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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Important kitchen sink poll

138 replies

noblegiraffe · 03/05/2021 15:52

Really dredging the bottom of the barrel with lockdown conversation topics, I was discussing with a friend how we'd been looking round a house and the draining board was on the wrong side of the kitchen sink. It was on the left, which is stupid, because most people will want to use their right hand to take the wet crockery and put it on the draining board, particularly as it is slippery, and having the draining board on the right is the most efficient way to do this.

My friend insisted that their draining board was on the left, but not only that, all draining boards they had ever known were on the left and that this was fine.

So which side should the draining board be on by rights?

YABU: Left hand side
YANBU: Right hand side (obviously)

OP posts:
Orangebug · 04/05/2021 10:25

When we got a new kitchen I had this argument with DH. He said that with the new layout it would make more sense to have it on the left. I explained to him that draining boards always had to be on the right (obviously).

I even started thread about it, and was genuinely surprised to find that lots of MNers thought it was fine on the left Shock

So we had it on the left. And it's fine. Sorry OP.

Thatisnotwhatisaid · 04/05/2021 10:27

You’ve really made me think hard about all of the houses I’ve lived in plus houses I’ve visited. They were all on the right hand side.

AlmostSummer21 · 04/05/2021 10:30

@pigsDOfly

Mine is on the left.

Don't do a great deal of washing up as I have a dishwasher, but when I do wash up, being right handed, I wash the pan, or whatever, with a sponge in my right hand, rinse it under running water and put it onto the draining board with my left hand.

If the draining board was on the right I'd have to put the sponge down in order to put the pan on the draining board.

^this.

Mine is currently on the right and when I look at sinks, that's correct!

But actually I think it would be better to the left as I do spend a lot of time putting the sponge/brush/cloth down or trying to put things on the drainer crack handedly with my left hand.

I'm putting a new kitchen in soon and I'm still undecided. Sink is being moved and I can try it here as there's no room to the left.

mistermagpie · 04/05/2021 10:31

Our draining board in on the left. Ive literally never given it a seconds thought until right now! We do have a dishwasher, but I've never noticed it being a problem when I've been washing up I don't think. I'm right handed.

Thinking about it, most people I know have theirs on the right and it's been on the right in every other house I've lived in...

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 04/05/2021 14:14

What? The poll is now 50:50, what’s with this late surge of left hand fans?

Out of my current 3 kitchens

Grin I’m assuming different houses and you’re not just a really big fan of kitchens.

OP posts:
MereDintofPandiculation · 04/05/2021 14:38

I’ve considered the brush issue and wonder why you are not putting your brush down to rinse the plate of soapy water before putting it on the rack? Because a) the tap is useable without putting down the brush b) she has her tap running at a steady trickle for rinsing

But just because you're putting the brush down to turn the water on doesn't mean you want also to transfer the dish to the other hand to put it on the drainer.

ofwarren · 04/05/2021 14:44

Ours is on the right

listsandbudgets · 04/05/2021 14:45

can't vote... sink in kitchen right, sink in utility room left (presumably whoever lived here before me was far keener on washing up etc. than me to have 2 sinks!)

I'm left handed so prefer the utility room sink

AryaStarkWolf · 04/05/2021 14:47

It's on the left in my house, I've seen it on both sides though, usually to do with space, in my house the space on the right is too small in between the sink and cooker for it to be on the right

sanityisamyth · 04/05/2021 14:49

Mine is on the right. Seems most logical as most people are right handed.

LongIslandIcedT · 04/05/2021 14:50

I don't have a drainer, I think right hand is right but I guess depends on how the kitchen is set up.

WhatAmIWorth · 04/05/2021 15:11

My parent's have one on the left and MIL's is on the right. I'd prefer one on the right, I think, and I'm right handed. Instead, I have a flat, black countertop that slopes ever so slightly away from the sink and we have very hard water...

Twenty2 · 04/05/2021 15:17

@sanityisamyth

Mine is on the right. Seems most logical as most people are right handed.

See, I think for a right-hander, it's more logical to have it on the left, unless you use your cleaning implement in your non- dominant left hand, which seems odd?

littlemisskt · 04/05/2021 15:58

@noblegiraffe

And left was really annoying and wrong, yes?
It was because it was at the edge of the worktop but if it was the other way round there wouldn’t be anywhere to hold the dishes awaiting washing or the draining board would be under a cupboard - equally annoying.
EversoDelighted · 04/05/2021 16:02

Ours is on the left (we are all right handed) and it is absolutely fine. Indeed we need to make the decision for our new kitchen very shortly and we discussed having it on the right instead and agreed that that would be weird and left was better.

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 04/05/2021 16:14

noble you have shocked me to my core. I have always, always heeded your views on maths, further maths (absolutely not my area of expertise) your views on school safety, teaching. But a draining board on the right? No. Just no. Grin

99% of my stuff gets loaded into the dishwasher, we wash some pans by hand. I use a brush/cloth in my right hand, never fill a sink, so always under a running tap, clean and rinse said pan always holding it and turning it with my left hand and once all soapy suds are removed it gets put on the draining board on the left. A child then dries it and puts it away. Not any child, just my own children.

Confusedandshaken · 04/05/2021 16:21

I've never thought about it before but ours is on the left in this house and was also on the left in our last two houses. Which suits me because I'm a leftie. But in my first home it was on the right. It never struck me as inconvenient though. I don't think it's a north/south thing though because all these sinks were well within the M25.

BluebellCockleshell123 · 04/05/2021 16:30

I don’t mind which side is the draining side. The most important thing is that is should be at the opposite side to the dishwasher so that the dirty dishes can be put the side of the sink that is closest to to dishwasher.

Piggywaspushed · 04/05/2021 17:49

benchofdoom Grin

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 04/05/2021 18:38

Areas that @OnTheBenchOfDoom is not an expert in and should defer to noblegiraffe on:

Maths
Further maths
Which side of the sink the draining board should go on (the right, obvs)

Grin
OP posts:
Original poster
noblegiraffe · 04/05/2021 18:40

See, I think for a right-hander, it's more logical to have it on the left, unless you use your cleaning implement in your non- dominant left hand, which seems odd?

But then I would have to slot fragile items into the rack with my weak and inept left hand....dangerous.

OP posts:
Purplewithred · 04/05/2021 18:44

Sorry but I have absolutely no opinion on this one!

nonevernotever · 04/05/2021 19:56

No draining board here. Or dishwasher for that matter. But we have a double sink and one of those drainers that fits over the sink so we change sides each week when we clean the sink. Best of both worlds 😁

Cipot · 04/05/2021 20:00

You can choose. But you're restricted by the space around the sink area. So for us if we'd had the drainer on the right it would have been over the corner cupboard and inaccessible.

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 04/05/2021 20:20

@noblegiraffe by the poll, you are clearly in the wrong. 51% are saying left.

But as I am reminded by my two sons who love all things maths and as you yourself are a mathematician there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Wink