Why You Might Want A Chef Sink
Monday, October 22nd, 2018
You’re not a professional chef, but you play one at home. Preparing meals for your family and friends is a big part of your life, and something that provides a great break from your work day. You invested in a set of quality knives and pots to make cooking easier, and buy only organic produce and grass-fed meats. These are all extremely helpful in creating healthful meals in your kitchen, but what if there were an added ingredient for easier preparation, serving and cleanup afterward?
That ingredient is a chef sink. It isn’t especially new, but it’s gaining tremendous popularity in residential kitchens, especially among serious home cooks, and the pricing and selection continue to improve. The chef sink – also called a work station sink – typically includes accessories that aid in meal prep, like cutting boards, knife holders, ingredients holders and colanders.
A chef sink can make meal prep and cleanup faster and easier. PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANKE
It also typically includes accessories for easier cleanup, like drain boards, drying mats and sponge holders. These accessories usually slide across the single or double basin on built-in sink ledges, or secure to the side of the sink. Many of the accessories are dishwasher safe, as well, which further shortens kitchen cleanup chores.
Chef sinks can also help you entertain at home with accessories designed to turn the sink into extra counter space with double as serving boards, ice bucket stands and snack holders. This can be a serious boon to those with small kitchens. Sizes range from a compact single bowl sink to a three-person work station.
Costs are going to vary widely by features, size and brand. For example, the recently-released Franke Chef Center from the Swiss manufacturer starts at $1,885 on Ferguson’s website; there is a larger XL model, as well. Germany-based Blanco makes a suite of work station accessories for its Quatrus collection, with its Small Single Bowl R15 model priced at $421 (plus separately priced accessories) on Build.com and ideal for compact city kitchens at just 22 inches wide. There are numerous larger Quatrus sinks as well.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
There are also chef sinks from off-brands available online for as little as $180, but when choosing a hard-working fixture meant to last for a decade or longer, most professionals would recommend a proven supplier.
You don't need a large kitchen to take advantage of a chef sink's conveniences. PHOTO COURTESY OF BLANCO
The H3 of chef sinks is probably The Galley’s Ideal Work Station 7 with its 81-1/2 inch span, nine tool culinary kit and $6,995 MSRP, but the U.S.-based manufacturer also makes more compact (and price-conscious) models. The IWS7 is available through a dealer network that can be found on the company’s site. Galley might also get credit for bringing chef sinks to the residential kitchen. Roger Shollmier, a custom kitchen designer in Tulsa, saw the need for a superior sink that could serve as the kitchen’s hub. He created one for his home, then to fulfill friend and client requests, and then created The Galley, LLC in 2011 to meet increasing demand. He sold the company in 2014, but still assists its network designers with planning Galley work stations in their client projects.
A chef sink can be a tremendous asset in entertaining at home. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GALLEY
A number of popular manufacturers offer chef sinks now in everything from stainless steel to granite to fireclay. Most are under-mounted, which means a more complex replacement and installation than a builder-grade drop-in model.
By Jamie Gold
