There are pictures of sinks against a wall in the threads below. They're very old threads, so please don't bump them - it's unlikely most of the posters in those threads are still around. Instead, if you have questions, either ask them in this thread or start a thread with a Subject that briefly summarizes your questions:

Please post pictures of kitchen sinks without a window

Window in kitchen NOT over sink-pics

True Carrie! Many times we don't put sinks under windows when we work on a design. If you have a great view, the best thing to put in front of the window is the Prep Zone - b/c that's the task you spend 70% or more of your time in the kitchen performing.

The "sink must be under a window" paradigm is from the days b/f there were automatic dishwashers. Back then, you spent a lot more time in front of the window b/c of the acts of dish washing and dish drying - in addition to some prep work.

Today, Kitchen work is usually broken down as:

• 70% or more time is spent prepping (preparing the food to cook - rinsing/washing, cutting up, mixing, etc.)
• 20% or less spent cleaning up (clearing the table, wiping down table/counters, loading the DW, unloading the DW)
• 10% spent cooking (actually "watching" food cook or stirring)

Yes, there are exceptions (e.g., when making egg nog you have to constantly stir), but those are exceptions, outside the norm. Even then, the amount of time stirring (or whatever) is less than the amount of time spent preparing - both before and after.

I don't have windows in my kitchen and like having the sink in the island both for function and how it looks.

I question whether anyone ever really spent a lot time gazing out the window when they did dishes. I tend to think the 'window over the sink' became ubiquitous in the US because if there was a place to put a window, it's a logical place to put one. If one was able to have upper cabinets, why not have them parallel to the lower cabinets? Symmetry.

I've seen many photos of kitchens where the upper cabinet run extends straight across over the sink - mainly in homes outside the US. In the late 1940's in Denmark, a man came up with the idea of a dish draining cupboard. The bottom of the cupboard was slatted- like a plate rack - so people could put just washed dishes in it and they would air dry. These cupboards are still produced today.

In US, if there is a cabinet over of sink it is likely to be higher up, presumably because US consumers do not like having a cabinet so close to their face when they do dishes?

Think about how you use your kitchen - where would the most convenient placement of the sink be for you? As well as the other appliances and elements? If you post a layout of the space you have to work with, including adjacent rooms and dimensions- there are some incredibly talented people on this forum who will help you.

When we bought this house more than 31yrs ago, the sink was on a side wall and there was a table under double windows on the outside wall. I much prefer having my sink under a window, plus I wanted more counter space, so I gave up having an eat-in kitchen and had a short L-shaped counter installed with the sink under a deep bay window for plants. I have never regretted doing this! When my children were still home, we ate all our meals in the dining room, which I preferred.

As as an interior designer, I always decide what will be the focal point in a room. We have lovely gardens/landscaping in the back, plus a small fish pond centered on that window, so I have my focal point.

I prefer to do food prep with cabinets above where my ingredients live. I have a nice long run where that sink was and the cabinets were already there.

One may not spend hours washing up at the sink, but one spends more time than one might think. Most good cooking pans recommend hand washing, and the sink is where one places pans/bowls/utinsels when one is cooking. I can keep an eye on my dogs (used to watch small children!). It's just what I prefer.

We aren’t going to have a window over our sink… (it’s an old house,) we’re reno-ing the kitchen now and everyone wants to tell me how YOU MUST HAVE A WINDOW OVER THE SINK. But I’ve lived with it this way for years now, and I can promise that you don’t need one… I don’t ever think about it or miss it. Although we do have plenty of natural light, which I do think is great if you can manage it.

I, personally, couldn't work or live in a kitchen without windows and natural light. But the window doesn't have to be above the sink. I think it's more important that it be placed where it brings good light into more of the kitchen, facing in the direction of the best light and/or views. That said, if you don't have a good place for a window where it makes sense to have one, and if you have been fine without one, don't worry about it now. But if you do decide to put in one, don't fret about it having to be over the sink.

I like this discussion. But I question whether it is wise to plan a window at the prep zone just because you spend most of your time there. When I am prepping, other than washing (which occurs at a sink) I really need to focus on the prepping task. This is particularly true if I am using a knife, but also if I am mixing or kneading something that requires me to pay attention so I do not over-mix, for example. In general I enjoy cooking and really want to pay attention to the prep, but am very happy to gaze out the window when washing dishes! But having natural light in the kitchen is more important to us than where the window would be located, so if it needed to be at the prep zone, that's where we'd put it.

I've got the window over my prep zone (result of a suggestion here) and I am glad I did it. Some of it's the view, some of it's the natural light, but another reason is that you don't have cabinets in your face when you're prepping. I realized that's why in my last kitchen I did all prep on the island and rarely used the other counters, despite their plentiful-ness.