I think people are afraid of scratches.

Oh, I thought it was for way more than scratches: keeping things off the sink bottom and out of the way of swirling stuff on its way down the drain; creating a sort of hidden drying rack, etc.

Scratches are gonna happen anyway.

The hidden drying rack was what I came up with when put on the spot ;) No idea, but that sounds useful to me!

Mine isn't for scratches. It is so I can drain things easily (like pasta.) In the summer, I dedicate my prep sink to washing/draining garden veggies. The grid helps that process.

Mine is to make sure my mother doesn't drop anything heavy in the sink when she is visiting and crack it.

Here's a recent thread on sink grates that sheds light on why people do/don't use them. Personally, I don't really get it. I've never used one though so it was an expense I was happy not to make.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sink grid thread

Breezy - Probably should have followed your idea(my "sole sister" - I ordered them but I doubt that I will use them.
I just don't store anything in my sink - nothing more disgusting than reaching into the sink and finding soggy food in dishes......

Wow, I'm really surprised that so many people have disliked their sink grids! I love both of mine, and I'll never be without one again! I don't care if my stainless sinks get scratches, so although it certainly helps with that, it's not at all why I like to have grids in my sinks.

In my main sink, I find it far easier to keep the sink itself clean when dirty dishes aren't sitting right on the sink's surface--no rings from dish bottoms to scrub. If food misses the disposal, it's also far easier to rinse it down the drain when there aren't dishes on the bottom. The grid keeps the bottom level, so dishes don't slide around either. I've dropped quite a few dishes onto the grid and have yet to break any. All of those would have broken if they had landed directly on the sink bottom. Mine has few cross bars, so at first, flatware would fall between the slits, but we have learned to place small items perpendicular to the slits. It's second nature to us now.

In my prep sink, I love having the grid to drain veggies and such. Whether it's large items that rest directly on the grid or a colander full of smaller items, everything drains so much better with the grid.

I find the grids very easy to keep clean, too. A quick scrub with a soapy dobie pad on each side, and it's spotless. It's literally less than a minute-long job. I've never put either one in the dishwasher. The larger one won't fit, and it's just never occurred to me with the smaller one because it's so easy to clean.

I've never had a grid so don't speak from experience but I've always felt like they'd be way more difficult to clean than the sink they're protecting. I also envision bits of food getting trapped during prep and not being able to get it out with my fat fingers. Perhaps my imagination is just too vivid (or not vivid enough).

Codymaxx, your imagination serves you well. Correct on all counts.

I second what Linelle said. I ordered mine online from the same vendor that I bought my sink from. I do not know how I survived with out them before.

Things do not touch the bottom of the sink. You can air dry items without putting a drying cloth and/or rack on the counter.

It's easier to multi task in the sink. You can pour pasta water down the drain and not worry about the water getting on the cantelope your seeding at the same time. I would've never done that before. Things not touching the bottom of the sink opens a "whole new world", regarding multi tasking.

In an extra-deep sink, the grid can raise up the work surface about an inch, maybe more. It allows the sink to drain more completely, which means that there is less stagnant dirty water standing in sink when you're washing dirty things or when things are awaiting washing.

I very much like putting salad greens from garden on it in prep sink--the sand and silt drop down through the grid when I fill the sink to a shallow depth. It also allows me to keep items from falling into this silty film if I'm washing things like lettuce leaves under faucet and accidentally drop something that I just cleaned.

I have one of those old Rubbermaid sink bottom rubber pieces in one of the basins of my double sink, but it gets grungy and needs to be scrubbed and bleached--protection for the dishes in the cast iron sink. I think that next time I need to replace it, I'll buy a generic grid and try it out.

If you are accustomed to pouring coffee dregs into a sink, this allows items to remain in sink at same time and for the black liquid to keep on moving and not pool under the other items, staining the sink by the time you get around to uncovering the bottom of sink.

Yes, the grid needs scrubbing occasionally. Dishwasher is a good idea.

I'm learning a lot from this thread. Plus throwing the grid in the dishwasher regularly is the obvious solution for the "hard to clean" problem. I'm reconsidering my prior aversions.

If you find sink grates useful, are you someone who leaves dishes sitting in the sink? I'm trying to figure out if a grate would be useful for us, but we don't leave dishes in the sink pretty much ever, except for perhaps an occasional casserole dish that's soaking while we finish wiping up the kitchen. In that situation, would it be useful?

Does anyone who doesn't leave dishes in the sink have a sink grate and love it?