@brdrl just curious why do you need a mat for the hand wash items that are drying? With my old drain board sink I just had everything stacked straight on there without a towel...

@User I wish I had the room!

Why do Americans hardly have sinks with draining boards !?

Use your DW as your drying rack. Skip the runnels. They are a weak spot in the stone, unless you laminate it. That leads to other logistical issues. They are also usually done too narrowly, making cleaning excessively difficult.

Yes @Snaggy I’ve noticed them in European and British homes 🤷🏼‍♀️ Why do we Americans settle for the ugly Target drying racks?! Haha

@User good point. Maybe if I decide to do this I’ll make sure the runnels are thick like the old sink ones were

No to the runnels for all the reasons listed above. I use a drying mat and it works great. I also don’t like the look of the drying racks or the drain sinks. My parents have a double sink. One side for wash, one side with a drain rack down in sink. that would be my option if I had a double sink.

I mostly hand wash wine glasses and will not put them on the stone directly. I will clunk them down hard and chip. Also for some bigger items I thinks it’s better to get air flow underneath if you aren’t going to dry immediately.

@brdrl that’s why I don’t like those drying mats- the moisture. That’s what I currently use but everything gets a lot of condensation and things don’t dry. I’m not good about drying things right away; they sit on the counter and languish for hours! I just let all my hand washables air dry.

a second dishwasher? good grief. most of us with normal kitchens don't have the space or money for that. besides, I personally have so many items that are hand wash only. my husband cooks a ton so there is no way I'm hand drying all of that stuff every single time. (like, we have enough hand wash items to completely fill the rack after dinner.)

as for the drying matt... depending on where you live, that's just begging for disgusting mold. we use our drying rack all throughout the day. that mat would never have time to dry.

elizabeth_eclectic I have the same conundrum as you. I'm planning on choosing a sink with an integrated drainboard. yes, it's a bit utilitarian but way nicer looking than a plastic drain board. there are so many nice styles too.

or if you don't have too many dishes, a big double sink with a rack inside is a good way to go.

With a drying mat, you stack the dishes such that they have air flow. For instance a pot, side on side resting on one beside it. I don’t have a problem with mold or pots/Tupperware not getting dry. I live in a high humidity area and If someone was going to have mold, it would be me.

I don’t hand dry anything anymore. My friend had cancer a while back. I went to help her. I washed the dishes etc. I started to dry them and put away. She said “life’s too short to dry dishes”. I figured she knows what she’s talking about. So no more drying dishes for me.

my first choice would be the double sink w drying rack in the sink.

I had runnels on both sides of my sink in my last house and loved them. One side was the prep side and they were great for washed produce. The other side was for hand washed dishes. I had a drying rack on the runnels. Never had water on the floor. However, my soapstone fabricator did not make them wide enough so they were not as easy to clean as they should have been. I'm told best size is about a finger wide.

For my new kitchen I'm thinking about getting a recesses drainer carved into the stone instead of runnels. I've seen this done and it look great and is easy to clean. Since I always have a drying rack out I'm not worried about limiting the use of the space.

@User same situation as you - my drying rack is overflowing after dinner...or lunch...or breakfast, hah! I’ll be glad when the hungry children go back to in person school.

@Mamaham_NC_Zone7 love that sentiment!

It is too short to dry *most* dishes, but we have really, really, really hard water so I do dry my wine glasses.

I don't like the "permanence" of the runnels, myself. And I do think they'd be crud / water spot collectors (see above about the water issues in my corner of the world). I would rather a really large sink, or a "classier" looking drying rack; we opted for the former - a 36" single basin which holds a drying rack nicely as needed.

What are the dimensions of the sink/runnels you're looking at?

can't you do a double sink w/a dish drainer on one side?

if not, cant you just do a draining mat? this way your marble wont' get ruined

Get a large workstation sink. It comes in handy for multiple scenarios. But acting as a drying rack is one at which it excels. Cutting down on items you need to hand wash is beneficial for the hand washer as well as the planet. Modern DW’s use 2-3 gallons total. For almost every item that cannot go in a DW, there exists equal quality ones that can.

You might be surprised at how many people are doing double dishwashers in “normal” remodels. Whatever those are. It’s virtually financially equal compared to a cabinet purchase. But it gets those cluttered dish drainers off the counters. Even if that 2nd DW is being used as a drying rack, with a drying cycle only, people still consider that a functional improvement. That clear counter look makes a kitchen seem bigger and more spacious. Order out of chaos. I’ve had big family clients who didn’t even have a “dish cabinet”. They alternated between Dirty and Clean dishwashers. It took off the pressure to empty the DW and put away dishes, and solved a lot of family strife.

I use this bad boy

Completely awesome. rolls right up when I don't want it around . I can throw it in the dishwasher to clean it. Added bonus it is also a trivet for hot items so for instance when I pulled my Turkey out in the huge coating pan and needed a safe place to place it so I didn't scorch my quartz counters this did the trick. It can be used to bake too. SO many things! My German mother in law was so impressed she took half a suit case of them to Germany with her as gifts for her friends and family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJH-R_ajhbQ

My kids would be experiencing some strife if they didn't unload the dishwasher lol

I contemplated putting runnels in my countertop as I was used to having a built in drain board on my 1960's American standard SS sink. (Pictur below is an Elkay but mine was very similar.

In the end I opted to go with the Franke Orca sink with the uppper half rack on the right. The only downside is without a deisgnated drain board my family has lost the concept of a "clean" side. It's a daily struggle.

I agree on no runnels if not for anything else this eats up useful counter space...and probably needs a more scientific application than todays stone installers are trained for..

If you want a drain board sink, just get a drain board sink. They are still made by a couple of manufacturers, or Dino Rachiele can make anything you desire custom. I don’t get trying to shame people with more means and space opting for double dishwashers. It’s a great choice for many families.

https://www.elkay.com/products/d66294.html

https://www.rachiele.com/drainboard-sinks-copper.aspx

Most average people don't have enough counter space to devote to runnels. If an ugly plastic or metal dish rack is the problem, I solve it with a wood folding dish rack. I store it above the refrigerator in a deep cabinet that was made for upright tray storage with dividers. When dishes are washed by hand, I lay down a pretty cloth dish towel, put the wooden rack on that, stack everything, come back and put it away when they are dry and put the rack away. I like the look of dishes drying on the counter. It looks like a kitchen. [g] But I don't want something sitting there all the time waiting for use. I have a small kitchen and I need that counter space. And really, I don't like the look of runnels in the counter either. So to each his own, but this is another option.

Folding dish rack

Love my runnels, which area finger width, tapering to a point. They are not difficult to clean, and I've never had crud in them. We do have hard water, but the deposits end up on the flat surface, too. I clean with vinegar and a scrubbie when the deposits start to bother me, but that wouldn't be an option with marble.

I also love my microfiber drying mat for extra items. When the items are removed, I hang the mat over my glass towel bar to air out and dry.

Hard to clean and not very useful. A second dishwasher is far more useful.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH can you send a pic? Also curious about this glass towel bar!

Just a thought: why not purchase two or three drying mats and let the wet one hang to dry over the laundry sink while a dry one is laid out for the next use? If you have runnels cut into your counter, you will want the runnels polished to encourage rapid draining, and wide enough to allow a sponge to be run through them for cleaning. I would be concerned about the runnels in marble weakening the strength of the marble slab itself unless the slab is thicker than normal for a counter.

Runnels in progress in salvaged epoxy resin lab top:

Countertop project was DIY with the help of my father, brother, and BIL. I routed and polished the runnels myself.
Sometimes I use the dish drainer on the runnels, or sometimes in the sink. I usually wash items in a mixing bowl or whatever large vessel might already be dirty.

Glass towel bar is vintage--IIRC, I bought it at Goodwill. I can't find a pic of it attached to island, but it's mounted under the edge of the counter across from the perimeter sink. Here's a pic of it sitting on a small table, before I attached it to the island apron. I had to remove it for a while when the grandsons were smaller, because they liked to swing on it. ;)

Although I know single bowl undermount sinks are all the rage in the US, I am putting a large, double bowl, stainless steel, top mint sink with an attached drainboard in my kitchen. And I am planning to use honed marble countertops. I agree with the commentators from outside the US who live in countries where drainboards are pretty much the norm. A drainboard sink is the most practical type there is.

The reason under mount sinks are so popular is that they function so well... no lip to interfere with wiping the countertop clean...and things into the sink...also...marble has been replaced with more low maintenance materials... the runnels are less used as so few people rely heavily on hand washing all their dishes... so practical means different things to different people...

“2 dishwashers? good lord.”

I have two dishwashers, and it’s fantastic. We think nothing of a kitchen with two ovens, and my second oven only gets used once or twice a year. The second dishwasher? All the damn time.

@btydrvn i agree. i am constantly wiping all the crumbs etc directly from my countertop right into the sink. would not go back to top mount sink.

Not a dish rack, but you get the idea.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC I’m not sure what your photo is showing...did the rest of your countertops darken besides where the dish rack sat?

I literally never put away my dishrack, it's in use all day every day (like I said, tons of things that can't be put in a dishwasher). even when we host a party, I just empty it out so it looks ok. but Joseph makes a good point. that discoloration definitely confirms my want for a proper drainboard.

julieste, btydrvn: you can get an under mount sink with a drain board! best of both worlds.

Some of us just don’t want a drain board!.. my solution for draining wet dishes is a cloth mat I made from double layer of heavy cotton fabric... after use I hang it on a towel rack...presto ... more available countertop space..

Fabric drying mats are available in stores as well

"@Joseph Corlett, LLC I’m not sure what your photo is showing...did the rest of your countertops darken besides where the dish rack sat?"

Photo is of a potential customer's home for whom I could do nothing. Granted, that particular stone is a sponge, but I'm not a fan of leaving mats on countertops.

My experience is that exposure to the stone darkens it over time...this looks like something was kept there all the time... shielding it from the sun?

ILoveMod

Who manufacturers those undermount/drainboard sinks you pictured?

julieste IDK, those were pics I found in an image search, but you can easily google it! keywords: undermount drainboard sink.

My Kraus sink came with one of these. Runnels are sleek... I just can’t imagine always cleaning them and worrying whether I had any residual detergent or oil on the dishes that may stain the stone.

Hillside House, “2 dishwashers? good lord.”

I have two dishwashers, and it’s fantastic. We think nothing of a kitchen with two ovens, and my second oven only gets used once or twice a year. The second dishwasher? All the damn time.

the comment was directed at the other comment who said a client had two DW because of their strife-filled life, couldn't be bothered to empty the clean one.

To me that's just ridiculous, especially if you have children. every night one of them should load/unload the DW. not a big deal.

Now, if you have a super large family that cooks every night and feeds a tribe of people, then you may need two DW'ers. and two ovens. But just to have a 2nd one because you don't feel like emptying the first one?? When you have able bodied kids?? come on. Put those entitled brats to work.

I have 3 DW’s. I suppose I’ll just burn for that overkill. 2 in the kitchen and 1 DW drawer in the bar. Best thing I’ve ever done. There is no dish clutter on my counter.

Just here to say I love the look and function of runnels and drainboard sinks. We plan on getting a double drainboard sink ourselves. We always have dishes or recycling drying, and I hate the look of a dish rack.

“But just to have a 2nd one because you don't feel like emptying the first one?? When you have able bodied kids?? come on. Put those entitled brats to work.”

Wow.

We have a lot of conveniences in our lives to make things easier... like, a dishwasher. Why bother with one at all when you have kids to do the dishes? Making them scrub them all by hand will surely keep those brats in line. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There are alternatives out there.

Having the convenience of the drying rack doesn't mean it has to be ugly

or be seen all the time.

Just had the countertop template guy here today...I want runnels but they've never done them before and he wondered if I'd hate them over time. Wants to make sure they're wide enough to clean and polish well. The husband does the dishes and it's always a flood on the counter so it's ironic that it's for him, as he both hates them and makes a mess. We chose the 50/50 Ruvati workstation over the Kohler mis en place workstation seen here. Love the shelf to clean fish and chicken, etc. but the Ruvati is too beautiful...pix don't do justice....and the compromise was I get my integrated drainboard in quartz. If the ruvati double basin had a shelf i would have installed that.

Runnels are awesome; just be sure they are a finger width wide.