The trouble with second sinks is, the location is critical to the functionality. If it isn’t placed within the correct cooking zone, or with enough counter space around it, then it becomes dysfunctional, a waste of counter and money.

So how do you know where to put it?

To answer that, we have to look at the purpose it’s going to serve. Many designers and architects are focused on the placement of the “main sink” and relegate the secondary sink to anywhere it will fit. Too often that is outside the cook’s main work zone or else it’s too close to the cooktop and doesn’t have enough counter to be useful.

Clean-Up Sink

The first thing we need to change is the language, in a kitchen with two sinks there should be no such think as a “main” sink. Instead, we should name the sinks according to their purpose “clean-up” and “prep.” These sinks are equally important, they just have different functions.

The clean-up sink is for washing dishes, pots, and glassware. It needs to have counter on both sides, ideally no less that 3-feet, so that dirty dishes can move assembly-line style from one side to the other. Around the clean-up sink should be wall cabinets for nearby plate and glass storage, the dishwasher, a trash pull-out for scraping garbage that can’t go down the disposal and a base cabinet with at least one drawer for storing clean silverware. When all these things are located in proximity to each other, you have a clean-up station that minimizes the work of clearing the table, cleaning dishes, loading and unloading the dishwasher and setting the table.

Prep Sink in Action

The prep sink is for food preparation. This is the sink that should go within the cooking zone and have close proximity to both the refrigerator and the cooktop or range. It also needs counter. Lots of it, and not broken up into pieces. Unlike the clean-up sink where work flows in a predictable process from one side to another, at the prep sink the most important criteria is that the counterspace be continuous. You want to have as much counter in one big piece as you can get. On islands, this often means placing the sink off-center on one end or another. If you are a fanatic for symmetry, get over it. You want to have at least six feet of continuous counter space if at all possible. This allows you to spread out ingredients, tools, cutting boards, bowls and small appliances and work with them without having to hop from one side of the sink to the other. Sixty-five percent of the time spent in the kitchen is on food preparation. Only fifteen percent is on clean-up. So if you want to enjoy a view, put your prep sink under the window. If you want to be social with your family, put your prep sink on the island.

There is one more myth about prep sinks I would like to dispel, they are not just for large, expensive kitchens. Even small kitchens and the cooks who use them can benefit from having the division between food preparation and clean-up. I urge you, if at all possible, to add a prep sink to your kitchen. You won’t regret it. Consistently, my clients answer that it’s the best feature of their new kitchens and worth every penny.

It used to be that design was only for the high end of the construction market. Affluent homeowners were clients, modest homeowners were consumers (with all the distinctions between service and product that that implies).

HGTV changed that. With shows like Design on a Dime, we were taught how with a little creativity and elbow grease—and most importantly a talented designer—we, too, could have a room with vision and panache. At almost any budget. I mention this show specifically, although there are many others on multiple networks that do the same thing, because it’s a show where a minimum of costs and materials and a maximum of talent on the part of the design team results in spaces that look and feel like they cost much, much more than they did—a perfect example of what something costs being far less than what it is worth.

In remodels the product you purchase is only half the story. Good design—even when executed with cost-effective products—improves quality of life, increases the value of your home and saves you money in the long run. While the upfront costs of a working with a discount remodeling outfit (whether a box store or small showroom) can seem lower, they can be misleading. There can be mistakes—and the costs of replacing or fixing them. Even worse in some case, the emotional, physical, and mental costs of living with an inadequate design solution. (For a concrete example of how professional design can improve a home read my blog postings from April, 2010).

In some cases the cost of hiring a professional designer with experience and vision is exactly the same as hiring a firm with a product-oriented focus. Even if the designer appears more expensive up front, the reality is that designers can often help you offset the cost of their fees with discounts on materials. And designers will typically spend anywhere from two to five times longer on your project than a sales person would (in planning hours, not project duration). The experience they bring to the table can help you avoid costly mistakes.

And even if the designer costs ten percent or even twenty percent more than the discount outfit, you can amortize that cost against the years you live in your home—with the quality-of-life benefits that your designer has created specifically for you and your family, based on your specific needs. Let’s say your project budget is $50,000 but to hire a designer and implement her solution adds ten percent to the bottom line—that’s $5,000 increase for a total of $55,000. Even if you sell your home in five years, you have dramatically improved your quality-of-life for a mere $83 dollars a month. If you plan on living in your home longer, then that number makes even more sense. You’ll get the perfect, uniquely-yours solution for what some people spend on lattes in a month.

Don’t assume you can’t afford great design—just ask!! The answer might surprise you. That being said, beware of the title “designer” on a business card. Most “designers” that you meet in a retail setting are really glorified sales people. Did they guide the process or did you just hand them some measurements and say, “What about this… what about that?” You need someone who can evaluate your needs and make suggestions that you haven’t already thought of. Someone who can think creatively and, yes, challenge your assumptions, helping you to see new possibilities in the same old space.

Okay, enough soapboxing. You are doing a remodel and want to “green” the project. Recycled glass tiles and countertops have caught your eye. Low-VOC (volatile organic compound) cabinets are on the list. You’ve even looked at bamboo or cork flooring. Don’t stop there. Think about your demolition plan.

Yes, I said demolition plan. You could just send your contractor and his subs into the house with Sawzalls and sledge-hammers. That’s how most people do it, and that’s why construction and demolition waste is ads up to 135.5 million tons (click for source).

Instead, donate good condition appliances and even cabinetry to organizations like Habitat for Humanity or sell them to architectural salvage yards.

If your stuff isn’t in good enough condition to be removed and be reused, there’s a way for your project to still be of use to the community, if not the environment.

Call in the Firemen!! That’s right-those hot, strong guys and girls who keep our lives and properties safe. If your home is scheduled for demolition, you can offer the local Fire Department an opportunity to train in it before hand. They will take axes to the doors, cut holes in walls and generally make a mess of things to lean how better to save lives and stop fires from spreading—and YOU can be a part of it! Contact your local Fire Department to schedule this before your “official” demo and help make your community a safer place.

It’s seems strange at first that things like politics, environmentalism, immigration, and ethics can intersect on something as everyday-familiar as our dinner plates. Like many of us who are busy leading lives, working, and raising kids it can be daunting and disconcerting to add one more thing to think about at the grocery store—not just is this affordable/healthy/tasty/will my family eat it? But now also, is this the “right” thing to buy? Can I feel good about spending my money this way?

Kingsolver’s book is no political diatribe. Rather it is an entertaining and engaging look at one family’s attempt to live lightly on the earth. While it has helpful suggestions for all of us who are looking to eat in ways that are healthy for our bodies and the environment, it is not an eco-treatise or heavy-handed pro-organic message. A mixture of anecdotes, recipes, and compact research, you will fly through the book. If you were attracted to Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma but found it a bit too research-heavy, then this is the book for you.

I cannot recommend it enough. It’s a delightful read and you will come away from it with a better understanding of how the food you eat comes to you, and why you should think about it.

For several months now, I have had the following quote as part of my email signature. I can’t remember where I first ran across it but it speaks to me of much more than just the pleasures of a beautifully designed space. As a designer those pleasures are, of course, very near and dear to my heart but this quote hints at the truth that within the oft-perceived “superficiality” of design is the very real affect an environment has on the people who dwell in it—for better or worse.

Leaving homes aside for a moment, I’d like to define dwellings more broadly—after all, when we spend six, eight, or more hours a day at school or work, we can be said to “dwell” in those spaces, too. As any cubicle inhabitant can tell you, a human being’s daily environment will affect him physically and psychologically. If only school architects would remember this. My own high school was a windowless, concrete-block prison—practical no doubt—but hardly conducive to free- or even clear thinking. Contrast that with the gracious, elegant Spanish-style architecture of my college where we benefited not only from that magical technology—windows—and the natural light they provided but from expansive lawns, mature shade trees, walled gardens and roses.

As adults, many of us don’t get to work in an environment of our choosing. Fluorescent lights, lack of privacy, lack of movement when you are chained to a computer—all contribute to the exhaustion we feel at the end of the day—above and beyond the natural amount of tiredness we feel from labor expended. I bring all this up because a client of mine recently commented that she felt guilty for being able to remodel her home. In today’s economy where some people struggle just to pay the mortgage, she is in a position to enhance her home to better meet her families’ needs. While it’s true that remodeling a home seems to be a kind of luxury—and luxury has become a dirty word of late—I want to argue that point a little, at least as it relates to my little corner of the word.

It should not be a “luxury” to have a kitchen that works. It should be a given—in every house, for every household. Certain elements of design—custom cherry cabinets, natural stone counters, expensive glass tile—these things can and should be considered luxury items. But the space-planning? A second sink? Enough counter-space? Quality Appliances? These are things that should be in the Cook’s Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, too many contractors, architects and housing developers think—when they think at all—about the minimum requirements of kitchen: stove, fridge, sink.

Home as Haven. We’ve all heard that phrase. And these days, that haven is needed more than ever. But how can a home be a haven when the room in which you spend a significant portion of your time is working against you? A dysfunctional kitchen—as most are—means that the process of cooking a healthy, cost-effective meal for your family takes twice as long as it should. That’s time you could be spending with your kids, your spouse, your bubble-bath and book. And that doesn’t even take into account the pleasure that cooking can become when the kitchen is designed to make it easier. Why is it considered a luxury to turn a chore into a pastime?

Well, as you can see, my first blog has become somewhat more than I intended. In the future, I will try to stay on target a little better. However, I hope you found something to interest you and I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Thank you,

Moorea Hoffman