I would never put my one and only sink in the island. 1st of all, it takes up some valuable real estate and secondly, it's too hard to keep tidy and neat ALL THE time. My sink, which is against the wall, is a great place to place all the dirty dishes where no one can see.

I second the recommendation for one sink next to the wall near the dishwasher, and a small prep sink in the island. I don't think you want the main sink in the island for all the reasons you mention. I use the island prep sink for food only. The full sink is for dirty stuff.

water splashes all over the place and not having a wall makes it splash in front of you

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I second the sink and dishwasher on island. Stove behind it and fridge to the side against a wall. Agree no dishrack and soap and sponges get stored in cabinet below sink.

I hate dishracks, so I will always vote no dishracks! After I'm done washing dishes I dry them all and put them away.

This. Although honestly I put as much as I can into the dishwasher. I usually wash and dry the big and fragile things at the same time.

We are getting ready to renovate our kitchen and went through the same thought process. In the end, our architect designed a layout that included a T-shaped island on which we will put the sink on one side and have a seating area on the other side. It looks a lot like this http://www.houzz.com/t_shaped-island-

Not ideal, but given space constraints and our priorities, I believe it's the best solution for us.

We don't have an open floor plan so that takes some of the pressure off having to keep the sink empty.

Anonymous wrote:I second the sink and dishwasher on island. Stove behind it and fridge to the side against a wall. Agree no dishrack and soap and sponges get stored in cabinet below sink.

I hate dishracks, so I will always vote no dishracks! After I'm done washing dishes I dry them all and put them away.

You want two sinks

a small prep sink on the island and a larger full size on on the side.

I second the sink and dishwasher on island. Stove behind it and fridge to the side against a wall. Agree no dishrack and soap and sponges get stored in cabinet below sink.

We have our sink and dishwasher in the island and we love it. But, we don't use a dish rack and we put our dish soap, sponges, etc. in the cabinet below the sink. We have the built in dispenser for hand soap. Looking at a dish rack and sponges would make me crazy. It did make me crazy in our old sink, which was against the wall, so I'm not sure the sink placement is the issue.

Don't you want and need your primary sink next to the dishwasher?

We had a prep sink in the kitchen island in one of our previous houses, but that was in addition to the main sink.

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as an issue. We have our main sink under the window and a prep sink in the island. LOVE using the prep sink in the island.

Is your prep sink large, with a drying rack, dish soap and sponges next to it?

I don't see it as an issue. We have our main sink under the window and a prep sink in the island. LOVE using the prep sink in the island.

Sink against wall. Can you have seating at the island so you don't need the breakfast bar counter? Or, 2nd choice would be to put the sink at the breakfast bar counter. At least there's a bit of a backsplash / shield in that situation. Absolute last choice would be main sink on island.

What is the rest of your layout, and how do you entertain? Do you anticipate that you might, for instance, host people and set out food on the island? Or that people might gather around it? Can it accommodate chairs?

Could any of the appliances on the other counter be moved? Could you add shelving to accommodate them?

Put the sink on the countertop along the wall, and use the island for most prep work.

Does anyone have any thoughts - pro or con - on putting the (only) kitchen sink in the kitchen island, rather than in one of the countertops?

We're building a new home, and we are trying to finalize the kitchen layout. Originally, we had the sink (and dishwasher) in one of the countertops, but we are now adding a taller breakfast bar on the other (breakfast nook)side of that countertop. Moving the sink to the countertop along the wall would be a tight squeeze with the other appliances we have there, so it would limit our prep space along that counter. Our builder has suggested putting the sink in the island, and I wonder if this is wise.

I have looked online and seen plenty of pictures of kitchen islands with sinks. They all look beautiful, but they are also all clean and empty. None of the pictures show a drying rack next to the sink, full of dishes, glasses, and pots. I'm not sure I want to have all of those things on display in the center of the kitchen. The alternative is to put the sink on the countertop along the wall, and use the island for most prep work.

What do you think?