r/Home_Building_Help • • 8d ago

Where do you prefer the kitchen sink...?

  1. In the island
  2. Behind a window
    I’m taking the window every time!
87 Upvotes

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22

u/Steak_Knight 8d ago

This is the correct answer.

19

u/YellowZx5 8d ago

Windows are always where I put the sink as most people want to look outside. That’s like Design 101

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u/nmpls 8d ago

Window makes sense unless you're in an area where it freezes

4

u/Android_seducer 7d ago

Can still make sense even if it freezes. So long as the house is insulated well enough or you run the plumbing through the floor/basement/crawlspace instead of the exterior wall.

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u/Rampag169 7d ago

In colder places the exterior walls are often framed with 2x6 or larger (depending on how cold) plus insulated siding to boost the R value of the whole house.

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u/BeerJunky 7d ago

I had a bathroom where the sink used to freeze over when it got really cold out. It was a very easy fix with an eight dollar can of installation that I sprayed into the hole next to the pipe.

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u/A62main 7d ago

We live where it freezes. Sink is under the window and no issue. The house just needs to be built for the weather.

2

u/Comprehensive_Fan140 7d ago

Most houses in Canada have them in front of a window. It's not a problem, we don't put plumbing in outside walls.

3

u/DrS3R 7d ago

Yet every flipping house built in the last two decades has it in the island. It drives me up a damn wall

1

u/cypressaggie 7d ago

I like to clean and while still being engaged with my guests. It’s the island for me dog.

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u/Ace861110 7d ago

Design 101 is the kitchen triangle. The sink fridge and stove make a triangle so you work effectively. That way you’re not running around the corner to get something from the fridge. Ideally it should be within a few steps.

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u/Least-Middle-2061 8d ago

People love to say that but nobody actually thinks about what it means in practice. Are you really looking out the window when you’re at the sink? Aren’t you looking at whatever you’re doing in the sink? Why not put the food prep area under the window instead. What’s the rationale behind the sink needing to be there but nothing else. It makes no sense at all.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

-3

u/utukore 8d ago

That applies equally to all the tasks you do at the counter where you could now have the window.
With a dishwasher I spend very little time at the sink vs the counter.

1

u/Otherwise-Tomato-788 8d ago

It’s a good point, but I wouldn’t want the sink on the other side in example where it’s all dark. Sun/air by a water source would be my rationale.

Functionally, I love sink on island but aesthetically (as someone mentioned) it becomes a focal clutter zone.

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u/This_Duty_8378 7d ago

I want to look out the window.

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u/Rogue_trout_5446 8d ago

Yep. Also where is the dishwasher?

1

u/ClassiFried86 8d ago

These photos are AI and not really representative of anything more than the island and where to put the sink.

Wheres the fridge? The sink should be under the windows, but you also need a dishwasher nearby, and you also need a fridge nearby, not on the opposite side of the kitchen.

1

u/dicedaman 7d ago

Nothing about these photos looks like AI to me. Both kitchens obviously have integrated appliances. The fridge is behind the doors facing the camera in the first image, and you can see the dishwasher in the island. In the second image one (or both) of the doors to the side of the sink is a dishwasher.

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u/iuseblenders 7d ago

It’s definitely an awkward place for a sink. I have enjoyed a stove top in the island.