Recommendations on sink and sink accesories.

November 4, 2019 5:30 PM

I am looking for recommendations on devices or ways to make washing dishes not so much of a chore.

I live in an apartment with a very small kitchen. Starting from the right side, there's the fridge, then a 19 inches by 24 inches counter area, then a single bowl sink 15 inches floor to wall by 21 inches wide and then another 19" by 24" counter area. Finally on the left is the gas stove.

I have tried the standard drainer on the counter, where I place dishes after washing ( but not rinsing if there are more than a few ) and then rinsing after all of the dishes are washed and stacked. I have tried an over the sink drainer that allowed a little bit more freedom in rinsing but was small enough that I had to stop and dry and put away what I was washing. It also effectively took up half the space of the sink so larger pots and pans were problematic.

Currently I'm using a circular drainer that sits on the counter, that holds more than the other two drainers but still requires a wash, stack, rinse, stack cycle.

Am I missing a setup or method ( wash more often is valid, I suppose but if I get busy or work late 2-3 days can back up )

Images of the drainers.

posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Maybe a larger over-sink drying rack? The kind that leaves the sink free to use, like so, you can spend a lot more or a little less with some price hunting. I have felt this pain, good luck!
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:44 PM on November 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

Do you have a sink stopper? I would soak all the dishes in soapy water, drain it, and then rinse or wash again as needed so you only have to put them in the drainer once. You could also get a dish tub to hold the overflow dishes if they don't all fit in the sink?
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:48 PM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have this rack from IKEA attached to the wall over the sink. It's small, but I do find it very useful.
posted by pinochiette at 7:05 PM on November 4, 2019

I have a similar issue and I just gave up one of the counters to put a dish drainer. One doesn't really fit on the counter between my fridge and sink but I put a drain tray over my counter sideways (so it hangs off of the counter on both sides but does drain any dripping water into the sink) and put a pretty large dish drainer on it which holds 2-3 days of dishes (not including pans etc). And I do all my washing and rinsing in the sink and leave the dishes to dry overnight but I could dry them all afterwards and put them away and fold up the dish drainer which is what I might do if I had a super teeny place (image). This is slightly more water-wasteful but not terribly and it makes everything else WORK which is a kindness.
posted by jessamyn at 7:21 PM on November 4, 2019

Rectangular drainers will hold way more than circular ones. I would get the biggest drainer you can. The kind that has prongs all over the sides is good because you can dry cups on them, and it should sit on a rubber mat that has one thin edge so the water drips into the sink.

And washing dishes is way less gross if you use very hot water, brand name dish liquid, and wear well fitting rubber dish gloves (hang to dry over the tap briefly, then store on a clothes peg you mount under the sink).
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:34 PM on November 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I got a bin with a drain in it to help with this (for less than half of the list price, which is high). They also make one with a drying rack insert.

I also got one of these sandwich shaped brushes specially for washing cutlery and find it very helpful.
posted by delezzo at 12:28 AM on November 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I totally feel you. I gave up on drainers, which never hold enough unless I'm only washing a very few items at a time. Instead, I finally bought a big pile of restaurant style cotton dish towels and I put a clean towel down to the right of my single bowl sink and arrange the rinsed dishes and pans to fit on that. I placed a small wooden cutting board against the wall behind the towel so that I can stack plates upright against each other leaning against the cutting board (instead of getting the wall wet); you can also throw a towel over the cutting board if it's a "working" cutting board. Silverware goes into a big mug with paper towelling on the bottom of it. If you put a ridged plastic or metal drainboard under the towel, the upright leaning plates won't slip and fall, and you can store the drainboard under the sink to reclaim your counter space when you don't need it for drying dishes.

The other thing that helps out generally WHEN I REMEMBER, is if I wash one or two things every time I go into the kitchen for anything. This cuts the whole dishwashing ordeal down quite a lot. If brain cooperates.
posted by taz at 12:39 AM on November 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

If you have cupboards above the sink and own the apartment or otherwise have permission to make bigger changes, you could install Finnish-style drying cupboards.
posted by lollusc at 1:34 AM on November 5, 2019

Best answer: I suspect your storage is a also minimal, but if you did have enough space to stash a few items away to clear counter space between washes, I’d go with a large dish rack and a basin for rinsing. Specifically this Simplehuman rack, which amazingly lives up to its price tag. They also make a couple of more compact versions. You wouldn’t believe how many dishes I can stack in there.

If storage is a problem I’d get two of the folding racks.

Plus a dish pan. Cheap-o if you can store it, or I see there’re also collapsible ones available.
posted by Kriesa at 2:52 AM on November 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

It seems to me there are two separate problems - rinsing and drying.

For drying, i have ridiculously little counter space and I find this very helpful because the size can be adjusted. I use just one piece at the moment because it fits neatly next to my espresso machine.

I don't bother with rinsing but if I did this is what my set-up would be. I would place a clean, empty, large plastic bowl next to the sink and place all washed dishes in the bowl as I go. If I'm going to rinse them anyway they don't need to drain until later. Then I'd re-fill the sink with clean hot water and rinse everything and stack to dry on either a draining rack, a cleanish dish towel or a microfiber drying mat as sold by any large big box outfit. They work surprisingly well, as opposed to the silicone/plastic ones that always seemed to result in stuff that was still wet where it rested on the mat.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:11 AM on November 5, 2019

Seconding the “buy a huge pile of kitchen towels” approach. IKEA sells really cheap ones. Use them like paper towels for drying, and throw the dirty ones into a basket on the floor. I probably use 3-6 kitchen towels after a weekly meal prep cleanup session. As you are washing dishes, keep a kitchen towel over your shoulder or something so that you can dry after washing each item. Kitchen towel flat on the counter suggestion that Taz suggested above will help if you don’t want to task switch so much.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:31 AM on November 5, 2019

I have the same size sink and more counterspace, but yours sounds sufficient for how I do it. I use a rectangular drainer on one side of the counter, and keep the other side clear. I also have a high-arch faucet with a sprayer that does a good job of spreading a small flow of water into a wide shower-like fan. Dirty dishes accumulate in the sink until I'm ready to wash them. I start the sprayer, and while I'm waiting for the hot water to arrive I use the cold to pre-rinse the dishes, using one of those sponges with Scotchbrite on one side to knock off chunks of food and heavy coatings of grease or sauce, stacking the wet dishes on the empty counter. The wet surfaces will soften stubborn bits while they wait, almost as effectively as being immersed. When there's nothing but silverware left in the sink I shove it all to one side and use the sprayer to rinse chunks of food into the drain basket, which I empty. Replace and seal the drain basket, set the faucet to a soft, low-volume spray of hot water, squirt some soap on the sponge and start washing silverware, picking each piece of it up on one side of the sink, and wiping it before setting it down on the other side. Then start washing the pre-rinsed dishes on the counter, leaving each in the sink after wiping it with the soapy sponge under the shower of hot water. When the sink starts to get full of dishes, increase the water flow a bit and rinse right there over the other dishes and soapy water, depositing each rinsed thing in the drainer. Rinse silverware by the handful. When everything is rinsed, continue with whatever dirty dishes are still on the counter. When finished, wipe the water on the counter into the sink, drain, rinse sink, done.

It helps that I do this in the cooler parts of the day (anytime in winter), so standing there with my hands in warm water for several minutes is actually something I look forward to.
posted by jon1270 at 5:27 AM on November 5, 2019 [1 favorite]