Drainer or no drainer?

[dilapidated]

About to buy a sink for our new kitchen.

Do I go drainer or no drainer?

I prefer the look without but DP thinks itl be more practical with one

You are going to want to drain something at some point, so I'd say you'd regret not having one more than having one.

(I hate those little round sinks or butler sinks with no drainer, looks fancy but so impractical!)

I've chosen no drainer for my last two renovations. Have a massive 70 cm wide single bowl sink. In my last house I had this padded microfibre mat which I got out if I needed to leave anything to dry. With this house the sink is on the island so I didn't want any washing up stacked there. We just dry straight away and put it away. Looks so much better.

I do have a large rectangular colander which sits over the side of the sink which I can use to stack up while washing if I need to before I start to dry. Will take a picture so you can see what I mean. That's a good compromise I think? We generally use it to keep sponges and brushes in but maybe once a week if we use a lot of pans it might get used as a drainer.

How about something like this? www.josephjoseph.com/en-gb/flip#reviews

Drainer. Those mats get mucky and mouldy, and who can be bothered to dry up when it happens by itself in an hour or two?

I like the colander solution.

I don't really want a drainer as it will encourage dp to leave things on it.

We have dishwasher so most things will go in there.

Hard water area so hate all the Ayer marks it will leave on the draining board.

Exactly that here with things being left on the drainer. It used to drive me crazy!

The mats are fine if used once or twice a week and washed regularly and left to dry before putting away. But the colander is working better than those as people like your dp would still stack up on the mat and it'd become a permanent thing iyswim.

I disagree with the pp that it's a waste of time to dry up and out away. It looks neater and takes such a small amount of time.

I love the look of no drainer.

If you have a dishwasher you won't usually have things to wash up? So I think you can get away without a drainer.

No drainer if you can get away with it, it looks so much neater.

I'm aleads amazed at people who say they have a dishwasher and so never have any washing up. We have a dishwasher and still end up washing up, especially saucepans. Seriously, how do people fit everything in the dishwasher?

We have a "no washing up in the kitchen" rule, everything that needs washing up gets washed in the utility room. The kitchen looks so much better for it!

We have a double sink and one of them is really just a drainer. I don't think I've ever used it for anything else. I guess it keeps most of the drying up less visible. We have stuff in there after every pretty much meal. Putting pans, bowls etc in the dishwasher is very inefficient, and we've stuff that doesn't fit or can't go in the dishwasher too. No idea why I'd want to dry it up if I didn't have to, but I'm not very minimalist.

Putting pans, bowls etc in the dishwasher is very inefficient

What do you mean by this? Dishwashers are actually very economical and use a lot less water than hand washing.

Yes, when you pack them well. A single pan might take the same amount of space as seven or eight plates, so the water/heat/cleaner is being used to clean much less in comparison. Plus you often need to soak pans so the dishwasher isn't necessarily a good choice.

You can't put non-stick pans in the dishwasher, or 'good' glasses or knives. I have platters and serving dishes that are too big too.

Exactly. I usually need to soak pans, casserole dishes eyc and often they are too big first he dishwasher. Plus there are of us here who have packed lunches, all the plastic containers need to be washed up. I know they can go in the top of the dishwasher but they don't fit nealy there over the prongs and they tend to "catch" water plus the top of the dishwasher us usually too full of mugs and glasses. There is loads of stuff we end up washing.

Thanks all!

we went for a granite Non drainer sink and will get a simple human drainer that can be either placed inside the sink or beside the sink when required.

nooka glad the double sink is working for you that is our plan for our kitchen island, we often find that plastic doesn't dry in the dishwasher....

An I just say that this thread has been a revelation. Never knew about drainage mats! Hate drainers!