Which sink?

[WI_Wino]

I'm in the process of moving my wine making exploits out of the kitchen and into the basement. We have a ton of space (old cheese factory) and already have a drain plumbed in and easy access to hot/cold water. My question in this thread is which sink should I use? I have two laying around the house, option A is a rigid plastic laundry tub:

pros:
- plastic less likely to break a glass carboy or bottle if it slips a little
- straight forward plumbing
- deeper than option B
- legs attached and level

cons:
- smaller in surface area than option B
- not as "cool looking"
- would have to cut legs if I wanted to lower the sink from current height

Option B is an old porcelain over steel nurses hand-washing sink that I got at some auction many moons ago:

pros:
- larger surface area than option A
- pretty sweet looking
- no stand for it currently so I can make it to whatever height I need to

cons:
- not as deep as option B
- plumbing will be interesting, it had foot pedals at one time for hot/cold water so there are no holes drilled for temp controls. Will need to fab up something
- need to fabricate a stand to hold it up, nothing fancy some 2 by lumber

So I'm torn. Plastic, boring utility sink is probably the smart choice. Old nurse's sink has more style though.

And yes I know both are filthy and will need to be scrubbed before using!

 

[GreginND]

The plastic tub may win out for practicality. The porcelain will be easier to clean and sanitize. I would definitely worry about carboys breaking. But I LIKE the porcelain sink. You could always mount a faucet on the wall above the sink. And you could get some rubber mats for the sink bottom and maybe to lay across the sides when you are handling carboys.

 

[WI_Wino]

Rubber mats, DUH! Can't believe I didn't think of that. So simple yet so elusive...

Great idea!

 

[matt785115]

hello, I am still very new here and to making wine, but in my very short time I have found it helpful that our kitchen has a double sink in it. I have used one for my cleaner and one as a slop sink. you could hook up the drain for the porcelain one but no faucet and make that one the slop sink if you went for both. so just my 2 cents, if you have room for both why not. again just a thought from a new guy.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I personally would look into a double plastic ones - possibly used from craigslist - or 2 singles - side by side ? I have a small hose attached to mine so I can rinse out the carboys easier and fill buckets on the floor as well.

 

[REDBOATNY]

If you have a ton of room, Install both. My sink is like the first one ,but I would love a double utility sink for washing bottles. One for oxy-wash, one for rinse. I just don't have the room.

 

[roblloyd]

Double sinks would be great. Love the hose idea too. I have one like your plastic one and the faucet is just a couple inches to short to make it easy. I always have to tip the carboys or buckets to get the under it.

 

[ibglowin]

How about:

Option (C) New plastic mop sink at Home Depot for $55 (with legs). Seriously both of those are pretty gross! Let them go........

 

[JohnT]

Go with the deepest one! The one thing I always battle with is VOLUME.

 

[JerryF]

Personally, I'd go with the first one. Similar decision I made a while ago. I like the deeper plastic sink and had to shorten the legs by about 1 1/2" so it sat level inside one end of a 3X5 laboratory counter top. To gain height so I could put my carboys and fermenter tanks under the tap, I was able to find a deck mounted pot filler faucet that gave me the height and able to pipe up both hot and cold water lines. The only thing additional I did was run a separate line off one of the incoming water lines and set a tap up with a hose thread and installed one of those inverted bottle washers/rinsers. For that, I had to drill through the countertop and one of the back corners of the sink to bring my water line up through. Would be difficult if not downright disasterous if I'd tried to drill through the porcelain on cast sink I had. My two cents (only 1 1/2 cents Canadian considering the currency exchange). Jerry

 

[vacuumpumpman]

It would be really nice to have a countertop next to the sink if room is available - just a thought

 

[WI_Wino]

How about:

Option (C) New plastic mop sink at Home Depot for $55 (with legs). Seriously both of those are pretty gross! Let them go........

With a new baby, we are trying to pinch where we can. I have them already and the dirt/dust it looks worse than it really is.

I'm leaning towards using both. I know, crazy. Now I need to figure out the layout of everything. I'll be building a work table from scratch and incorporating the sinks somehow. I already have a 8' wide x 3' deep x 8' tall shelving holding by empty bottles and carboys. More to come...

 

[pioneergirl]

With a new baby, we are trying to pinch where we can. I have them already and the dirt/dust it looks worse than it really is.

I'm leaning towards using both. I know, crazy. Now I need to figure out the layout of everything. I'll be building a work table from scratch and incorporating the sinks somehow. I already have a 8' wide x 3' deep x 8' tall shelving holding by empty bottles and carboys. More to come...

I have to admire your willingness to make do. To address your question specifically, if you are resigned to using those sinks only, I would recommend installing both if you have the space. If you only have space for one, use the deeper sink.

However my opinion; two sinks or double sink as deep as is reasonable. considerations i think that are really important: These will be permanent fixtures in your basement. Can you really live with either one or both of these sinks long term? As a permanent fixture to your house? I consider myself pretty frugal.....but in this instance I would seriously consider installing a double sink: one for washing the other side for flex use ( rinsing, holding, slop, whatever). I would also recommend that they be a minimum of 9-10" deep but no more than 14" deep. Too deep can be a pain unless you are 6'6" or taller. Stainless steel if possible, if not a really hard plastic. I have a 14" deep big sink in my laundry room that I think would be a good option in this situation if you can budget for it. Too deep for slick, wet glass carboys and arms get tricky. I have had a shallow sink in a kitchen before and it bites big time. I will try and post a picture....maybe you can cut your budget elsewhere in your basement modifications and sell those other two on craigslist.




Did this work? It's my laundry room. It's a good deep sink, but not too deep and appears budget friendly.




If this one worked, this is the sink my husband purchase for "his house in progress" aka the extra garage we are still working on. That will be for his brewery and I might sneak in the an use it too someday. That was a few hundred dollars on craigslist and now we won't have to buy/deal with a backsplash, countertop and its stainless, easy to clean. Still saving for plumbing....it is big. But you can see that those sinks are too deep at 10" deep, but they are big sinks at 3' wide and about 2 ' deep (I didn't realize that until now looking). My point is to just not rush into it all. I hope this info is helpful. It is not meant to be critical in any way. Good luck! And congrats on the new baby!

 

[pioneergirl]

I must apologize for my auto spell and errors!! I am better at typing on a keyboard over a touchpad. My laundry room sink is a hard plastic, but does not have the "rough" appearance as the typical garage sink and it is roughly 13-14" deep. It is not too deep. A good choice.

My husband's stainless steel sinks are 10" deep. They are good too, at that depth ( I'd say a minimum depth you'd want).

 

[WI_Wino]

My basement is pretty flexible and I'm fairly handy, nothing will have to be permanent. I would love to have a big stainless one like yours but for now I'll be working with stuff laying around. I have an old set of kitchen cabinets that will be put to use as well.

 

[Abrnth3]

Double siks sounds good to me and if you plumb in a hand held shower you cold rinse or fill tall bottles with ease.

 

[WI_Wino]

Ended up giving away the old utility sink, it was caked in old paint. I bought a new double basin utility sink and plumbed that in. The old porcelain sink was cleaned up and posted for sale on Craigslist. Apparently these old farmhouse sinks are trendy and worth some money. Currently it is best used as a draining rack.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Very nice - I am sure you will get alot of use out of it !!

 

[pioneergirl]

That is awesome! I like how the sinks are big enough for the barrel to lay sideways in the sink. I am jealous! Still working between the kitchen and laundry room, but it works for now. I think you will have a much more smoother operation with the side by side sink with the counter right there too. Cheers!

 

[ibglowin]

That looks like a very good decision. You can rest easy knowing you have an excellent (clean) area to work!