big pans and a dishwasher takes most of the daily load. A double bowl suits families who like to soak and rinse at the same time. Browse the Newmatic sinks, taps and accessories together, or visit a showroom, and choose the arrangement that fits the way your household cooks and clears up.