OT(ish) - lies, damned lies and ballet dancers (Grauniad)

[Clive George]

I think they do look pretty. But the one in this house was removed fairly quickly.

[Tim Watts]

Must be a strongly user specific thing - I've never found a use for the weeny sink an often curse the lack of space in the main. Mostly, if I am soaking things, I don't care if I spill more water over them washing my hands or some food items. If I were soaking ingredients (vegetables etc), I'd do that in a clean bowl...

[Tim Watts]

Maybe that's it - have dishwasher, don't hand wash much...

[Tim Watts]

I would imaging it has a tray with a runoff lip that hangs over the sink.

[S Viemeister]

The drainer is designed with a raised lip on three sides and a downward-curving side on the fourth (to place over the edge of the sink) so water drains to the sink, not onto the counter - it behaves like the built-in sort.

Thin, slid in on its side, takes up very little space.

If I had a big kitchen like my Granny's, with a separate scullery, I'd have built-in drainers. But I don't, so I stash the drainer when not needed. The dishwasher takes care of most washing-up.

[S Viemeister]

[Jim Bank]

I did initially because I hadn't had a dishwasher previously. The twin sinks work better for hand dishwashing in the traditional way with soapy water in one and clean rinse water in the other.

I do in fact have a much bigger stainless steel sink in the laundry but don?t actually do much that needs it and what little there is isnt stuff normally done in the kitchen.

That is with a dishwasher used all the time tho.

I would find a very large thing to soak the very dirty full sized, 750ml beer bottles in that have been used for tomato sauce and have not been rinsed out when the sauce is used that I get from garage/yard sales but I really need something much bigger than even the biggest kitchen sink for that stuff. Makes a lot more sense to use one of those massive great plastic things that have to be moved with a forklift and have that in the backyard or shed for those and you don?t do that that often anyway.

[News]

Good point. We didn't have a dishwasher in the house with the twin sinks.

Mentioning dishwashers, ours (Cheapo Beko Tesco) stopped draining properly, leaving an inch or so of water in the bottom of the machine. Removed and cleaned the filters which were not particularly manky, and that helped, but did not completely clear the problem. Ran the hottest wash and that seems to have fixed it, the implication being that something disgusting had slowly built up in the drainage area.

[News]

I'm sitting here smiling to myself. This is very much a male dominated group, yet we must be modern men. The subject of kitchens or any part of kitchens seem to attract more views that almost any other :-)

[Tim Lamb]

In message , News writes

I think you have misinterpreted the direction of interest.

Big sink uses more hot water, wife does not pay the bills.

Sealant issues are a source of criticism directed at the d-i-y dept.

Broken crockery is perhaps a joint concern but the clatter of utensil against ceramic may cause crossword interruption and domestic disharmony.

[Tim Streater]

With an SS sink with built in drainer, this is a non-issue.

Or the breakage caused by clatter of china against ceramic sink, much less likely with an SS sink and drainer.

The other aspect is this shitty faux-marble or granite top, where you can never really tell if it's clean or not, and which is entirely unforgiving in the clatter situation.

Our replacement kitchen, pencilled in but not yet scheduled, will do away with all these impracticalities.

[David]

You transfer either to a plastic chair or (I think) to a water resistant small wheel chair. Not had to do this yet.

Main thing is to have enough room to get the wheel chair to (but not in) the shower area.

For those with wet towels and toilet paper the room is probably too small and/or not well ventilated and heated.

No rust on out towel rail as yet.

Cheers

Dave R

[Tim Watts]

You want to run a hot wash once a week and run some dishwasher cleaner through at least 4 times a year IME - the former will keep the bugs down and the latter does seem to work rather well. For the latter, I take the filters out, clean the lumpy bits off and then put them loose in the machine so they get washed too.

[Tim Watts]

I lived alone for some years in my little flat and I can certainly clean and cook.

Which actually leads me to going rather mental at the kids for leaving all their crap everywhere.

[Tim Watts]

I was looking at stone as I hate chipboard tops.

However, we ended up with pitch pine, which is rare (our kitchen maker imports it by the container load, as the paperwork and shipping is a hassle, smaller quantities would not be practical).

It's damn good stuff - even when the oil layer wears down, it doesn't care about water. And reoiling is pretty simple - clean, dry and wipe, perhaps once a year, maybe twice in the sink area. Easy to clean and very forgiving to glasses.

[Clive George]

How about sharia immigrant kitchens? :-)

[whisky-dave]

Maybe it's because we keep gettign nagged to imporve things or after the DIY tools and garden tools are brought, kitchen tools are the most fun.

[News]

Interestingly, I wrote the above yesterday morning and, by the time I used the DW later, an inch of water had built up in the bottom of the machine again. Last night, I ran the hottest wash and afterwards, no water in the bottom. By this morning, there is perhaps half an inch of water in the bottom again. Time for further investigation.

[News]

In message , Tim Lamb writes

My comment was slightly tongue in cheek but, whatever the reason, be it cost, practicality, aesthetics or something else, it is true that anything relating to kitchens always seems to attract a lot of interest.

The aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder, cost is not necessarily relevant as some will always go for the cheapest whereas others will go for a known 'top name' brand and practicality? My practical is your impractical. Look at the debates on type of worktop (Formica, slate, wood etc). sinks (Butler, SS, single, double etc), cookers (range, built in, single or multiple ovens, fuel type etc). That is before we mention flooring, lighting, equipment and more.

Not that I'm complaining - I enjoy the debates, and hope to gain the benefit of the experience of others, however entrenched my own views.

[Chris J Dixon]

Grit in the inlet valve? Or does it have some form of water storage system to reduce consumption?

Chris