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sprengle1

Garbage disposal- which side of the sink?

15 years ago

We are going to install the Silgranit 1 3/4 sink (in cafe brown, yay!). I do a small amount of dishes by hand (pots and pans, good knives, microwave cookware) each day. I can't decide if we should have the GD in the large sink side or the smaller sink side. Here are some bits that might help you to decide for me! Please!

I like to have a dish filled with soap (large side) and one with rinse water (small side).

The dishwasher is to the left of the sink.

The trashcan is to the right of the sink.

The dish drain will be on the counter to the right of the sink when it is used. But I am hoping to be able to drain on the grid as many seem to be doing.

Silgranit 1 3/4 has the larger/deeper sink on the left and the smaller/shallower sink on the right.

Where would you put the garbage disposal and why?

Comments (11)

  • 15 years ago

    I put my disposal/drain on the right, since that's the side I do much of my food prep - peeling, rinsing, chopping, etc, so it's easy to sweep the leavings into the sink/drain. I have a 36" single bowl sink.

  • 15 years ago

    I have your exact layout. I have the same sink only mine is biscuit. The dishwasher is on the left, trash on the right. Large sink on the left and smaller on the right. I just bought a blanco grid for the large sink. I have the garbage disposal on the smaller one. I prefer to put my garbage there cause I sometimes like to wash my pots and pans in the large sink or use it to rinse off things. I also went with the disposal switch this time and it's on the right also.

  • 15 years ago

    Really, it's going to depend on how low the pipes are under your cabinet. We bought the sink you are getting last year (love it btw) and I wanted it on the left, but ended up having it on the right side because the larger deeper sink was too low for the pipes to accomodate the garbage disposal.

    In the end, it works out just fine for us, better actually, because I've found I lean towards using the shorter sink more since I'm shorter. Between the new sink and the air switch I'm in "I can reach it" heaven!

  • 15 years ago

    I am in the process of deciding too. I think I am going to put the disposal in the bigger sink (as long as pipes allow) because I like to drain my washed items in the smaller sink on a small drain board. If I do it in the small sink I'd have to remove anything drying there. My sis has the reverse and wishes she went with my choice. I also have a prep sink with a disposal in that too. A good friend wished she had done that and recommended that to me. Also when you are washing big items like a 13x9 casserole in the larger sink you can use the disposal for anything that comes out of the dirty dish rather than scraping it in the smaller side and then transferring to the larger side to wash. Seems like an extra step having the disposal in the small side. Hope I am making sense...

  • 15 years ago

    My husband and I have gone through many of the scenarios you all write about here. Our plumbing can go to either side, so that won't be a problem.

    My main prep area is to the left of the sink. We talked about scraping into the main sink, then filling with soapy water and washing. This would leave the small sink to have to rinse and leave odd items to dry. I guess with the prep area to the left it would make sense to have the GD on the left for easier disposal.

    It seems like all our reasons point to having it in the left larger sink. I don't know why but I keep feeling like it should be in the smaller one!

  • 15 years ago

    Our GD is in the larger bowl b/c that's where most of the dirty dishes are stacked & rinsed. We use the smaller side to soak utensils so our large bowl is the one dishes are scraped into. (The other factor was that the bigger bowl is a bigger target for peeling potatoes into!)

    We did this arrangement purely for the above use, it had nothing to do w/which side the DW or Trash is on. In our case, the Trash is on the left, DW on the right. The large bowl w/disposer is on the left, small bowl on the right.

    BTW...even though the GD is on the left bowl, our airswitch is on the right side of the sink over the small bowl...no problems w/that location. It worked out best in that location b/c the soap dispenser works best for us on the left and we decided to "balance" the accessories and put the airswitch on the right.

  • 15 years ago

    Ok, I'm convinced. We'll do the bigger side for the garbage disposal. I can see myself leaving things to dry in the smaller side and having to move them to use the GD. Thanks for all the input!

  • 15 years ago

    I'm doing the same sprengle1. Lets both keep our fingers crossed :)

  • 15 years ago

    I just had DH switch mine to the larger sink. He was cooperative, but not happy. All I heard from the kitchen was grumbling and swearing! lol. I stayed away till it was done. I had the same problem. Cereal bowels thrown in the big side with fruit loops stuck in the sink stopper! Now my new double oven is humming and need to be taken back out. I better get outta here! haha

  • PRO
    last year

    I have large sink on left and smaller sink on right. I keep a drain/drying rack in the smaller sink. Dishwasher on right. For 20+ years have had the GD on the left in the large sink. I'm now choosing same sink for new house and deciding whether to put the GD in the smaller sink because want to avoid rinsed (dirty) dishes crossing over the drain rack to get placed into dishwasher. BUT I'm staying the course because I often wash large pots and greasy pans in the larger sink, don't want to be confined to washing large items in the smaller sink, don't want to have to go back and forth between the two sinks in order to scrape into GD. In a perfect world my dishwasher would be on the left side (same side as large sink AND GD) but our kitchen setup won't allow.