Enjoy that timeless apron front charm — with BLANCO’s versatile range of farmhouse-inspired sinks. From rustic kitchens to urban condos, BLANCO shows true innovation in kitchen sink design. See the reasons why Cami Graham of TIDBITS loves her apron front sink!
Cami Graham is the owner, photographer, and writer of her blog, TIDBITS, which features decorating tips, recipes, crafts and more. Cami has been featured in publications such as Better Homes & Gardens and Country Living. We partnered with Cami for her kitchen build, which featured a BLANCO PROFINA sink and EMPRESSA™ faucet. You can read about Cami's project below.
Reposted from TIDBITS.
If you’ve ever had to live without countertops in your kitchen, you are familiar with the joy that fills your heart when you finally have them.
Truth be told, I initially really wanted all marble countertops – but after evaluating the cost of this high maintenance material, we opted for butcher block – something we felt more comfortable doing ourselves and would save us hundreds.
We used white oak wood for our butcher block countertops. Oak is a hardwood, making it a more durable choice for countertops, compared to something like pine, which is a soft wood.
I think white oak is our new favorite wood because it is warm without having dominant red or orange tones in it. We played around with a sample and decided we loved it when we added a pickling stain and then sanded it off.
It leaves some white running through the grain and makes the wood overall softer in color. It is just so pretty. We found our white oak from a friend who has his own finishing company. We were like a couple of kids in a candy store seeing all the beautiful wood he had. It was a pretty easy choice for us to go with the white oak after seeing how lovely it looked.
Our pull-down faucet is the BLANCO EMPRESSA™ Kitchen Faucet in Polished Nickel. I love the slight, warm tone without being too warm. It feels timeless to me and looks great with the marble, which we installed to protect the wood in the splash zone.
Now onto the sink. Which is better – a single basin or a double basin sink? Of course, it comes down to personal preference, but I am here today to tell you the 5 reasons I ADORE my sink.
I drool over large Farmhouse Apron front sinks – the bigger the better! I’m thrilled to tell you about one of my kitchen sponsors, BLANCO, who worked with me to share this fireclay sink with you. This particular sink is their BLANCO PROFINA Apron Front Sink in White. The color, the texture, the size . . . everything is stunning!
I’ve always been a double basin kind of gal. Mostly because that’s what was in all the houses we’ve owned, and I just grew up that way. You washed in one side, rinsed in the other. If they got filled with dirty dishes, you took them out and proceeded to rinse and wash the dishes. I knew nothing else.
It wasn’t until we remodeled our RV that I tried a DIAMOND™ Single Bowl sink. It made sense to get the biggest sink as we could for this small space, to accommodate as much stashing and washing area as possible.
What I didn’t expect was discovering how much I loved my BLANCO sink, and I knew I wanted a large single basin sink for our new pole barn home.
Here are my reasons for choosing a large single bowl farmhouse sink from BLANCO:
Incredibly Beautiful
This big beautiful sink is a show stopper! Admittedly, that’s what drew me to this BLANCO PROFINA Apron Front Sink in the first place. I think it is stunning and beautiful. I love the clean lines, the texture of the polished fireclay and the simple nature of the design.
In truth, as a blogger and designer, this was pretty important to me. It fits with the kitchen so well, and I’m just imagining all the lovely flower-filled sink shots I can get, and how perfectly a pretty little towel can drape over the front. But of course, for something as important as the kitchen sink – we can’t rely on looks alone. Let’s talk about how it functions from day-to-day.
Easily Hide Dirty Dishes
The second reason I love my large BLANCO single basin sink is how well it hides and corrals dirty dishes. I’m a busy work-from-home mama of four and can’t possibly keep up with dishes all day every day, but I don’t necessarily like to leave them stacked all over the countertop at all times until I get to them.
I am sure each family is different, but my husband grew up stacking dirty dishes in the sink. I grew up leaving dirty dishes next to the sink on the countertop. As you can imagine, we have some disagreements about what is the best method.
My biggest beef with stacking them in the sink is that you then can’t get to your sink to wash the dishes or fill the basin up with soap until you remove all those dirty dishes you just tossed in there. Or if you need to strain or rinse some produce, you have all these yucky dishes in the way.
But I don’t like them covering the countertop either, so what’s a gal to do?! Well, with the use of this little plastic tub and a large single basin sink, I have found the best of both worlds.
Most of the dirty dishes get corralled inside this tub that sits perfectly to the side of the sink. I can conceal them more with a custom cutting board when I have it out. There is plenty of room left in the sink to rinse, strain and use the sink while these dishes sit in there. If I need more sink space, I simply remove the tub and set it on the countertop.
But typically, the majority of the dirty dishes sit nice and tidy inside this tub until they are ready to be loaded in the dishwasher or hand washed quickly right inside that tub. I find this method better than a double basin because I can move it out of the way when needed and can quickly dump or drain water. It also does a better job corralling small dirty dishes.
If I am craving a perfectly clean sink, I tuck that plastic tub underneath the sink but for the most part, it lives in the basin.
Easily Wash Large Pots and Pans
Sometimes you find yourself with large sheet pans, stock pots and multiple pots and pans that need to soak and be scrubbed. Having two smaller basins makes this task a bit tricky as you have to tip and rotate them. A single large basin sink makes this task so much easier!
I can fit multiple dirty pans in there to be scrubbed, lay sheet pans down to be soaked and cleaned, and it’s especially nice when I have my biggest heavy cast iron pan and can lay it down flat to be washed. This is such a nice perk of a large single basin; I don’t think I could ever go back.
Room for Multitasking
So what if I have dirty dishes in my tub, large pans that need to soak, and steamed veggies that I need to drain? Guess what? You can do all of that at once!
Nine times out of 10, my big single basin is multitasking for me, which is a beautiful thing. It is large enough to handle all the needs of a busy kitchen. I am often soaking heavily coated dishes and hand washing at the same time. I could never do that with my smaller double basins, and I was constantly moving around dirty yucky dishes.
Then there are the added benefits of sink accessories, like placing a cutting board or a drying rack right on the sink.
Conserve Water, Soap and Time
In truth, I thought a large single basin would use more soap and water. I thought this would be a major downside. If you are used to filling up your sink with soapy water to do any hand washing, like I was, you can imagine the larger amount of water and soap needed to fill this big surface area. When your soapy water gets murky, you would have to drain and fill again.
But I have discovered that I rarely use the sink like that anymore! Once I fill up the dishwasher, there are the larger dishes that are left to be hand washed. Rather than filling up the sink with water and soap, I simply add a small amount of water to the larger pots and pans, add a dab of soap, give it a quick scrub and rinse it off.
If that soapy water isn’t too soiled, I’ll actually pour it into the next pan and reuse it. Or, I will add a small amount of water and soap to the plastic tub, hand wash as many dishes as I can, rinse and let dry. I’ve been amazed to find how this makes dish washing faster AND I use less water and soap than I ever have before.
Like I mentioned before, this topic is a personal preference kind of thing. Did I perhaps open your eyes to the possibility of something you would have never considered? Or maybe I am missing the biggest benefits of a double basin. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! I hope it is helpful if you ever find yourself on the market for a new sink.
I can’t recommend BLANCO sinks enough!
Join the club.
Every month we’ll send you the latest kitchen design trends, kitchen reno tips, how-to’s and lots of ideas to inspire your next kitchen project. You’ll also get the inside scoop on our latest product innovations and new product launches!
