There was someone who posted a while back that she absolutely did not want a prep sink because she did not want to have to clean two sinks.

I don't have a prep sink and there's no room to add one in my tiny kitchen. But I've cooked in kitchens that have them and I think they are wonderful. Mostly because it allows more than one person to do things in the kitchen at the same time. Yes, one is a prep sink and one is a clean up sink, but during a big meal preparation, you can have more than one person prepping, or one person prepping while another person is cleaning. And during a big clean up, more than one person can be cleaning.

Even with just my DH in the kitchen, so often we both need to be at the sink. One person needs to fill a pot with water, or drain some pasta while another person is washing something.

I have no use for a prep sink and wouldn't lose counter or especially island space for one. I would configure a larger single bowl for access by two people.

I have seen two sinks next to each other that could maybe be accessed by 2 people at the same time. Maybe the key is two faucets. I have the Stages 45 with just one faucet and it's not big enough for 2 people.

I'm planning on a Stages with 2 faucets if I don't do a prep sink.

I don't have my prep sink yet - it will be in my new house build. As now, when I do move there, nasty raw chicken contaminated things will go to the main sink without dripping across the floor. (I can't currently prep anywhere near my sink, unless I prep on top of my coffee maker - I'm tall enough that I've done this on occasion - I've been quite careful about drippy chicken!)

I'm looking forward to my prep sink. It will be in a great relation to my fridge and my cutting area. Another benefit is having two sinks available when I host pot lucks. Or if anyone is of a mind to help me by doing dishes while I prep the next stage. Which, with your children, you may grow to appreciate.

smm5525, I would recommend that you look for a 45 inch sink without a ledge if you are going to have 2 faucets. Or better yet do 2 sinks side by side.

Also if you have an instant hot water/water filter at your sink that takes up room. And the cutting board/tray accessories take room. Remember, the bowl portion is only about 32 inches. I love my Stages sink, but I think it's one person sink.

Someone posted you can use the ledge to wash hands without splashing. I was thinking ledge on right side to use as dish drainer as well as a spot to put something to dry. We have filtered water in fridge so have never used sink for drinking water or cooking water.

Can you please elaborate on what you mean that it's a 1 person sink? Is it not possible to prep on one side and still get water or other things like draining pasta on the other side?

Here's example, this is a great solution if you want an extra sink, but are on a slab and don't want to put in new plumbing to get a prep sink in an island. Personally, I would put the trash pull out in between instead of the DW.

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Hsw can u post a pic as it is now? I'd like to see proximity to clean up sink and overall how it's laid out.

Ediblekitchen interesting! I have a double sink now and going to single and having anxiety because we still hand wash some things. If hubby is washing dishes and has soapy dishes in a single bowl, I can't dump out pasta water without making those soapy dishes dirty. Maybe I do need two sinks if I'm going to single bowl. I only ever had double bowl.

Well, you can fit 2 people in front of the sink, but it's difficult to work at the sink if another person is right there. The way I prep, I need room for washing vegetables and for chopping and for my bowls to put the prepped ingredients. And I need some room for the dishes and utensils I've dirtied. I use the whole sink. If someone wanted to wash dishes they really couldn't do it while I was prepping.

I have a small kitchen. So maybe if I had a big expanse of countertop on either side, it would work to have two people working there at the same time.

I love having a large single bowl, much easier for washing things, and you can always put a dishpan in it with soapy water for soaking smaller things.

I do chicken in the prep sink because the big sink is always full of dirty dishes I don't want to get chicken goop on. Because then I'd have to be extra careful with them. :P

(One good way to deal with avoiding raw meat contamination is a hands-free faucet AND trash.)

My dishwasher and main sink are close to my prep sink. I work with the DW open and only have to pivot to put things in. The only raw meat items I hand wash are knives and the sink itself. (I am a slob so out of self-preservation I am careful about potential pathogens.) It doesn't take much effort to not drip when you move things to the trash or cleanup sink. But my two sinks ARE close together. I wouldn't want to schlep things very far.

We put in a prep sink because we have frequent cooking guests and we got tired of sink bottlenecking. Ever try to wash produce for dinner but your mother-in-law won't stop scrubbing the sink? Argh!

It's nice but not mandatory. We had the space so we put it in. Ours is between the fridge and the stove and it works well there.

Have a prep sink in the island and clean up on the perimeter. Like the setup a lot. I tend to wash my meats and fish at the clean up sink just do to the size and amount of product I cook for my monsters. I also got a deep (8.5") prep sink and like that feature as well. We got an over the sink colonder that i have a love/hate relationship with. It is very convenient for fruits and veggies, but it takes up about 40% of the sink.

I also recomend a garbage disposal, in both sinks...

Mine would be in the island facing the main sink. So I would have to walk around to put them in the clean up sink. Then clean up my island before I can put the food out because that is where we serve from. I'm not thinking its a good solution for me.

Johnny if u are washing the meats at clean up sink are you then walking them back over to the prep island or just prepping at clean up sink counter?

I exclusively use my prep sink for fruit and vegetable prep. I peel things directly into the sink. I don't use too many dishes. If I put things into a bowl, then the bowl gets carried to the stove and from there to my clean-up sink.

I have less dripping since getting a prep sink. Before, I was washing at the sink, taking to my only decent stretch of counter on the island, then to the stove. Things were dripping between sink and island.

I really miss having a prep sink in my current rental and can't fit one in the kitchen in my new digs. In my previous kitchen the prep sink was near the fridge on a counter that served purely as a prep area....large woods chopping counter, with built in slots for knives. The clean-up sink was six feet away on the other side of the kitchen. I used the area to wash and chop fruits and legs, and to cut meat & poultry, and pretty much do everything else to prepare foods before putting it in the oven or on the cooktop (or straight into serving dish if it wasn't being cooked.) The only thing I didn't do on that counter was my baking prep.

The one regret ( a rather big one) I had about it is that I did NOT install a disposal in that sink. I really wish I had. Then, I could have just dumped veg peelings, meat scraps, etc. right into the prep sink. As it was I did tote them across the kitchen to the clean up sink. But I would definitely NOT worry about soap and washing dishes in a prep sink. Just dump the scraps in and grind 'em up, and MAYBE give a dish a rinse if it looked like it would drip nasty stuff on the floor getting it to the clean up sink for a proper washing. Remember that a prep sink is often, if not usually a much smaller sink...just large enough to rinse off produce, for example. But it also did make it handy to be able to get a glass of water or dump out a pot of pasta water, when the main sink was otherwise engaged!

If I have learned anything here - it is most kitchens are unique and there isn't a true formula; a lot depends on the space in relation to other spaces. Sometimes, 2 sinks gives a small kitchen more not less space and options. It really depends on the space.

For us, we couldn't be happier with our 2 sink set up and our kitchen isn't that large in relative terms. Search my name for some photos. We eat mostly fresh fruits/veggies, so a lot of sink prep is required. We are also a 2-3 adult at the same time kitchen. One can be stationed at the prep area, one at the stove top, and one at the clean up area (or...eh hem.... sitting at the island drinking a beer..but I digress.) Our prep sink cutting boards are easily rinsed off. Because the cutting boards are over the sink, we don't dirty the counters - huge time saver there. We just drop the board into the sink, rinse, and repeat. We don't put our prep knives in the DW and most of the measuring tools are easily rinsed and don't require the DW either. Standard around here at the end of the night is two cutting boards tipped into the prep sink after rinsing to dry and measuring tools and knives drying in the prep sink's shallow end. (Stages 45).

During the times we need more counter space, we just put the cutting boards on the sink ledges and fold up the faucets (Kohler Karbons).

ETA - As SSL said above - do put a disposer in the prep sink.

My Stages with 2 faucets works great for a 2 person setup but only one person can prep on the sink at a time. If your prep is off the sink it even makes three people are do-able (3 people for 2 faucets is better than 2 people for 1 faucet).

Nightowl, beautiful kitchen. Your pics really helped me visual the plywood interior vs white melamine. I was contemplating whether to go with melamine so I can get white interior. I'm going with the plywood like yours :)

That stages sink is a dream! My island won't be large enough for it but I was eyeing it for my main sink. It might just be my one sink with 2 faucets :) You have a beautiful kitchen and very functional layout

I was obsessed over the idea of a prep sink, and I'm glad I was. My complaint has always been that when I need a sink, the only sink in the kitchen was always 'occupied'. I learned many years ago not to criticize the person doing the chore, so I bit my tongue and plotted for my two-sink kitchen.

I laid out our smallish new kitchen (thanks, GW!) with the prep sink near the fridge, and the clean-up sink on the other end of the kitchen. We have two separate work triangles; a good thing with two cooks. On the prep side, we have fridge-sink-prep area-stove. I do fruits and veggies first. We don't use disposals, but I keep a compost container handy at the prep sink. After I do meats, I clean up the entire prep area and related utensils at the prep sink. There is a trash pull-out under each sink. If clean-up is going to be delayed, I move the utensils over to the clean-up sink. I try to always keep the prep sink open at all times unless actually in use. We keep a spray bottle of bleach mix at the prep sink to disinfect it (my wife is a microbiologist!).

Our clean-up sink is a huge 43" double bowl monster, but it would still be cozy trying to have two people working at it, unless two people were washing dishes. The prep sink is a 25" single bowl, so it is roomy as well. I have found having a prep sink to be the single-most favorite working feature of our kitchen.

my clean up sink is in-line with my stove, about 36 inches to the left. I will often prep right there in the middle. I almost always use a platter of some sorts, so no drippy goo or guts...

Here are a couple of photos I have from right after the reno. The last one is from my cabinetmaker.

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