Pros and Cons of different types of sink?

[User1055]

I'm hoping to get a new kitchen and so I popped to a showroom on the way home from work today. They had quite a variety of sink types - stainless steel, ceramic, composite, butler, single bowl, double bowl, one and a half bowl, etc! It was overwhelming as it hadn't even crossed my mind that there were so many options! I have a VERY small kitchen, so that will impact my choices.

So what are the pros and cons of the styles/sizes and the different materials please?

We have just moved into a house with a ceramic sink in the kitchen. I hate it. It's very bulky, the drainer is high and small so standard draining basket type things don't work. If you don't use a bowl in it I'm terrified everything will smash in the bottom.

We have a dishwasher so it's not a big deal but do have some cups etc that are hand wash only.

In our old house we had one and a half stainless steel. Easy to clean, if it got stained you could bleach it and it would come up shiny again and the half bowl meant you could rinse things off while doing the washing up.

Thank you! I think you're right about the ceramic one - I think it may feel too big and chunky for such a small kitchen and I would feel the same about dropping something on it.
I have a one and a half stainless steel at the moment and can see its positives. But I find it shows marks, especially now its older and minor limescale build up shows more on the draining board, so I feel I'm polishing it every few minutes. So I wondered if other options would be better.
I liked the look and feel of the composite one, but there was a sticker on it in the showroom about not using it with a water-boiler tap and if you strain food from a boiling pan use cold water to maintain the life of the sink and that rang alarm bells for me.

We have a (very old) composite sink and it is so stained it looks revolting. We'll get a new kitchen eventually so it's not worth replacing, but I hate it.

We have a composite under mount which suits me but really it comes down to personal taste. I think if you’re low on space a single large bowl can often work well, but the advantage of a 1.5 bowl is the two drains. The trade off will be in the bowl size.

Well I have a double belfast because I loved the look of it. MN said no to ceramic sinks becsuse they'll chip, no to butler/belfast because I'll have bad back, blah, blah, blah. I disagree. This is the best kitchen sink I've ever had, and I had granite composite, stainless steel, built in, singles, and singles with drainers. Would I recommend? Yes, 100%. In fact if I ever move, I'll replace it with the same on in the new kitchen and change the worktop to be able to install it, if needed.

Butler - everything breaks 🙈
We have gone for a Franke sink with the largest bowl we can get so makes washing up large pans a doddle
Sink and a half is no good IMO as the sink itself is too small IMO
If you live in a hard water area stainless steel is easiest to keep looking shiny and clean - anything black will just look discoloured after a while

You need to decide what you will use it for. For me sinks are used for washing big pans and babies / dogs and everything else goes into the dishwasher. So I got the biggest single bowl ceramic sink I could afford. It is brilliant and i fill it up for DS (who is a toddler) for quick baths too. It’s so easy to clean and maintain too & looks as good as new with a wipe.

I think the people who say that stainless steel is easier to maintain either don’t do it properly or don’t see the scratches and limescale and scuffs that build up over time. It used to take me an hour every evening to properly maintain my steel sink.

I’ve been through most types of sink. My favourite was full size double sink in stainless steel. Wash in one, drain in the other. No need for cluttered drawing board.

Draining*

Newish kitchen here with a darkish ceramic sink and love it. With stainless, always found unless you're constantly polishing it they'll look like crap, every water drop shows. The one drawback of ceramic is you have to be careful about heat - pouring hot water in is fine, but no moving hot pots and pans there off the hob.

Our old house had a butler sink which I was in love with on viewing. I hated it by the end. Impossible to keep clean. We replaced it with a stainless steel Franke sink which I adored. I'll have one again when we refit our kitchen in the new house.

I'd also always always get a double sink (one big, one small) because there is nothing more annoying than filling up the sink with soapy water and realising one of your cups or saucepans has liquid left in it!

We have a big white ceramic sink in the utility room - was here when we bought the house. I’m not a fan - I find it weirdly hard to clean. In the kitchen that we put in, I chose a corian sink with a stainless steel base and this is the best of both worlds for me. I love how seamless the corian looks with the draining board and rest of the kitchen work tops and it is super easy to keep clean

Ooh yeah I didn't think about limescale in a stainless steel sink. We're in a soft water area so don't have problems with it!

Op I was struggling with a similar problem months ago until I found, blanco, etagon sink range.
It's a large bowl with a ridge inside which has two rails and serves as an internal drainer as well.

I have an undermounted stainless steel sink. It’s a single, but has a removable wire draining rack on the bottom, meaning the sink and plates don’t get scratched. A one and a half sink would be good, though. The main draining rack is grooves cut into the granite worktop alongside.

It used to take me an hour every evening to properly maintain my steel sink.

OMFG, are you actually expecting people to believe that you spent SIXTY MINUTES "maintaining" your sink EVERY EVENING? How could you have found time between vacuuming the entire house eighteen times a day?!

Limescale is one thing - when we lived in a hard water area this was something that annoyed me, but five minutes of cleaning every day or two would keep it looking just fine.

Scratches are another thing: for me, they're just not an issue. Stainless steel sinks are supposed to get scratched. To my mind, they look at their worst when they're a week old, as they're mostly shiny but some scratched areas. Once the whole surface is similarly scratched they develop more of a brushed/matt look which keeps looking good.

My parents recently had a new kitchen, and kept the same stainless steel sink they've had for thirty years now. Good quality stainless steel sinks are bombproof as far as I can tell.

We have a butler sink with a stainless steel sink grid. The sink grid is amazing. It stops things from breaking and protects the sink but also allows you to face dishes in the sink and still pour liquids down the drain.
My main problem with the sink is that the flat bottom doesn't drain away debris so we also have a tiny squeegee ice scraper thingy fir the bottom.

We've lived in (too) many houses in various areas - hard and soft water. Our current sink is the most practical we've had - 1.5 undermount stainless steel (and silestone quartz worktop). Its easy to maintain and clean and stuff doesn't break if you drop it in.

Worst was a black speckled composite one that was a total nightmare to keep clean. Constantly looked white from the limescale. (And combined with the solid oak worktop that kitchen had - worst combo; never ever again). Not a fan of ceramic either - it's easy to maintain but anything thin breaks (champagne flutes etc).

Yes, that’s the sort of grid/drainer that I’ve got too, but my sink is stainless steel.

My DD has a small kitchen area which has been refitted recently. She has a Stainless 1.5 Franke Box with chopping boards stored in the 1/2 element of it. There’s also a Franke Roll Mat which is a roll away drainer. You have to look on the web site to see how these work. Genius for a small kitchen though.

I have a large kitchen with a big double ceramic sink. If takes baking trays and anything you throw at it. It sits under the work surface bug is “exposed” at the front. Cleaning - just sprinkle on dishwasher powder and rinse with hot water. Sparkling every time. Joseph bowl in one sink. I have a separate stainless under mount sink for veg prep. Cleans in about 30 seconds with dishwasher powder!!

Choice depends on the size of your kitchen.

I’ve had all sorts of sinks over the years and in new kitchen have gone back to stainless steel. 1 1/2 bowl in kitchen and a huge single bowl top mount in util. Kitchen one is fine for odds and ends whereas util one can get all of the oven trays in it lying flat! Depends on your space but if not huge then go fora large single bowl as that will be more useful. Top mounts are also easy to replace if you ever need to - under mounts rather more difficult.

I have a stainless steel one that sits under the work surface so the work surface is cut to form the draining board. It's the tap that's the problem. It splashes everywhere as the water has such a long drop. Both are fine as we have a dish washer but wouldn't be great if we didn't the water doesn't drain very well and we would be forever cleaning up splashed water.

Have had stainless and butler.
Absolutely 100% butler every single time.

Stainless looks crap with dried water (which is all the time) and limescale.

A nice deep butler’s sink, you can soak pots and pans without it being visible. Same with any dirty dishes, plates if you don’t have a dishwasher.
We have granite work tops and the draining area is the same granite so doesn’t show up limescale at all (again unlike our previous stainless steel drying area)

I think you can get a rubber mat for the floor of the sink if you are worried about breaking things, although we have never had that problem.

Stainless steel double sink

Practical, looks nice and doesn't end up looking manky

I have a black composite one which I really like but it does show a white cast on it. I can mostly get rid of it if I use bar keepers friend powder and dry it all afterwards but of course it comes back after a while. Still trying to find a more long lasting solution!